For as lomg as there's a market for iPad mini behind apples walled garden and devs apps cater for the mini, it's safe, but for the rest of the gadget world, it's already behind. If asus could put a current gen tegra 3 quad into a $200 tablet. Then apple could have done a bit better on the specs too. Thing is, they don't have to. Just like how the iPad 1 suffered a shorter support life due to 256mb ram, iPad mini might go the same way, or it might not. Depends what apple wanna do.
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All iPads How future proof is the iPad Mini?
- Thread starter Wise Potato
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The ipad mini was made and introduced so that you wouldn't have to share your Ipad and all of its glory anymore with that annoying family member of yours (sibling,wife,child,husband,parent) and they could be satisfied while you did your own thing. 
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All technology gets outdated almost the minute its released. Even if the Mini only recieves 1 OS upgrade, it will still work and likely still do everything you bought it for today until it dies or gets replaced. Besides, its a gadget not a major purchase.
Define 'future proof'.
The mini should never have been released with its low specs and is designed to be outdated by the retina model soon. Then we will see people buying basically the same product again ever thou the 'old' one still works 100%. Apple sales would be way lower if people only replaced items after breaking and rely on a never ending circle of status anxiety.
Look at the current notebook line, these are destined to be outdated with the touchscreen tech that HAS to be introduced to keep up with the modern way of interaction.
Future proof and percieved desirability are not the same.
The mini should never have been released with its low specs and is designed to be outdated by the retina model soon. Then we will see people buying basically the same product again ever thou the 'old' one still works 100%. Apple sales would be way lower if people only replaced items after breaking and rely on a never ending circle of status anxiety.
Look at the current notebook line, these are destined to be outdated with the touchscreen tech that HAS to be introduced to keep up with the modern way of interaction.
Future proof and percieved desirability are not the same.
I wouldn't worry about it. If it does become "obsolete", it will do so partially at first (it'll get an iOS update, but either not support every new feature, or won't run it as well as it ran the old version), and you'll be able to sell it and buy a new one for not too terribly much.
And in the meantime, you'll have an iPad mini.
The A5 SoC is impressively powerful. Sure, it's slower than the A6, but it rivals PowerBooks and iMacs from less than ten years ago. I think the iOS SoC cut-offs are going to be less prominent going forward.
And in the meantime, you'll have an iPad mini.
The A5 SoC is impressively powerful. Sure, it's slower than the A6, but it rivals PowerBooks and iMacs from less than ten years ago. I think the iOS SoC cut-offs are going to be less prominent going forward.
