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No. The plus sized phones and the mini are completely different sizes. They do not compare at all. I have both and love the mini. Mine is old and I don’t want a full sized iPad.

Depends on your use case whether they compare or not. For me, the Mini was used as an e-Reader (I used a 9.7" iPad for general productivity). The day I bought my iPhone 6 Plus I stopped using my iPad Mini. Eventually gave it my father to replace his busted Kindle.
 
Still no iMac rumours! Disappointing :(

I still have the first iPad mini - works just fine and the kids play on it. Just wish iOS could have gone higher to allow a couple of games they enjoy. It’s the perfect size for kids and taking it travelling. I’d buy a new upgraded one in an instant!
 
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Don't underestimate the number of children who use an iPad. And when it comes to parents footing the bill, the cheaper the better. There's a huge market for children that use iOS but certainly don't need an iPhone.

Why not just keep your old iPhone without a sim card as an updated iPod touch for the kiddos?
 
The mini is practically on its way out becuase of the lower cost new iPad. The price is fine, most people forget its only sold with 128GB now. The sign of the times when there are no longer flash options.
 
The mini was the best selling ipad while Apple kept up with updates. Their response to those sales numbers was to not update it further, and year after year, let sales diminish. Eventually they'll be able to point to low sales as reason to discontinue it, but it's entirely a choice they've made regardless of sales. Instead of updating it, or adding Pencil support, they've created several new larger, cheaper ipads and pushed those instead, entirely missing the appeal and utility of the Mini, like everyone else in this thread who thinks a plus sized iPhone is an equivalent device. It is not.

It's somewhat obvious they never looked into how people use minis, and mistakenly regarded the model as the budget ipad, then sought to make more profitable replacements for it that were all-around cheaper to build than a full featured iPad squeezed into the more convenient 7.9" frame. Add it to the Macbook Air, the Macbook Pro 17", the Air Ex/TC, Cinema Display line, etc. The most useful & popular devices Apple built, all on the fire.
The mini still sells pretty well, this year better than last according to one consumer survey. There’s no reason to think it’ll be discontinued. Apple doesn’t see iPad mini as the budget iPad. With iOS 12 it’ll last until it’s updated, I think spring 2018 is most likely.

For an update, there are three ways to go: 1) down market ($279?) with the non-laminated display; 2) keep the amazing display at maybe a $379 price; or 3) go Pro at maybe $479. Rounded corners, minimal bezels, FaceID, better cameras, speakers, ProMotion.

I’m hopeful they’ll go with the pro option; the vertical markets that rely on the mini would withstand the price increase. Smaller form factor with same size screen would make it even more attractive.
 
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The mini is not an entry level iPad and never was. All this talk about kids, that is what the new iPad is for, along with pencil support. Of course you probably missed the school event Apple had.

Even the iPad 2 stuck around so long when the mini was introduced.
 
No. The plus sized phones and the mini are completely different sizes. They do not compare at all. I have both and love the mini. Mine is old and I don’t want a full sized iPad.
Especially true now that the Plus aspect ratio is 19.5:9, which makes it all but unusable for most mini use cases. iPad mini is almost twice as large as the soon to be released X Plus:

DEDCB847-48D9-4C25-A495-1E984B05AD56.jpeg
 
I've been a huge Apple fan for countless years, but it's needless to say that fragmentation of the product lineup is getting ridiculous and super confusing... missing the times when there was a single iPhone / MacBook Pro each year.

Now we have the iPad (entry model), iPad Pro 10.5, iPad Pro 12.9, iPad Mini, etc...
MacBook 12', MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13', MacBook Pro 15'... lol

Last year, they started launching 3 iPhones on a yearly basis. I'm sure a few years from now, we'll have 10 iPhone types each year.
 
