iPad reports wrong capacity

[PBMB]

I have an iPad mini 4, the 16 GB model. I noticed recently that in Settings --> General --> About, it reports a capacity of 11.8 GB instead of 16 GB. In more detail, in Settings --> General --> Storage & iCloud usage, it says:

used: 7.1 GB
available: 4.5 GB

which adds up to 11.6 GB. Obviously there is a 200 MB missing here with respect to the reported 11.8 GB, but this is perhaps more easy to explain. What I don't understand at all is why the iPad reports in the "About" section a capacity of 11.8 instead of 16 GB. We talk about more than 4 GB missing here over a total of 16! Completely ludicrous.

This iPad had initially iOS 8 and received all the system updates up to iOS 9.3.2, if that matters. iCloud was never active, so a mess up at this level is not possible. Does anyone know how could I reclaim the missing GB's?

Thanks!

 

[myrtlebee]

No, that's correct. Apple never accounts for the GB iOS takes up when stating the capacity of their devices, as strange as that may seem. Also, no iPad mini 4 was ever shipped with iOS 8. They all shipped with 9.

 

[ericwn]

Also this might help: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201402

 

[PBMB]

No, that's correct. Apple never accounts for the GB iOS takes up when stating the capacity of their devices, as strange as that may seem.

Well, I installed an application giving the details of "disk" usage. It says that the 11.8 GB correspond to /DEV/DISK0S1S2. There are also 3.0 GB in /DEV/DISK0S1S1 that appear nowhere in the built-in system reports. This is likely the missing link.

Also, no iPad mini 4 was ever shipped with iOS 8. They all shipped with 9.

Now I remember very clearly that mine (bought in September 2015) had initially some version of iOS 8, which I kept for one or two months. This is confirmed also by the release dates: 9 September 2015 for iPad mini 4 and 16 September 2015 for iOS 9.

 

[myrtlebee]

Now I remember very clearly that mine (bought in September 2015) had initially some version of iOS 8, which I kept for one or two months. This is confirmed also by the release dates: 9 September 2015 for iPad mini 4 and 16 September 2015 for iOS 9.

That's simply not true. It was shipped with iOS 9. It was introduced on Sep 9 during the keynote. Here are some links including one from right here on MacRumors (yes, Wikipedia is correct in this instance):

https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/ipad-mini/

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/fea...phone-ipad-and-ipod-touch-740624?site=classic

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad_Mini_4

 

[PBMB]

These links prove nothing. In the same logic I can find links listing the iPad mini 4 in the devices that can be updated to iOS 9. Here is an example.

My guess is that the very first batch of iPad mini 4 that was out of the factory before the launch of iOS 9, shipped with iOS 8 and represented an insignificant volume to draw anyone's attention.

But it could be also the difference between Europe and the U.S.A. For example, my iPad is a cellular model but without an Apple SIM inside when I bought it. When, two months later, I asked for such a card in the US, following the suggestion of Apple itself (see footnote 2 in the linked page), I was told that this is not possible since all the cellular iPads ship with the Apple SIM already installed. Which of course was not universally true because in the Apple Retail Store of my city not only this card was not available, either as a separate or built-in item, but the staff also was not aware of its existence.