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iPad mini 4

Donka

Donka

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 3, 2011
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1,467
Scotland
Okay, I'm very satisfied with the Air 2 but have a mini 2 that I didn't see the point in upgrading to the 3 since it was a minimal change.
I haven't seen much in the way of mini rumours will be looking to pick one up provided it has the following:

2GB RAM
Improved bonded screen
A8X or higher.

I won't be buying another iOS device unless it has 2GB RAM as a minimum. The second price tier being 64GB as well as Touch ID is very welcome.
 
I just posted this in another thread:
I think the Mini 4 will just be a 8-inch, A8X based iPad Air 3. It will get the same camera (which definitely has room for improvement on the Air 2), and if the Air 3 gets Force Touch, which I think is likely, the Mini 4 will as well. If the Air 3 gets battery life improvements, which is a step in the right direction, they probably won't apply to the Mini 4, but you get the idea. Most people should be satisfied.
Sure, it won't have an A9, but the A8X is a powerhouse anyway. I don't care that much about the Mini 4 as I use an Air 2 and don't intend to go smaller, but it's fun to speculate.
 
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I think it will be a smaller Air 2. I think they set the precedent this year by keeping the Mini line one year behind the Air line. With the Air 2 technology now being a year older, they can cram that into the mini and make a nice margin even with the lower price point. I haven't found the need to upgrade from my rMini/Mini2 yet, either. If it is a smaller Air 2, I'm going to try to wait another year and go for the Mini5 (if it's a smaller Air 3). That's assuming they still keep the Mini line, since many think the 6+ and smaller Airs have started to make it obsolete. I couldn't disagree more. I still think the Mini is the perfect size as a complementary device to the regular size iphone 6.
 
Actually, I forgot about a better camera. I really think the iPad cameras need to improve - not because I go out in public and use it as a point and shoot but because it is really handy for pictures for posting on eBay listings, scanning documents etc.
 
I have the iPad Mini 2 and the iPad Air 2, along with the iPhone 6+. Over the past year I have found that I tend to carry just the iPhone with me when going out, whereas in the past the iPad Mini went with me everywhere, and that even at home I use the iPad Air 2 much, much more frequently than the iPad Mini, so I'm thinking that I probably won't buy an iPad Mini 4 this time around if one is offered. I am intending to buy the iPad Air 3, though.....
 
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psac said:
I think it will be a smaller Air 2. I think they set the precedent this year by keeping the Mini line one year behind the Air line. With the Air 2 technology now being a year older, they can cram that into the mini and make a nice margin even with the lower price point. I haven't found the need to upgrade from my rMini/Mini2 yet, either. If it is a smaller Air 2, I'm going to try to wait another year and go for the Mini5 (if it's a smaller Air 3). That's assuming they still keep the Mini line, since many think the 6+ and smaller Airs have started to make it obsolete. I couldn't disagree more. I still think the Mini is the perfect size as a complementary device to the regular size iphone 6.
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Trust me, they will not do that. Even the Mini 3 was better than the Air, with the advantage of Touch ID. I don't doubt that it will have an A8X, which by the way is an amazing chip, but but both will have Force Touch, and both will have the same camera. Other changes like improved resolution, better battery life or more RAM, will probably be Air 3 exclusive, but those changes are quite unlikely. Would like to see better battery life though.
 
Clix Pix said:
I have the iPad Mini 2 and the iPad Air 2, along with the iPhone 6+. Over the past year I have found that I tend to carry just the iPhone with me when going out, whereas in the past the iPad Mini went with me everywhere, and that even at home I use the iPad Air 2 much, much more frequently than the iPad Mini, so I'm thinking that I probably won't buy an iPad Mini 4 this time around if one is offered. I am intending to buy the iPad Air 3, though.....
Click to expand...

6 Plus? iPad Mini 2? iPad Air 2? Why go with the Air 3? When a iPad Pro will be more appropriate to your lineup?

But I do think the Mini 4 will have the same specs as the Air 2... I think Apple will be updating the Mini & introducing the iPad Pro, I'd doubt they update the Air line due to the iPad Pro... Enticing shoppers to go with the newer bigger/faster model..
 
Ludatyk said:
6 Plus? iPad Mini 2? iPad Air 2? Why go with the Air 3? When a iPad Pro will be more appropriate to your lineup?

But I do think the Mini 4 will have the same specs as the Air 2... I think Apple will be updating the Mini & introducing the iPad Pro, I'd doubt they update the Air line due to the iPad Pro... Enticing shoppers to go with the newer bigger/faster model..
Click to expand...


