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Considering its been almost 2 years since the Mini 4 has even been touched (and even then they put 1 year old tech in it), this isn't a shocker. Looking the sales breakdown the larger iPads are actually showing growth while the mini sales continue to decline quarter over quarter.

Buying a mini makes NO SENSE now that theres a much more powerful 5th Gen iPad thats $329. The iPhone 6/7 Plus has cannibalized the iPad mini. And everyone who bought an iPad mini has the iPad mini 2/3 and still enjoy it.
 
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My guess is they're not trying to replace the mini with the iPhone but that the larger iPad with smaller bezels won't be that much bigger than the mini (and with the Pro line won't be that much more expensive).

The suggestion is that the smaller bezels means the screen can increase to about 10.5" but the device will stay roughly the same size
 
Well, this is a real bummer & a half to hear. I currently own an iPad mini 2 and was waiting for iPad Pro updates in the hope that Apple would finally release an iPad mini Pro. I just think the mini is the perfect iPad size. Bigger than an iPhone plus yet still portable enough to carry in a cargo pants pocket. If they made a Pro version, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Guess I'll have to go with the rumored bezel-less 10.5". Crossing my fingers that Apple also releases a bezel-less iPad mini. That'd be sweet. But not going to hold my breath.
 
Given the iPad Mini2 was sold by Apple longgggg time after the 3 came out... I think it makes sense to discontinue due to lack of devotion in the development of the product.
 
Steve: Smaller iPad would not work
*Steve dies*
Cue: Let's launch a smaller iPad because I had the idea rejected by Steve
Tim: Sure lol
*5 years later*
Tim: Who had this terrible idea? Kill the Mini.
 
Not too surprising. I don't use mine near as much as I used to when I had an iPad 3 and a iPad mini, or even when I had an Air and a mini 2. The Air 2 became small enough that I rarely use my mini 4. My mom has both and kinda the same trend. She used to like it more for reading because it was lighter, but the Air 2 is light enough for her now and she prefers the bigger screen for reading now as her eyes get worse. My sister though does prefer the smaller iPad mini (using a 4 now).
 
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Buying a mini makes NO SENSE now that theres a much more powerful 5th Gen iPad thats $329. The iPhone 6/7 Plus has cannibalized the iPad mini. And everyone who bought an iPad mini has the iPad mini 2/3 and still enjoy it.
It makes perfect sense.. for probably too small of a market segment. I buy minis for my children because they're young, and the size accommodates them much better than the larger models.

The iPhone+ is an entire other target audience. That costs twice as much and then has a large monthly cost as well. Nobody looking for a "small tablet" decides "oh maybe I'll just get this iPhone+ instead." And the screen, despite being biggish, is still much too small (and the wrong aspect ratio) for the tasks I or my kids commonly use a tablet for. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't really appreciate the purpose a tablet actually serves (and that's ok; your needs are different).

All that said, we upgraded to 128GB mini 4s last fall, and I imagine those will still have a few years of life left. It wouldn't make sense for Apple to stop selling them until the device can no longer run the latests iOS. And they don't really need a new model until that happens either. My family certainly wouldn't upgrade again until that happened because the mini 4 is so capable as is.
 
The iPad Mini is the perfect size for my 3yr old. It also could be a direct competitor to the Echo Show. If it's true, it's a shame.
 
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I very much hope this is not the case, but I have suspected it, as it seems like the product line has been in maintenance mode, only getting minor updates to storage over the last few years.

I have an original Mini, I deliberately did not buy the original iPad as I thought it too large, thinking that if I wanted to carry something that size, I would just carry a laptop. Friends of mine, who think me a bit of an Apple Fanboy were surprised that I was not buying an original iPad and I remember saying at the time "When they make one the size of a book, I will get one." About a year and a half later, I pre-ordered my iPad Mini, as soon as it was announced and it took the pocket where I used to carry a book, I had previously avoided getting a Kindle as I don't like single purpose devices.

I considered buying a Mini 4 when it was launched, but at the same launch event, an iPhone launched with Force touch and I was convinced that the next version of the iPad Mini would have that feature, the Mini 4 was such a small increment on the Mini 3, that I didn't think it worth the upgrade from the Mini 1, which was a bit slower and lacking a fingerprint reader, but otherwise looked almost identical, so I held off.

The recent update to the Mini 4 has just been a storage update and my current iPad mini cant be upgraded to iOS 10, so when iOS 11 comes out, it might be more difficult to buy iBooks for... I have been waiting for over a year for a new Mini, looks like I may be disappointed.

I won't be replacing it with an iPhone 8 plus... as a phone it's too big for my pockets, I begrudgingly moved up to the current iPhone size when the iPhone 6 launched, I still think it slightly too big, annoyingly I have to carry two of them now as I have an extra one for work. As a book reader, neither the iPhone/iPhone Plus is large enough, so I'll sweat my iPad Mini until it breaks and then if I need to, I'll buy a Mini 4, even if that means going to the second hand market.
 
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