As a pilot, I am thrilled with this update. I just wish they still made the silicone rear case for it.
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Apple Announces New Fifth-Generation iPad Mini With Apple Pencil Support, Revamped Retina Display and A12 Bionic Chip
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As a pilot, I am thrilled with this update. I just wish they still made the silicone rear case for it.
And yet look what they just released. Either they are using up old stock or they are no longer releasing device in the same space and time that the rest of us experience.
Show me a better alternative.
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And? Do you want a triangle iPad instead?
If you have a current generation iPad Pro, will you go back to a home button, back to lighting, back to bezels and back to the first generation Apple Pencil? I sold my first generation Pencil. Why would I go buy one again? I’m most likely in the minority but I was hoping to supplement my 12.9 with the new mini.
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No offense intended, but don’t be silly. Pages would look terrible on a triangle iPad. But in all seriousness, forget triangle, think iPad Pro design mini. If Apple can make the larger iPads look different and have new features, I bet they could have made the mini look like that too. If you have a current pro, many would consider the new mini a step backwards.
Apple has had years to release an updated design.
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No offense intended, but don’t be silly. Pages would look terrible on a triangle iPad. But in all seriousness, forget triangle, think iPad Pro design mini. If Apple can make the larger iPads look different and have new features, I bet they could have made the mini look like that too. If you have a current pro, many would consider the new mini a step backwards.
Apple has had years to release an updated design.
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It is and has always been, literally since the very first version of the iPad.
Funny how so many people seem to never have noticed that in the last nine years...
It’s been moved. It’s next to the camera. And the volume buttons are a bit bigger according to a few blog posts i’ve Read today.
https://www.imore.com/will-your-old-ipad-mini-case-fit-new-ipad-mini-2019
A redesign would likely have raised the price. I guess the iPad mini was intended to hit a price point first and foremost.
I don’t think we will see an “iPad mini pro” in this regard, especially since it clearly won’t be able to accommodate the Smart Keyboard.
I agree. I don’t know much about the various iterations of the Apple Pencil, and when I read the Apple page for the iPad mini, it doesn’t make it clear that there are two pencils - only one of which will work.
It just calls it “Apple Pencil”. “Apple Pencil opens up new possibilities” - "new" doesn’t make me think I need the "old" one, or even that there is an old one.
A link on the page “Learn more about Apple Pencil” extols the virtues of attaching magnetically, automatically pairing, automatically charges, “attach magnetically for pairing and charging”, etc etc.
It’s not until you scroll right down the page that you discover there are two different pencils and all that you’ve read doesn’t necessarily apply to the one you need to get for these brand new devices, because you need an old pencil your brand new device.
Bringing out a new device and telling customers somewhere in the small print that they need the old pencil is bizarre.
I get what others are saying about not wanting to have two different pencils because you have two different iPads, but I don’t see that as a big issue. I have a pen for my Asus 2-in-1, I have a pen for my Surface, and I’ll have a third pen if/when I buy an iPad mini 5. It’s not a biggie.
More of a problem will be the new buyer buying a new product and being told they can’t use the new Apple Pencil. That’s bizarre.
Getting cheaper over time is how technology evolves and how every company makes a profit. Any company (Apple included) will only sell new products to its existing customers if it offers a new version, faster and better, for the same price of the product it intends to replace. It is expected, as prices for the components tend to go down over time.
What Apple is consistently trying to do is to increase the prices for every new product it releases as if its production costs never decreased. I am not willing to pay more for every product they launch, forever.
There's evidently still a market for a smaller iPad Mini but a spec bump (plus old gen pencil support) in a 7-year old form factor is just taking the urine.
I don’t know about design intentions, but I think it compliments the 2018 Pro quite well. Personally, all the mini needed to be is a pretty decent iPad with Pencil support (would have preferred Pencil 2, but will settle for Pencil 1). With this Mini update, there will probably be a lot more times where I leave my Pro at home and leave the house with just a Mini in my pocket (no bag required!).
Still love my 2018 Pro, and it will come with me often when I leave the house, but now, not always!
I miss the time when Apple redesigned its products without charging a premium for the redesign itself. A redesign is part of what people expect to get a new product.
My sister was waiting for the new iPad mini to be released, after so many years. When she found out the product that came out, she was disappointed. "But it looks exactly like the same. What is the difference?", she said. And I told her it was much faster, had a better screen, better camera, pen support, and so on. And she said, "OK, whatever. But at least it is cheaper?". And I told her it was not, and that storage is, in fact, lower than the last version at the same price point. She was very disappointed, as she was expecting something which would be worth waiting for. She is feeling she is getting pretty much the same product for an even higher price after three years, with a few small differences that would not be that significant for the average user. And, honestly, I feel the same way.
I love the Mini size, but they're so expensive this time around, that to replace my current iPad Pro 10.5, I'd have to pay an extra ~200 €, just to downgrade to a smaller size.
The insane thing is, I would actually consider that, if it didn't entail losing my stereo speakers.
No stereo array, no USB-C, no second gen pencil, no buy.
The insane thing is, I would actually consider that, if it didn't entail losing my stereo speakers.
No stereo array, no USB-C, no second gen pencil, no buy.
Personally, I guess the answer is “yes”.
Obisouly I would have preferred the full-on-Pro route, but this does meet the minimum requirements for a new mini purchase (for me).
Even with the new Pro, though, I never fully left the lightning / home button / bezels universe. Still have, and use, my iPad Mini 4 and iPad Pro 10.5.
This thing would've been must buy if it had USB-C and 2nd gen Apple Pencil support. 
This thing would've been must buy if it had USB-C and 2nd gen Apple Pencil.
And stereo speakers. For that price, this is a deal breaker.
I currently have no devices with USB-C. If the iPad mini had come with USB-C, that would be one other thing that would put me off buying it - for now.This thing would've been must buy if it had USB-C and 2nd gen Apple Pencil.
I get that it would future-proof it but it definitely doesn't make it "must buy" for me.
My MacBook Pro 2018, iPad Pro 2018 and Headphones (Sony WH-1000XM3) all use USB-C so it's such a turnoff to carry multiple cables with me. At the moment I have to carry lightning cable with me because of iPhone and Airpods but I will not buy any new devices without USB-C anymore.
The USB-C is so important to me, that if 2019 iPhones do not have USB-C, I might try an Android phone.
For once, I do not think these iPads are outrageously priced. There are so many updates that the lower storage is the only minor nitpick.
I’ll be getting a 256gb WiFi Mini as soon as they’re in stores. With my pro-rated AC refund, trade in, taxes and AC & another pencil, I am looking at $550 total. I can happily roll with getting a Pencil and AC on
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I paid almost $650 for the 2018 iPad, Pencil and AC so no complaints.
I’ll be getting a 256gb WiFi Mini as soon as they’re in stores. With my pro-rated AC refund, trade in, taxes and AC & another pencil, I am looking at $550 total. I can happily roll with getting a Pencil and AC on
.I paid almost $650 for the 2018 iPad, Pencil and AC so no complaints.
Whereas I’m the opposite, everything I have (except the Apple Watch) uses lightning. My current Mini, my iPhone X, my wired headset, my HDMI dongle, all lightning. The rest of the family has devices that take lightning (iPads, iPhones). If the new one had USB-C it would result in yet another cord I’d have to carry around.
Should they increase the price of every device they upgrade every year, because they do improve the processors every year and the screens most years and "all the other upgrades"?