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While the new Air is undeniably awesome, and most users will choose that over the mini (I can certainly understand why), the mini is hands down my favorite iPad I have owned/used to date.

For my specific interests: sketching & note taking (w/ Pencil 2), audio creation (pairs well with my Roli seaboard, block and GarageBand setup), and some light content consumption - it is incredible. I find the physical dimensions preferable to the "regular sized" iPads (and certainly more so than the Pros). But again, very specific needs on my part. At the end of the day, Apple is crushing their tablet game - offering killer options for almost every type of user.
 
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I loved my mini back when I had one. It’s the perfect tablet for browsing.

Seeing as I don’t use iPads for anything special other than consuming I’ve become accustomed to snatching up deals through my work. I got the Air 4 at Christmas for pretty much half price. I wish it had M1 and 5G but hey can’t complain about a half priced iPad.
 
I’d say get neither because Touch ID sux. I’ve been using Mini since launch Touch ID is hit or miss. I registered two fingers but I mostly unlock with same fingers. I can’t seem to get the mini unlock with the other finger. It’s for landscape orientation where I use my left hand to unlock but it seems Apple is using some kind of machine learning. Even my main finger it sometimes does not want to unlock, I blame it on small surface area of Touch ID. I really miss Face ID from my iPhone.
 
The front 'flash' is just a white screen, which is a mess if you wear glasses. But yeah, don't use a tablet to take photos...
Looks like Apple was lazy and wanted to save costs. They were too lazy to drill a hole for the flash and move the internal parts for the flash to fit. Anyway flash in not that important/useful in an iPad right?
The most damning part is, the mini 6 has the flash though! ?
 
The new Air is certainly a nice device. I wish they would do a 12,9" version, but I guess they happily see people buy the Pro for that. And maybe we see a scaled down version sans (pronounced) jelly scrolling next year.
 
The only real takeaway here is that the Mini is just a little too expensive. But Mini fans already knew that. Doesn't change the reasons why they want the Mini instead.
I had the mini 2 for a long time and was very happy with it. Now, with the mini 6 I look at it and wonder, how I was able to use it. The mini 6 is hands down the best Apple Pad/phone out there and well worth its money. I ditched my phone and just use this, the few actual phone calls I make run over bluetooth buds. It fits in the inside pocked of any Jacket, slim, light, not visible.
My girlfriend swears by her iPad pro, because "it got the M1 man" to that I can say, yes? For what? Any app, now or future, that can use it? All that memory but apps are restricted, so you can't use it. It is NOT running MacOS, it is running iPadOS. I am fine with my A15bionic. The M1 is in my MBA, it's awesome, best laptop ever. And used when needed.
The big iPad leaves no choice, on the go there is no portability, needs a case, needs a bag, so you might as well have an MBA with you. Cheaper, bigger screen, real keyboard, same portability.
No, iPad mini ftw.
 
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In short buy the Mini if you really have to, because its costing you more considering how fast it would age, relatively.

Good point about it aging faster - I imagine the M series processors making their way into all iPads except the mini...
 
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So for $100 more you get a larger screen, M1 and double the RAM(8GB vs 4GB) with the iPad Air but lose portability.
The only reason to choose the Mini is for portability. If not the iPad Air is the way to go. The $100 price difference is worth it just for the M1 alone.
Yeah. But keep in mind technology moves on, and the the Air's larger battery is in a better position to sustain the M1 processor. Hopefully with chip manufacturing improvements, iPad Mini 7 with M1 chip will launch in September.
 
Not that significant. I have compared them carefully in an Apple Store and iPad mini 6 is much significant.
I own an iPad mini 6 and have also compared many iPads and iPhones at home and at Apple Stores. The mini 6 "jelly scroll" is absolutely identical to that of other iPads and iPhones. The iPad Air 4 has an equal amount of scrolling distortion in landscape orientation as the mini 6 does in portrait orientation. And the Air 5 will likely be the same. The only "mistake" Apple made was orienting the mini 6 display components so that the jelly scroll is in portrait orientation, which creates the illusion that jelly scroll is more pronounced because of the narrower text field.
 
