iPad Mini 4 Uses Speed-Bumped 1.5 GHz A8 Chip With 2 GB of RAM

[manu chao]

Then iOS 8 must really know how to take advantage of the 3rd core as my Air 2 DESTROYS my 6+ and wife's 6 in raw performance, gaming, safari, switching apps etc....
Our iPhone's feel sluggish in comparison to the Air 2.

Note that the iPad Air 2 as well as the iPad mini 4 have two GB of RAM whereas the iPhone 6 and 6+ only have one GB. That might make a big difference that is not captured in these benchmarks. Additionally, the iPhone might throttle the CPU more aggressively because of heat and battery concerns than the iPad does, again something that might not be captured fully in benchmarks.

Unless the mini's A8 has extra GPU cores vs the iPhone 6, then it's GPU performance won't come close to the Air 2 either.

That is something we don't know yet, though if we were to believe the naming of the chip 'A8', we would conclude that it is identical to the A8 in the iPhone 6 and 6+. But then we could not have deduced the faster clock rate and increased RAM if we took the name of the chip to be the end of it.

 

[The Game 161]

wonder if the mini 4 will be in shops come tomorrow?

 

[Solomani]

No one can complain about this! But some probably will...

No complaints here. I was borderline in wanting to buy the new Mini 4, but this cements it for me. I'm ordering one for myself as an early Christmas present.

 

[allanfries]

I can't complain at all about my iPad mini 2. Can't see myself changing. But who knows, in a year or two with the mini5, mini6. Might be worth the upgrade.

 

[Rogifan]

I have an iPad 1, iPad 3 and iPad Air. The iPad 3 is actually my favourite. It performed great and I never had any problems with it. I don't like the iPad Air because of one thing. The display. When you type on it or tap the screen, however gently, you hear a cheap tapping sound when your fingers hit the display. This wasn't the case with the earlier iPads. I hate it, it makes the screen feel cheap. I don't know if the iPad Air 2 has the same problem?

I guess I just need to go into the shop and try it out. If the Mini 4 is like that too then I won't be getting one.

No the Air 2 does not have the same problem.

 

[Rogifan]

It seems like they could have added 4 GB of RAM to the mini and people would still not be happy with it...

Any idea when it'll be available on Amazon.com? I have enough gift cards on there saved up to pay about half price for the 64GB version so would like to buy from there.

Are people complaining based on actual performance? Are people really going to start using the mini 4 and think "damn if only this was running the A8X"?

 

[dacreativeguy]

Their tiers of products are so convoluted lately. They always seem to keep old tech around confusing the buyer.

Somehow it goes from Ipad Mini 2 to 4. And the Air is still around with the Air 2.

I expect them renaming everything in their line up soon. Macbook and Macbook Pro's, lose the Air models.

Apple doesn't sell tech specs. They sell features and user experience. Split view apparently requires 2GB RAM. iPad Air2 already has this so no need to change. Mini didn't have it so they upgraded it. The majority of customers don't understand the tech specs and don't care.

 

[magbarn]

Are people complaining based on actual performance? Are people really going to start using the mini 4 and think "damn if only this was running the A8X"?

We'll see in 2 weeks if the iPhone 6s is noticably faster than the mini 4. If that's the case then Apple definitely left performance on the table by going with the A8 instead of the A9

 

[Xiroteus]

What, no camera flash?

 

[MrGuder]

It's nice to see that Apple is not getting rid of the iPad mini lineup....remember last yr when the iPad mini 3 came out and everyone said it's the end, Apple is abandoning the Mini and now it gets 2 GB of ram. I wonder if the screen on the Mini 4 will still have the hollow sound when you tap it, I hate that sound, makes it feel cheap.

 

[newellj]

iPad 3 is the worst performing tablet after iPad 1.
Sure is more powerful than iPad 2, but has a retina display so it needs to drive all those pixels.
I still use an iPad 3 for my tests, if the app performs well on the iPad 3 I'm sure it will work great on all iPads

Agree. Too many pixels for too little power, and on top of that it weighed a ton. It was literally a boat anchor. Your use is probably the most appropriate thing to do with an iPad 3.

 

[mazz0]

This reminds me how much I love the Air 2. Just thought I'd share!

 

[einmusiker]

Dayummmmmm. Ugh I was hoping I wouldn't be tempted

 

[newellj]

Dayummmmmm. Ugh I was hoping I wouldn't be tempted

Laughing...so was I. I am in go-slow mode, willing to see how it works out for everyone before I jump. So far it does look tempting, but I want to see DisplayMate's review of the new display.

 

[vanzantapple]

What, no camera flash?