They will update the iPad Air or 9.7 inch model because it's the more mainstream version of the 2. A 12 inch is quite huge and I would think a bit large for travel. Plus price wise $499 for the basic model is quite a lot of money for some people and then increasing it to $599 at least for the pro would lose sales overall.
 
nj-morris said:
I just posted this in another thread:
I think the Mini 4 will just be a 8-inch, A8X based iPad Air 3. It will get the same camera (which definitely has room for improvement on the Air 2), and if the Air 3 gets Force Touch, which I think is likely, the Mini 4 will as well. If the Air 3 gets battery life improvements, which is a step in the right direction, they probably won't apply to the Mini 4, but you get the idea. Most people should be satisfied.
Sure, it won't have an A9, but the A8X is a powerhouse anyway. I don't care that much about the Mini 4 as I use an Air 2 and don't intend to go smaller, but it's fun to speculate.
Click to expand...
I don't think that the iPad Mini 4 will have an A8X chip. My reasoning for this is that Apple seems to include only "regular" A-chips in their iPad Minis and not "X" chips. For example, the iPad Mini 2 could have had an A6X chip instead of the A7 chip to keep it a generation behind the iPad Air, but they chose to include an A7 in it. Perhaps the smaller bodies of the iPad Minis do not allow for "X" chips due to their larger size?

I believe that we will see an A9 chip in the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s+, and the iPad Mini 4 (since it probably won't be a huge upgrade from the A8X anyway which already has a third core), an A9 chip clocked higher and with a heat spreader in the iPad Air 3 (like the iPad Air's A7), and an A9X chip reserved for the iPad Pro.

As for force touch, I personally don't believe the iPads will get it this year (as we haven't heard any rumors that they will, only for the iPhone 6s and 6s+). I think they will see how things go with the iPhones this year and then include force touch on next year's iPads. They could hold back that feature just like they did Touch-ID.
 
Andres Cantu said:
I don't think that the iPad Mini 4 will have an A8X chip. My reasoning for this is that Apple seems to include only "regular" A-chips in their iPad Minis and not "X" chips. For example, the iPad Mini 2 could have had an A6X chip instead of the A7 chip to keep it a generation behind the iPad Air, but they chose to include an A7 in it. Perhaps the smaller bodies of the iPad Minis do not allow for "X" chips due to their larger size?

I believe that we will see an A9 chip in the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s+, and the iPad Mini 4 (since it probably won't be a huge upgrade from the A8X anyway which already has a third core), an A9 chip clocked higher and with a heat spreader in the iPad Air 3 (like the iPad Air's A7), and an A9X chip reserved for the iPad Pro.

As for force touch, I personally don't believe the iPads will get it this year (as we haven't heard any rumors that they will, only for the iPhone 6s and 6s+). I think they will see how things go with the iPhones this year and then include force touch on next year's iPads. They could hold back that feature just like they did Touch-ID.
Click to expand...

Well for one there have been rumours of Force Touch on the iPad: there was one suggesting that the iPad Pro would have it. And if the Pro has it, I don't see any reason why the others won't. And also, there was one article, can't remember if it was on MacRumors or another site, citing some Silver Nano Wire that could be used for it, which makes sense considering that an iPad is far too big to have for instance the FT trackpad technology.
And I also believed at first that they wouldn't use an X chip for the Mini, but the general difference between the chips used in the Air and the Mini is that the Air is always slightly higher clocked, and has RAM mounted on the logic board rather than inside the chip. So I don't see why they can't just make a 1.4GHz A8X with RAM inside the chip.
 
Closingracer said:
They will update the iPad Air or 9.7 inch model because it's the more mainstream version of the 2. A 12 inch is quite huge and I would think a bit large for travel. Plus price wise $499 for the basic model is quite a lot of money for some people and then increasing it to $599 at least for the pro would lose sales overall.
Click to expand...

My thought process is dropping the Air 2 from 499 to 399 & when introducing the iPad Pro having that at 499.

With the Surface 3 at 499... I don't see why Apple will price that at 599 over the Surface 3. I enjoy my Air 2, but Microsoft did well pricing the Surface 3 at 499. Most would compare the Air 2 to the Surface 3... But I think the Surface 3 has more to offer at that price point.

And pricing the iPad Pro at 499 would be much better comparison to the Surface 3, although we don't know much of what the iPad Pro has to offer. But pricing the iPad Pro above the Surface 3 just wouldn't make sense to me.
 