I’d say get neither because Touch ID sux. I’ve been using Mini since launch Touch ID is hit or miss. I registered two fingers but I mostly unlock with same fingers. I can’t seem to get the mini unlock with the other finger. It’s for landscape orientation where I use my left hand to unlock but it seems Apple is using some kind of machine learning. Even my main finger it sometimes does not want to unlock, I blame it on small surface area of Touch ID. I really miss Face ID from my iPhone.
My mini 6 touch ID works flawlessly and instantly. You might want to re-register your fingerprints or get your iPad checked if it continues to cause problems for you.
 
Cancelled my Mini order the moment I saw the new iPad Air price. Interestingly enough I am now wondering why I need an iPad at all since I already have the MBP 14 M1 Max.
Just my use case, of course, but I like taking handwritten notes. There’s something about writing with an actual pen.
It has completely replaced paper on my desk. In fact, whenever I need a simple post-it now, I have to go through boxes and cupboards to find one.

Do you (general you, not you specifically) need an iPad? Probably not. But wanting one is a legitimate reason to get one, imo.
 
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Still not a standalone device with its own native calculator, weather, phone, SMS, and no WhatsApp.
The same could be said about Macs, they don't have their own phone, SMS, and no WhatsApp features either without being paired to a phone.

I’d say get neither because Touch ID sux. I’ve been using Mini since launch Touch ID is hit or miss. I registered two fingers but I mostly unlock with same fingers. I can’t seem to get the mini unlock with the other finger. It’s for landscape orientation where I use my left hand to unlock but it seems Apple is using some kind of machine learning. Even my main finger it sometimes does not want to unlock, I blame it on small surface area of Touch ID. I really miss Face ID from my iPhone.
While I share the experience with khunsanook in that the TouchID on my mini works fine and rarely fails to identify my fingerprint, I agree that FaceID is a much nicer experience and I do miss it on my iPad.
 
Still not a standalone device with its own native calculator, weather, phone, SMS, and no WhatsApp.
I use my mini6 as stand alone device. I mean mobile. I do not have an iPhone anymore, my son was very happy to get mine. I found out, that Apple had the genius idea to integrate an app store into the system.
So, a calculator is no problem if you do not want to use the integrated one (Siri or camera), weather the same, again, I just ask Siri but you could look at the screen, phone needs an app (mobile voip for the dailer, free) SMS is integrated, natively and Whatsapp I do not know, I do not use facebook. I have several messengers from Signal over Telegram to iMessage (the main used one) and never had a problem.
So, besides Whats app, no idea what for, there seems to be no problem. The iPhone has a better camera but thats all, it has a way smaller screen and costs depending on the model, up to twice as much.
Is the camera really worth that money? Or Whats app? That is only blocked because Apple is not allowing it on the iPad store, phone only. technically there is no reason why whats app should not work.
 
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Another factor in the Mini 6 favour is the 326 ppi screen resolution, which is the highest PPI on an iPad ever, so super sharp display. Also its portability is ridiculous, it just slips straight into a jacket pocket no problems (Wife takes it everywhere with her). It also has better battery life in some scenarios than the Air 4 due its A15 chip being so efficient when playing videos.
 
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Thanks for the info. My plan is to replace iPhone and use a bigger screen. I do not need fancy camera. Pro Max has big screen (not big enough) but too costly. iPad mini should be good but it is not iPhone replacement. I rely mostly on WhatsApp at work. I also use SSH terminal. On calculator, I can’t find one that does not show ads. I don’t care about weather. I hardly use phone but SMS will be good to receive confirmation etc. May be it work… I just guess since it has no phone, it probably has no SMS too. So I bought Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite. What a crap. Too heavy. Too slow. Too big. I think I wait until WhatsApp has native iPad App then I will checkout iPad mini.
 
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My mini 6 touch ID works flawlessly and instantly. You might want to re-register your fingerprints or get your iPad checked if it continues to cause problems for you.
Nothing wrong with mine I’ve already registered multiple fingers. It doesn’t work well on other fingers that I don’t unlock daily. Even my main finger if it gets a little dry it just won’t unlock. Face ID works every time except of course without mask.
 
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