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iPad Mini 4 Teardown Confirms Smaller Battery and 2 GB RAM

For iPads the battery life is already good enough to comfortably get through a weekend, even with heavy usage during flight out and back. And since I bring a charger for my iPhone with me on such a weekend trip, I can charge the iPad as well at some point. I never have battery issues with any of my iPads unless I've really just forgotten to charge it for awhile. There is a point where battery life is good enough and it doesn't really help to make it longer. The iPhone certainly isn't there yet, but the iPad is.

But that is some pretty significant reduction in battery size.
 
unagimiyagi said:
When you make a smaller battery, battery life goes down in real world scenarios. That's just the way it is. If you are reading a book at low brightness, typing on word, writing emails, texting...fine you may get similar battery life numbers. But use it in real life: watch a movie, use the camera, surf the web, play a game, and the battery life will quickly plummet. In other words, battery life is still mostly determined by the size of the battery. Everything else: a slightly more efficient screen, processor, more ram, all help but are far less important than the size of the battery. It's interesting that Apple keeps thinking that they can get away with this.

For sure: the battery life for the vast majority of people will be worse. Losing 1000 mah is a big deal that no processor nor screen improvements can overcome.
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You forgot to add "my un-cited guess of an opinion is that..." at the beginning of your post.
 
RockSpider said:
If you've got the Air 2 it's not worth it, unless you really, really want a smaller footprint and a bit lighter.
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Or unless you want to hold it in one hand. I love the mini.

Never used my full-size iPad so I eventually sold it, but I use the mini every day.
 
Icaras said:
Couldn't disagree more. This is Apple just being Apple, as they've always been. Making these devices even more physically portable and accessible is always a plus for me. This mini 4 will feel great carrying around even more.
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I think it would be interesting if Apple were to simultaneously produce two devices of identical specs with the only differences being one is 25% thicker, a little heavier, and has a larger battery to see how well they sell.

When my iPad 4 was running iOS 6.x I was getting insane battery life, 13-14+ hours. Not only could I use it for a full day of heavy office work, there was plenty of juice left for evening downtime.

But ultimately, money talks, and as long as people keep buying the current crop of products at record rates, Apple has no incentive to do anything differently. (says the guy who just received his Air2 last night) :)
 
Jsameds said:
The iPad 3 had pretty much the best battery life on the market at the time, what was the problem there?
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There was little more than the iPad in the market at that time so that isn't saying much. The iPad 3 had significantly worse battery life than the iPad 4, and a bit less than the iPad 2. Charging did indeed take a long time and heated up while charging.
 
One would assume iOS 9 improved the battery life iPad mini 4 - to compensate for the battery capacity loss due to thinnovation ...

well just looked at the numbers 20% loss of battery capacity :(
 
Does this have a better display than the mini 3? The colors were a bit dull compared to the Air 2's display.
 
shanmugam said:
One would assume iOS 9 improved the battery life iPad mini 4 - to compensate for the battery capacity loss due to thinnovation ...
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Yeah I agree, it lasts a good while. Still on my first charge, I'll post my usage time here asap.
CrzyP said:
Does this have a better display than the mini 3? The colors were a bit dull compared to the Air 2's display.
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The colour is very vibrant and on-par with my iMac 5K.
 
I should've tested the speakers while I was at the Apple store today. Overall, the mini 4 is looking good! Screen is pretty much the same as the Air 2 side by side.
 
ugggg, I still have the 1st gen mini, so I need an upgrade. Trying to decide between Cellular + Wifi and just Wifi... don't know if Cellular is worth it or not considering Wifi is all over the place- plus you can always use iPhone hotspot.

SeaFox said:
Not sure if I should feel old or not for thinking of that term in its original definition.
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ahah, yeah, when I first read it my mind went to its original definition
 
Andres Cantu said:
iPad mini 1: no A6 chip, no retina display o_O
iPad mini 2: color gamut problem :(
iPad mini 3: iPad mini 2 with Touch-ID for the same $399 :mad:
iPad mini 4: no A8X chip :confused:

Seems like the even-numbered iPad minis were the ones that were most "worth" buying. Even if the iPad mini 4 does not have a third-core, it still has the 2GB of RAM for split-screen multitasking.
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What does it need the A8X for? It doesn't.
 
mytdave said:
Considering how particular Apple is (was) with its designs, it looks like there's a bunch of wasted space in there. Maybe they should have reconsidered parts placement and their obsession with anorexic tendencies.

