iPad Mini 4 is gimped with A8?

[The Game 161]

I fail to see how people think the iPads are getting upgraded every two years

Only reason air 2 wasn't upgraded this year was to market the pro. They needed to give people reasons to upgrade to the pro

 

[davygee]

I fail to see how people think the iPads are getting upgraded every two years

Only reason air 2 wasn't upgraded this year was to market the pro. They needed to give people reasons to upgrade to the pro

I think people are putting 2 and 2 together. Sales are down, we are reaching saturation point with household tablets and consumers are keeping tablets for anywhere between 2-4 years before upgrading. It would be sensible for Apple to push the upgrade cycle to a longer time. Look at the Mini, we only saw a Mini 3 last year as it only added the TouchID sensor, as Apple obviously wanted TouchID in all their products as fast as they can. And we haven't seen and Air 3 this year. Yes it was to give the Pro some breathing space, and of course Apple won't make the mistake of putting out an Air 3 with virtually the same processor specs as the Pro at the same time.

I do expect the Air 3 in the Spring though, with a slightly paired down A9X, still with only 2Gb RAM and not the 4Gb that the Pro is getting. We will then have 3 separate iPad models with varying power. Then in Spring 2017, we should see a refresh of all 3 models housing an A9 (Mini 5), A10 (Air 4) and A10X (Pro 2).

This is just my opinion though.

 

[soupcan]

It's not just an A8, it's an A8 with 2GB of RAM.

 

[Closingracer]

Basically the regular A8 is just an overclocked A7 with 30 and 60% performance jumps when the norm is 2x. Since the A8 is already a year old, will this eventually become like the iPhone 6 Plus and iPad 3? Is it best to wait for the next iPad mini 5 with A9? And I know Apple already skipped a revision with the iPad mini 3 (same processor as mini 2) and the iPad Air 2, but do you think we'll really have to wait 2 more years for an A9 mini?

It's not gimped. With Apple not pushing the greatest and latest in mobile hardware nor does it devices on requires it. The A8x is a 1.5ghz triple core cpu and I believe the A8 is a dual core around 1.3 for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus? The iPhone 6s has a dual core 2.2 GHZ cpu and I will assume he A9x cpu will be a triple core at 2.5 GHZ or so. With the 2gb of ram and the A8 the mini 4 will still be good for a while. The 2gb is more important imo.



The OS doesn't require the top end specs and I doubt Android does as well but with Android it's more or a selling point. Also how android works more ram the better

 

[davygee]

I think people were expecting the Mini 4 to have the same specs as the Air 2, and when you think of the 2 year gap from Mini 2 specs to Mini 4 specs, I think the upgrade isn't as big as people would have liked.

What we need to understand is that Apple is (potentially) moving to a 18-24 months upgrade cycle and because a new Air wasn't announced, of course they couldn't upgrade the Mini to the same specs or better than the Air 2.

In my opinion, the Mini 4 (on paper) sounds like a great iPad, but I personally don't think it's worth spending potentially an additional $150 for it.

Seeing as it's housing year old tech (for the CPU/GPU) it won't have the longevity that some people on here think. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it's looking slow in 12-18 months time when we see the new Air.

But as a standalone machine and if you have the money are are willing to spend it now, it's a great wee machine, althoug don't expect it to last for 4 years. A better bet is to pick up an Air 2 on special for roughly the same price. It will last longer and feel quicker for that bit longer.

 

[Closingracer]

I think people are putting 2 and 2 together. Sales are down, we are reaching saturation point with household tablets and consumers are keeping tablets for anywhere between 2-4 years before upgrading. It would be sensible for Apple to push the upgrade cycle to a longer time. Look at the Mini, we only saw a Mini 3 last year as it only added the TouchID sensor, as Apple obviously wanted TouchID in all their products as fast as they can. And we haven't seen and Air 3 this year. Yes it was to give the Pro some breathing space, and of course Apple won't make the mistake of putting out an Air 3 with virtually the same processor specs as the Pro at the same time.

I do expect the Air 3 in the Spring though, with a slightly paired down A9X, still with only 2Gb RAM and not the 4Gb that the Pro is getting. We will then have 3 separate iPad models with varying power. Then in Spring 2017, we should see a refresh of all 3 models housing an A9 (Mini 5), A10 (Air 4) and A10X (Pro 2).

This is just my opinion though.

I would bet the house it won't be the spring......Won't be until September with the iPhone 7 launch.