I wouldn't buy the Apple Watch if my small collection of bands were incompatible.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but if Apple is counting only on previous customers to continually upgrade, then the Apple Watch is doomed. They’ve got your money already. And the reality is, Apple has grown its customer base substantially since the original launch, and I’d argue (based on general perception) that more than half of that base are new customers, and fewer than half of the original customers have upgraded regularly, if at all. While the Apple Watch is currently the largest percentage of smart watches sold by one manufacturer, they have a lot more growth to achieve, which means many more new customers who won’t care whether the old bands aren’t compatible with their new watch.

Bottom line, Apple has never cared whether they leave an original customer behind by making a future product incompatible with their old one. And I don’t see that changing with the watch. When they decide they need to change the band, they aren’t likely to give the fact you and others like you won’t buy the model because their old bands will no longer be compatible. They know that once they add compelling enough features you will come on board with a new purchase. In the meantime, they have to grow the base to succeed, not rely on a small pool of original customers to upgrade year after year for minor spec bumps and improvements all the while forced to retain backward compatibility with the watch bands and thwarting innovation.
 
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I think their long-term goal is for a minimal bezel 9.7" iPad that would be not much bigger than a Mini.

By moving the 10.5" Pro to 11" this year, they are smartly differentiating it more from the 9.7" model. Eventually the economies of scale will make it possible to have a 9.7" iPad for $329 that has a minimal bezel. And with the iPhone X Plus going all the way up to 6.5", that is getting kinda close to the 7.9" Mini. I think they want to space their products out more. However, I think it would be smarter to squeeze the 9.7" down to 9" for the redesign in a few years. Then they would essentially have 9", 11", and 13" iPad models and I think that range would make the most people happy—especially when you consider the smaller bezels.
 
Jony Ive hates iPad mini because of the different ppi from the rest of the iPad line.

But thanks Apple for once again being an unreliable partner. There are dozens of airlines, hospitals and similar businesses who need to reinvest in their software and for airlines, to reinstall new holders on top of yokes. And to standardise anything in airline industry is so expensive.

Never the less, there will be one Apple user less in our household who has been waiting for two years for a decent update for iPad mini.
 
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After moving from the Mini 4 to the 10.5" IPP, I certainly missed the small form factor of the Mini. However, eight months later, I don't regret the upgrade to the 10.5" as it's usually my go-to device when I'm at home. My wife still has her Mini 4 which I don't think she's getting rid of anytime soon.

This actually might be the first year I'm more excited about software updates as I'm probably not upgrading any of my Apple hardware. Obviously I'll wait until the Keynote in September, but right now, I don't have a compelling reason to upgrade my X, IPP or S3 AW.
 
Especially true now that the Plus aspect ratio is 19.5:9, which makes it all but unusable for most mini use cases. iPad mini is almost twice as large as the soon to be released X Plus:

View attachment 778134
Yeah, but the problem is most people don't think logically when making a purchase. Apple doesn't want people looking at the iPhone and iPads and think "I can just get a smaller iPhone because I already have a Mini" or "Why is the iPhone so expensive at 6.5 inches when you can get a Mini at 7.9 inches for a third of the price?" I know it's not very logical. People are weird when it comes making purchases and most people suck at math. I've had arguments with people on here that span days trying to argue 6th grade level math that is easily provable but they still keep arguing otherwise. I blame the whole "The truth isn't the truth" movement going on right now.
 
I've been a huge Apple fan for countless years, but it's needless to say that fragmentation of the product lineup is getting ridiculous and super confusing... missing the times when there was a single iPhone / MacBook Pro each year.

Now we have the iPad (entry model), iPad Pro 10.5, iPad Pro 12.9, iPad Mini, etc...
MacBook 12', MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13', MacBook Pro 15'... lol

Last year, they started launching 3 iPhones on a yearly basis. I'm sure a few years from now, we'll have 10 iPhone types each year.
pick your price point, pick your size, pick your color. its not confusing at all.
 
pick your price point, pick your size, pick your color. its not confusing at all.