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not but IF it did have a flash I would definitely get it.

Also, about the 2G, I'm relieved.

 

[bigcat]

How does the mini 4 compare with iPad 2 in terms of performance? I want to upgrade my son's iPad 2 and while I was waiting for the mini 4 to get that (the smaller size makes it more convenient), I am now considering the Air 2 instead since it shows twice the graphics performance. He uses the iPad for gaming mostly. Not sure what to do now. It sounds like the mini 4 will be underpowered pretty soon since they used the older chip.

 

[Xiroteus]

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not but IF it did have a flash I would definitely get it.

Also, about the 2G, I'm relieved.

I kind of left that open ended.

I am serious based on an android tablet I used. The camera was handy because the screen size allowed for easy editing etc.. And it was not so big to look completely crazy using it as a camera.

 

[magbarn]

How does the mini 4 compare with iPad 2 in terms of performance? I want to upgrade my son's iPad 2 and while I was waiting for the mini 4 to get that (the smaller size makes it more convenient), I am now considering the Air 2 instead since it shows twice the graphics performance. He uses the iPad for gaming mostly. Not sure what to do now. It sounds like the mini 4 will be underpowered pretty soon since they used the older chip.

Wait for the reviews to come out first. We're currently speculating whether the A8 in the mini 4 has the same gpu as the iPhone 6 or it has an enhanced one like the A8x. My guess it has the same anemic gpu that has my 6 plus feeling slow (at least compared to my lightning fast Air 2, keep in mind the mini 4 has a much higher resolution than the 6 plus) Honestly if he's into iOS gaming, the triple-core A8X with it's superior GPU should enable much better longevity. Besides, since the Air 2 is now 'old', black friday discounts should place it even much cheaper than the mini 4.

 

[aPple nErd]

Yeah, why is that? My 64GB iPad Air LTE won't even sell at $375. And used iPad Air 2's aren't much more expensive than that.

i guess the market for tablets is dying... probably because i can get a macbook air for almost the same price as an iPad 128gb... apple needs to realize that 8 or 900 for a tablet is absurd.

 

[Dayv]

I was more worried they'd skimp on RAM. Now, does it have an Air-quality display with proper color gamut?

 

[The Game 161]

How does the mini 4 compare with iPad 2 in terms of performance? I want to upgrade my son's iPad 2 and while I was waiting for the mini 4 to get that (the smaller size makes it more convenient), I am now considering the Air 2 instead since it shows twice the graphics performance. He uses the iPad for gaming mostly. Not sure what to do now. It sounds like the mini 4 will be underpowered pretty soon since they used the older chip.

I imagine slightly worse than air 2

 

[Rava]

I hate that Apple has jumped on the smaller=less powerful bandwagon. I didn't buy the mini over the air because it was cheaper, I bought it because I prefer the smaller form factor. Same with my 6 over the 6s. I'd be happy to pay $100 more to get the latest tech. It's more unsatisfying to feel like I have to choose to pay up to $800 for less than last year's technology, or pay a little more than that to get the latest specs in a form factor I don't want.

This year's update isn't terrible, it's actually a little tempting with the ram update and the weight reduction. But looking at those charts, it doesn't look like a great improvement over my mini 2 and I'm not sure that's worth the price of a new mini when the resale value of older tablets plummets so quickly. However, apple's new strategy seems to be major tablet updates every 2 years, so this is probably it until 2017.

 

[TheHurryKayne]

I think i wil buy it.
What about 2016 line up?A10 X for Ipad Pro,A10 for Iphone 7-Ipad Air 3 and A9 for Ipad mini 5?
Then i wonder how good will be to read\write in split screen mode,too small?

 

[Shirasaki]

Pretty solid upgrade from my old iPad mini 1!

While I am still using iPad mini 1 after 2 years of its initial release!

 

[Shirasaki]

I have an iPad 1, iPad 3 and iPad Air. The iPad 3 is actually my favourite. It performed great and I never had any problems with it. I don't like the iPad Air because of one thing. The display. When you type on it or tap the screen, however gently, you hear a cheap tapping sound when your fingers hit the display. This wasn't the case with the earlier iPads. I hate it, it makes the screen feel cheap. I don't know if the iPad Air 2 has the same problem?

I guess I just need to go into the shop and try it out. If the Mini 4 is like that too then I won't be getting one.

Probably apple doesn't figure out a way to remove air layer between screen and touch screen. So you will hear that cheap tap sound when tapping on screen. I don't hear anything on my iPhone 6 plus when tapping by the way, if I don't put it on desktop, letting that protruding camera emit annoying click sound.