 

[Closingracer]

I think people were expecting the Mini 4 to have the same specs as the Air 2, and when you think of the 2 year gap from Mini 2 specs to Mini 4 specs, I think the upgrade isn't as big as people would have liked.

What we need to understand is that Apple is (potentially) moving to a 18-24 months upgrade cycle and because a new Air wasn't announced, of course they couldn't upgrade the Mini to the same specs or better than the Air 2.

In my opinion, the Mini 4 (on paper) sounds like a great iPad, but I personally don't think it's worth spending potentially an additional $150 for it.

Seeing as it's housing year old tech (for the CPU/GPU) it won't have the longevity that some people on here think. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it's looking slow in 12-18 months time when we see the new Air.

But as a standalone machine and if you have the money are are willing to spend it now, it's a great wee machine, althoug don't expect it to last for 4 years. A better bet is to pick up an Air 2 on special for roughly the same price. It will last longer and feel quicker for that bit longer.

2GB with iOS is the longevity it needed imo

 

[Kendo]

Not sure if I should go for the Mini 4 or the Mini 2 for only $200 from Walmart. It is on sale until the end of the year. Is the 30% and 60% bump worth it?

 

[ACG12]

Not sure if I should go for the Mini 4 or the Mini 2 for only $200 from Walmart. It is on sale until the end of the year. Is the 30% and 60% bump worth it?

The mini 4 is a in a bad spot because of the mini 2 and Air 2 price drops. The tablet is not worth it's $399 price tag.

 

[Cakefish]

Basically the regular A8 is just an overclocked A7 with 30 and 60% performance jumps when the norm is 2x. Since the A8 is already a year old, will this eventually become like the iPhone 6 Plus and iPad 3? Is it best to wait for the next iPad mini 5 with A9? And I know Apple already skipped a revision with the iPad mini 3 (same processor as mini 2) and the iPad Air 2, but do you think we'll really have to wait 2 more years for an A9 mini?

It's not 'just an overclocked A7'. A8 has the Typhoon CPU architecture that is an incremental improvement over the A7's Cyclone CPU architecture. That's why the performance jump from A7 to A8 is greater than the 7.7% higher clockrate would otherwise have generated (additionally Mini 4 is even higher clocked at 1.5GHz vs 1.4GHz in the iPhones).

The jump to Twister in the A9 is greater still, that is true, but your logic does not hold up. If you buy the Mini 5 next year with the A9, it will still be a year behind in SOC technology. A9 will be a year old by then.

 

[rkuo]

It's not 'just an overclocked A7'. A8 has the Typhoon CPU architecture that is an incremental improvement over the A7's Cyclone CPU architecture. That's why the performance jump from A7 to A8 is greater than the 7.7% higher clockrate would otherwise have generated (additionally Mini 4 is even higher clocked at 1.5GHz vs 1.4GHz in the iPhones).

The jump to Twister in the A9 is greater still, that is true, but your logic does not hold up. If you buy the Mini 5 next year with the A9, it will still be a year behind in SOC technology. A9 will be a year old by then.

The year between A7 and A8 and the year between A8 and A9 are massively different.

 

[MrGimper]

I think people were expecting the Mini 4 to have the same specs as the Air 2, and when you think of the 2 year gap from Mini 2 specs to Mini 4 specs, I think the upgrade isn't as big as people would have liked.

What we need to understand is that Apple is (potentially) moving to a 18-24 months upgrade cycle and because a new Air wasn't announced, of course they couldn't upgrade the Mini to the same specs or better than the Air 2.

In my opinion, the Mini 4 (on paper) sounds like a great iPad, but I personally don't think it's worth spending potentially an additional $150 for it.

Seeing as it's housing year old tech (for the CPU/GPU) it won't have the longevity that some people on here think. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it's looking slow in 12-18 months time when we see the new Air.

But as a standalone machine and if you have the money are are willing to spend it now, it's a great wee machine, althoug don't expect it to last for 4 years. A better bet is to pick up an Air 2 on special for roughly the same price. It will last longer and feel quicker for that bit longer.

Especially when told as much by Big Phil in the keynote.....

 

[Cakefish]

The year between A7 and A8 and the year between A8 and A9 are massively different.

And I noted that in my post you quoted.

 

[rkuo]

And I noted that in my post you quoted.

Yes, you did ... I'm just pointing out that regardless of all processors in the iPad Mini being a year behind, catching the A8 to A9 jump is an outsized jump in performance.