Ludatyk said:
My thought process is dropping the Air 2 from 499 to 399 & when introducing the iPad Pro having that at 499.

With the Surface 3 at 499... I don't see why Apple will price that at 599 over the Surface 3. I enjoy my Air 2, but Microsoft did well pricing the Surface 3 at 499. Most would compare the Air 2 to the Surface 3... But I think the Surface 3 has more to offer at that price point.

And pricing the iPad Pro at 499 would be much better comparison to the Surface 3, although we don't know much of what the iPad Pro has to offer. But pricing the iPad Pro above the Surface 3 just wouldn't make sense to me.
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iPad pro also doesn't technically exist either.
 
Ludatyk said:
Obviously, it doesn't exist. The Mini 4 doesn't technically exist neither... But we're all pretty much speculating, that's the point of it all..
Click to expand...


The mini is a line that exists ....the pro isn't .... The mini should have an upgrade lined up.


Also the Air 3 will be upgraded ...
 
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nj-morris said:
Well for one there have been rumours of Force Touch on the iPad: there was one suggesting that the iPad Pro would have it. And if the Pro has it, I don't see any reason why the others won't. And also, there was one article, can't remember if it was on MacRumors or another site, citing some Silver Nano Wire that could be used for it, which makes sense considering that an iPad is far too big to have for instance the FT trackpad technology.
And I also believed at first that they wouldn't use an X chip for the Mini, but the general difference between the chips used in the Air and the Mini is that the Air is always slightly higher clocked, and has RAM mounted on the logic board rather than inside the chip. So I don't see why they can't just make a 1.4GHz A8X with RAM inside the chip.
Click to expand...
Good point. I guess we'll have to wait and see how big a difference the iPhone 6s's A9 chip is compared to the A8X. If it's not that much, then I can see them using an A9 on both iPads to take advantage of economies of scale, much like they did with the A7.
 
Closingracer said:
The mini is a line that exists ....the pro isn't .... The mini should have an upgrade lined up.


Also the Air 3 will be upgraded ...
Click to expand...

Just because the line exist doesn't mean it would be updated annually. Although history shows that Apple updates iPads every year... I wouldn't be so sure to guarantee it.

The iPod Touch was supposedly meant to be updated yearly.. But haven't seen a major update since 2012.
 
Ludatyk said:
Just because the line exist doesn't mean it would be updated annually. Although history shows that Apple updates iPads every year... I wouldn't be so sure to guarantee it.

The iPod Touch was supposedly meant to be updated yearly.. But haven't seen a major update since 2012.
Click to expand...



As I said the Air 3 will be updated .....
 
Closingracer said:
As I said the Air 3 will be updated .....
Click to expand...

Fair enough.. I believe you mean the Air 2 will be updated. Although... I really don't see what more that can be added to make it appealing to people who owns an Air 2. Force Touch? Better Resolution? Camera upgrade?

We shall see what Apple has up its sleeve...
 
Ludatyk said:
Fair enough.. I believe you mean the Air 2 will be updated. Although... I really don't see what more that can be added to make it appealing to people who owns an Air 2. Force Touch? Better Resolution? Camera upgrade?

We shall see what Apple has up its sleeve...
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm anxious to see what they have up their sleeve as well. Whenever I think there isnt anything they can do to impres me, I'm wrong. I like being wrong in this instance.
 
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Just sold my iPad mini (1st gen) yesterday, it was simply getting too slow and I figured I may as well sell it while they still command a decent bit of money.

Now, what to replace it with? It's a bit of a dilemma. The Air 2 looks very interesting with the new multitasking capabilities of iOS 9, and I have always wanted to try a larger iPad. However, I have also come to the conclusion that I want a lighter more portable laptop than the rMBP 13" and may just spring for a rMB in a year or two when they are improved upon, with a decent processor. That would create a bit of an overlap between an Air 2 and rMB, I would think.

Maybe the Mini 4 will be the answer?

Or, maybe a rMB would leave any iPad redundant? Hmm... Then there's the Surface 3, which would ultimately replace both an iPad and the rMBP - as I could get by with doing all the heavy tasks on my iMac 27". The Surface 3 would also allow me to do game streaming with my Xbox One..

Decisions, decisions. Anyway I'm very interested in the Mini 4 - I hope it finally gets the update it deserves.
 
i will grab mini 4 for my daughter since i promise her if she good kid ,

also i like it - mini 4 i m ready for u,
 
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