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Looking to replace my 6 year old iPad mini... but all the iPad in Apple’s line-up have flaws or missing features.

Current Lineup
iPad Pro (Bendable and previous gen CPU)
iPad Air (Bendable and no FaceID, inferior screen compared to Pro)

Rest of the iPad’s could be fine for me if the supported Pencil 2!

So I hold my breath until Apple releases an iPad that’s for me.
Apple already released the iPad for you, the iPad mini 5. Other than keeping the mini 4 design and supporting Apple pencil 1 instead of 2, it should offer much better performance and user experience than your 6 yo mini.
 
get rid of the bezels already. even the low cost iPad should have that by now. Still waiting on a next gen iPad mini.
 
Current?


Who told you that buying gadgets is an investment?

Who told you that buying gadgets is not? Lightning port is a long term "investment" if you're into Apple. You buy it in 2012, and Apple will support it for a long, long time so you don't have to be worried about switching connectors for a while.

But of course if you own iPad Pro, iPhone, and Apple Watch now, then you gotta have THREE different kind of charging cables while they're designed by ONE tech company that's supposedly praised for its simplicity.
 
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Who told you that buying gadgets is an investment?
It’s a tool, and for many it makes more money than it costs. That’s why people have requests, like cutting battery life in favors of weight. It would make the tool more useful.
 
This sounds like the iPad Air 3 2019 model, but a bit thinner and lighter.

Add 4 speakers, an upgraded 12 megapixel camera with flash, pro-motion and you'd have the equivalent of an iPad Pro 10.5 2017.

Don't forget WiFi 6, 5G and Bluetooth 5.0!
 
I still prefer the iPad Mini. I believe it is well worth the extra $70 for the faster chip (at the time of the 5th gen launch), laminated screen, higher ppi, and one handed use. However, they do need to refresh it more often. To each their own though. I cannot wait for the Mini to be bezel-less. That will be a glorious day!
 
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I can get the want/need for a thinner & lighter devices. However, here's the rub: A coworker "lost" her MacBook Air. It was in her mailbox underneath a bunch of stuff. And this isn't the first time a coworker of mine "lost" their device like that.
 
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If its basically the 2019 Air, but with A13/14 and starts at 64GB for $299 im in.

(Better speakers like the current Air would be nice also)
 
I can get the want/need for a thinner & lighter devices. However, here's the rub: A coworker "lost" her MacBook Air. It was in her mailbox underneath a bunch of stuff. And this isn't the first time a cooker of mine "lost" their device like that.
Your coworkers should be fired.
 
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Honestly this is incredible value for those buying a ipad 9. You get the Air 3 chassis and 10.5 p3 colour laminated screen with touch tone and 4gb RAM all for £299-£329. If they include the A13/14 then even better, but the A12 is still a powerhouse of a processor if they stick with it.
 


The ninth-generation low-cost iPad that Apple is expected to debut in 2021 will feature a design that's based on the third-generation iPad Air that Apple introduced in 2019, reports Mac Otakara, citing Chinese supply chain sources.

ipad-air-gold-16x9.jpg

The display size is expected to remain the same at 10.2 inches, but it will be "significantly thinner" at 6.3mm. The current eighth-generation iPad is 7.5mm thick, so a 6.3mm chassis would mark a significant design change. It is also expected to be lighter at 460 grams vs. the current 490 gram weight.

Mac Otakara says that the device will continue to feature a Touch ID Home button and a Lightning port, with Apple declining to transition to USB-C. It is expected to have a full-lamination display, anti-reflective coating, P3 wide color support, and True Tone.

In addition to the ninth-generation iPad, Mac Otakara has some detail on the next-generation iPad Pro models. Mac Otakara says that the upcoming refresh will not see the changes to the display size or the housing, but the A-series chip performance could be "significantly improved."

Mac Otakara does not mention the rumored 12.9-inch iPad Pro model that is expected to have a mini-LED display, which suggests that this is going to perhaps be a standalone high-end model sold alongside updated iPad Pro models that are getting a more standard refresh. Many iPad Pro rumors we've heard to date have also focused heavily on the 12.9-inch model and have suggested that this will indeed be a higher-end version.

Back in December, a rumor from Chinese website cnBeta echoed much of what Mac Otakara had to say today, but claimed that the next-generation iPad will have a 10.5-inch display, an A13 Bionic chip, and 4GB RAM.

That rumor suggested that the new iPad could perhaps see reduced pricing, with Apple selling it for $299 rather than $329. The iPad refresh has been rumored for the spring of 2021, but that may be an optimistic estimate as the eighth-generation iPad was released in September.


Article Link: Next Low-Cost iPad Said to Feature Thinner, Lighter Design
I really doubt they will do the full laminated display. These iPads are primarily focused on the education market and they need cheap and easy repair. By having the digitizer laminated to the LCD they have to replace both instead of just the digitizer when students break them. Apple tried laminating them for the Air 2 and sold it to schools but the cost of repair was too high so they brought back the 'iPad' for schools and left the laminated displays in the 'iPad Air' line for consumers.
 
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If Apple care about consistency, iPad should be renamed to iPad SE. Like iPhone SE, it leverages older, cheaper design to hit the entry level price point while using newer processor to run modern apps.

iPad Air should be renamed to iPad, which is essentially as good iPad Pro while foregoing few pricier components more demanding users care about (e.g., Face ID, camera system, premium display) to hit the sweet spot.
They don’t want the devaluation that comes from the “SE” brand. They want people to see iPad as normal but now on sale, Air as premium, and Pro as MacBook-level pricing.
 
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It’s a tool, and for many it makes more money than it costs. That’s why people have requests, like cutting battery life in favors of weight. It would make the tool more useful.
I agree with you that some gadgets could be a tool to make money, agree with that point of view. But to make it clear, an investment and a tool are not the same, so I still state that buying gadgets is not necessarily an investment, at least not a pure and direct investment.
 
I'd love to upgrade my 2017 10.5" pro. Okay if it's "just" to an A14X chip.
 
Just bought the iPad 8. If this thing does come out in March like the other report said, I might be peeved. Though if it keeps the A12 w/ 3gb RAM I won’t be too upset (which seems likely if it is a re-shelled air 3).
 
I'd be so happy if they made a big screen 13"+, LCD, headphone jack, and touch ID. I know that's a huge no because I'm a niche market.

I literally just want it for use as a portable television.
 
I still prefer the iPad Mini. I believe it is well worth the extra $70 for the faster chip (at the time of the 5th gen launch), laminated screen, higher ppi, and one handed use. However, they do need to refresh it more often. To each their own though. I cannot wait for the Mini to be bezel-less. That will be a glorious day!

I'm afraid iPad Mini is like the iPod Touch of iPad world. It will not be updated as often. And when it does it'd be a lackluster upgrade.

Bezelless iPad Mini? That's great! But then again iPod Touch has never seen TouchID, even after all these years until Apple ditched it for FaceID. So don't get your hopes up, really.
 
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