The Mac is a little confusing, what machine is for the general consumer? The 12” MacBook or the MacBook Air? If someone does a little video editing every now and then, blog work and so on are they considered a Pro and should they buy a MacBook Pro? I think if Apple update the Air with a Retina display and a cheaper price point it will help.
 
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The Mac is a little confusing, what machine is for the general consumer? The 12” MacBook or the MacBook Air? If someone does a little video editing every now and then, blog work and so on are they considered a Pro and should they buy a MacBook Pro? I think if Apple update the Air with a Retina display and a cheaper price point it will help.
I guess the MacBook lineup is the exception. The MacBook needs to be a $999 machine and drop the Air line completely unless they are going to replace the Air with something in the $799 range (which I highly doubt).
 
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I got a gently used LTE iPad mini 4 128GB last week for $200. I didn't know it was LTE until it was in my hands.
I know it is crazy to buy stuff right before a keynote - but needed one for some testing and could not wait. Figured I could flip it if necessary. Looks like I did the right thing then. Too bad Apple isn't updating the mini form factor. It'd be nice to have one with OLED and Pencil support.
 
I never suspected Apple to change the watchbands this year, I think they will retain the port at least for the Series 4. Apple is very much capable of change as we all know, but they have a very small Monopoly with the watchband market and then make _a lot_ of money with the bands. Not to mention, they executed the switching bands perfectly for the user when they want to change the band.
 
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Don't underestimate the number of children who use an iPad. And when it comes to parents footing the bill, the cheaper the better. There's a huge market for children that use iOS but certainly don't need an iPhone.
Let us not forget that the $1200 iPhone model he’s referencing doesn’t support split screen!
 
Why not just keep your old iPhone without a sim card as an updated iPod touch for the kiddos?

Because a phone is too small to watch a 2.5 hour movie in the car. My kids can watch together on a mini in the back seat. Can’t do that with a phone. But they don’t need full sized iPads either.
 
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Just because they don’t update the mini doesn’t make it obsolete. I still have a mini 3 I take around for reading and smaller tasks and yet I have a pro too.

iOS 12 beta works great performance wise on it as well. There is plenty of life left for mini, it still competes with the regular Kindle in a sense. Just if you want one you’ll pay a price but get 128GB which isn’t bad.

It’s just not their focus anymore, and that is understandable because the market likes the full size iPad and iPhone Plus sizes. The mini never did have Steve’s support and only from the urging of Eddie Que and Tim Cook did it happen.

Even if they update it people will expect the quasi-latest ARM chip, and pencil support. But none of these are unlikely.

I never suspected Apple to change the watchbands this year, I think they will retain the port at least for the Series 4. Apple is very much capable of change as we all know, but they have a very small Monopoly with the watchband market and then make _a lot_ of money with the bands. Not to mention, they executed the switching bands perfectly for the user when they want to change the band.

To be honest even if they change the form factor to a circular watch, the bands now could work pretty easy. I just don’t see a situation where they would hit the reset button on bands because the watches are going to get bigger in size, but slightly thinner at-best.
 
Why not just keep your old iPhone without a sim card as an updated iPod touch for the kiddos?
Doesn’t work.

An iPhone (without sim) cannot use FaceTime or iMessage. An iPad can. This is a huge advantage for a young child you don’t want to have a sim yet, but you do want the ability to keep in contact with. Stupid Apple decision.
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Point taken, though I see children being given iOS devices as a problem. But that’s for another thread.
I feel judged ;D My 10 year old has an iPad Pro, iPhone and MacBook Air. To balance things up I have all the crappy hand-me-downs - posting from an iPad Air 1 :)
 
Having the iPhone X for a year now, I could care less about a newer version since this is a ridiculously good phone...

I've thought the same thing. The X is the most well-wrung-out new product Apple has ever introduced. It's pretty much flawless.

I'll probably upgrade nonetheless, but it will take some doing for Apple to dazzle me as they did with the X. (My new 6-core/32GB MacBook Pro came close!)
 
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