Thank you for all of this good info. I'll take a look at a few things and see if anything changes. I really love it otherwise.
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Is now a good time to buy the mini 4?
- Thread starter kmac007
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Thank you for all of this good info. I'll take a look at a few things and see if anything changes. I really love it otherwise.
You're welcome, and good luck. Battery life is a tricky thing. There are so many factors that can influence it.
In the next few days I'm pretty sure I'll be returning for the air 2! Thought I'd like the smaller size more but feeling 9.7 is perfect size!
Wow $100 off is a great deal, I wonder why they aren't offering this discount in Canada.
Because we don't get the discounts haha it's sad and true, the only adjusting to prices in Canada is when it goes up...
Agreed, then on top we have to pay double the tax!! Time to trade in my health care for Apple discounts.
The iPad Mini has been updated every year so far, and its only the Air that hasn't been updated but then you could argue that's becuase of the new Pro, they won't want to affect the new Pro's sales.
Updating the internals isn't a big update, I would expect to see it in September to October.
I do not count the Mini 3 as an update. And even so, the iPad world is not the same as it used to be.
You may not count the iPad 3 as an update but Apple does. And the iPad world has not changed, they have not updated the Air to promote the iPad Pro sales, the Air will be out later this year then and I fully expect the Mini to receive a spec update, otherwise it will be the slowest performing iPad by quite some distance.
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That's why I said that I don't think the Mini will get a "real" update. Maybe it will get a Mini 3 style update were they give it a new colour and some other superficial change to justify selling it for the same price as a year ago.
You think that a new Air is coming out later this year? No way. The new Pro is the successor to the Air 2. The Mini 4 won't fall any farther behind the current 9.7" iPad because there's not another one coming this year. It will remain roughly on par with the Air 2, and probably get a real update to "pro" like specs in 2017. I expect the Mini line to stay roughly a generation behind the larger iPads.
The Air 2 was launched in 2014 so your suggesting Apple will not update the Air for 3 years?
And in case you didn't know, in the US now the Mini is the exact same starting price as the Air 2 because if the price drop, it all hints far more towards spec updates later this year. And updating the internal specs are not significant updates, that would be what a redesign is classed as I think.
Anyway, if you like the Mini and want to buy it now then buy it, any updates won't happen till September to October time.
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With all due respect, you don't seem to understand that the 9.7" Pro is the update to the Air. There's not going to be an Air 3, just as there was no iPad 5. The Air was the successor to the iPad 4. The new Pro is the successor to the Air 2. There's not going to be two physically indistinguishable 9.7" iPad product lines.
That's just purely your personal opinion. So please don't say 'with all due respect' as it presents your opinion as a fact.
And considering the extra cost of the Pro and popularity of the standard 9.7" tablet I would say an opinion with little evidence.
I'd say that it's more of a deduction than an opinion, but time will tell.
You're right that the 9.7" model is the popular mainstream version, but with iPad sales having reached an inevitable plateau, it does not seem logical to fragment the market by investing in more product lines as they sell fewer total units. I think that a price drop for the new Pro, bringing it down to standard iPad prices in the fall/holidays makes a lot more sense than launching another 9.7" model which would either have inferior specs to the 6 month older Pro, or be an Air with better specs than the more expensive Pro. These scenarios don't make sense.
Regarding update between iPad mini 2(retina) and mini 3, there wasn't much things going on to take as big update, yet Apple wanted to make sure to let customers know something new every year. I think mini 4 improved much from 2 and 3, and last year they introduced Apple Pencil at same time mini 4 came. When iPad Pro 12.9" came last winter, Apple Pencil support was one of its big selling points, that's probably one of reason mini 4 didn't have it. I think it's possible Apple brings Apple Pencil future this later year update, since now they know actually this mini has a lot of supporters and lot of like, and people seems like they like/want Apple Pencil support on whatever size of their iPads.
I've seen rumor telling Air update will coming on this fall as well, but I don't know, they possibly not decided it yet, observing how this new 9.7" Pro sells and make a plans?
I've been hearing another rumor that mini will be discontinued and 4 will be last update, but after mini 4 sold good, they may continue and new update coming in this year or next.
I've seen rumor telling Air update will coming on this fall as well, but I don't know, they possibly not decided it yet, observing how this new 9.7" Pro sells and make a plans?
I've been hearing another rumor that mini will be discontinued and 4 will be last update, but after mini 4 sold good, they may continue and new update coming in this year or next.
So now your are suggesting that Apple will drop the price of the brand new iPad Pro in the same year they launched it? You have more chance of winning the lottery 1000 times then that ever happening!
You seemed to have totally mis-read the idea behind the iPad Pro range and where it is targeted at? It is not aimed at the average consumer iPad user, hence the 'Pro' moniker and it's price tag, the only reason Apple dropped the Air price was to better space itself from the new Pro.
The standard iPads will not have Apple Pencil support or the new fancy screen tech for instance, these are some of the features that separate the Pro range from the standard iPad range and is why they justify the price increase.
Anyway, this is now dragging this thread off topic so best not talk about this anymore in this thread.