Component placement at the top & bottom would allow a wider battery, and shaving only .7mm off the thickness instead of 1.4mm would have allowed a thinner device AND better battery life. The A9 is also the current CPU tech, and yet they hobble the mini4 with a last-generation chip (I know, Apple treats the mini as the ugly step-child). This is one of those rare opportunities where they could have provided multiple benefits (incentives), but they chose poorly (IMHO).

Don't get me wrong, the mini4 is a terrific device, especially for my kids, and I'm still considering buying one, it's just a bit disappointing as a customer when I see the device is great, but I know it could have been insanely great, which is also the difference between "will absolutely buy one" and "still considering buying one".

They should also have made an iPad Air 3 with an A9 CPU, but that's a different topic...
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I think you should apply for a Hardware Engineering position at Apple. In fact, you should be Phill Schiller's right hand man. Do it. Send your resume in. Quick!
 
Thought I would chime in with my thoughts as I might have been the perfect person to sell this to.

I'm very much in the Apple ecosystem and got the first iPad when it came out. My next upgrade was to the original iPad Mini which was great back then. I fell in love with the size and portability and it quickly became my primary device for long form reading. Even then I knew that I probably should have waited for a retina version.

So long story short, I couldn't justify going from the first-gen mini to the second. At the time it wasn't a huge upgrade for me and I figured I could wait it out for the next one. As we all know, the third was a pretty big letdown. So I continued to wait. Now, I finally upgraded, from first gen to fourth. My mini was a faithful companion and tried to hang in there as best it could but it was really starting to slow down in some of the more basic tasks and after having several retina phones and getting a retina mac, the screen was wearing on my eyes.

That all being said, coming from the first mini to this one has been fantastic so far. I only received mine in the mail yesterday but it already feels so much better. The addition of TouchID is nice. I never locked my iPad in the past because I didn't want to deal with unlocking it and now I can feel safe and save the hassle. The screen is terrific. We all know retina screens by now but this is my first retina iPad and it feels so much better! It might not be as fast as the Air 2 but it's a hell of a lot faster than my old mini. Also, maybe this is just me being fooled by the marketing, but the thinner body design makes it feel like a stronger, more solid device to me.

Anyway, I'm not here to argue that it's the best update in the world or that they couldn't have done more. All I know is that coming from a first gen mini and wanting to stay with the form factor, this upgrade has been great for me so far!
 
TallManNY said:
For iPads the battery life is already good enough to comfortably get through a weekend, even with heavy usage during flight out and back. And since I bring a charger for my iPhone with me on such a weekend trip, I can charge the iPad as well at some point. I never have battery issues with any of my iPads unless I've really just forgotten to charge it for awhile. There is a point where battery life is good enough and it doesn't really help to make it longer. The iPhone certainly isn't there yet, but the iPad is.

But that is some pretty significant reduction in battery size.
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Why would you care if it gets the same amount of time of use. Btw, it is not significant since it has no user impact, unless your a spec jockey who thrive on comparing notes...

Then, just say it's more efficient than other tablets... And that's it; honor rescued (sic).
 
kds1 said:
I think you should apply for a Hardware Engineering position at Apple. In fact, you should be Phill Schiller's right hand man. Do it. Send your resume in. Quick!
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Why right hand man, that's way beneath them... Replacing Phil and all his no talent flunkies (sic) seems a no brainer for those tech gods commenting...
 
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shanmugam said:
One would assume iOS 9 improved the battery life iPad mini 4 - to compensate for the battery capacity loss due to thinnovation ...

well just looked at the numbers 20% loss of battery capacity :(
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You don'T have to assume anything. Apple said so in the keynote by saying it lasts at least as long as the last one.
The fact it's on a more efficient process for the SOC and using the latest display and cell tech should also be a clue.
 
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