Original iPad Mini From 2012 Now Considered 'Vintage' by Apple

[Oohara]

This brings to mind one of my favourite MacRumors threads of all time: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/there-will-not-be-an-ipad-mini.1400464/

Here's to many more years of the wonderful Mini!

 

[segfaultdotorg]

It was unofficially classified as ‘useless’ a long time ago.

I had one - the 512 MB (not GB, lol) of RAM made it pretty limited. I dropped it a couple of times and it eventually developed the "ghost touch" problem where the screen would randomly zoom in and out, random things would get clicked on, etc., so I replaced it with a refurbished iPad mini 2. I still use that one today and have no plans to replace it.

I also have two Fire tablets. I like them, as well, but they are substantially thicker and heavier than a comparable iPad (but also substantially cheaper).

 

[PickUrPoison]

Yeah, you could have 299 tabs in Safari open at once (kind like my grandma inadvertently keeps doing)

Ha I’m almost at 400 and my 6s only has 2GB 🤣

 

[Shanghaichica]

The first iPad mini was my first iPad. I had it for about 18 months before I upgraded to the iPad Air. I’ve had every generation of the mini and currently have the 5th gen.

 

[quatermass]

Well if that’s the identifier 1/2 my wardrobe is vintage now ! Finally street cred with hipsters. But I gotta get my hands on one of these 512GB ram minis ASAP !!

Have I got a deal for you! Original iPad mini, slightly used, no scratches, original charger, box and paperwork!

 

[MPclk2006]

My 4 year old watches videos on the original mini, it keeps on ticking. My 2011 iMac 21.5 crashed in 2019. So yes, it's definitely obsolete 🙃 (loving the 27" upgrade though).

My 2008 iMac still works, granted we dont use it that much but still works haha.

 

[Fatdogperry]

Love it then, but very laggy but still works today.

 

[TVreporter]

Still in use by my kids for their Osmo educational setup, some games and YouTube videos.

Logged many years of use - amazing device and still going strong!

 

[B4U]

Vintage means no longer supported. You need to buy a newer model.
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I had the mini 5 (64GB cellular) for a little over a year and upgraded to the iPad Pro 11 128GB cellular a month ago.

You missed the joke there... 😨

 

[Mr. Dee]

I guess that means I can still keep my 2017 iPad Pro going until 2025 then.

 

[scupking]

My 3 year old uses one everyday to play her games or watch videos. Might last until 2022!

 

[skipper63]

Still use my mini daily as a chess computer.

 

[zombierunner]

I am waiting to buy an updated iPad Mini with Pro style bezels.

 

[amartinez1660]

The original iPad mini from 2012 has slimmer top and bottom bezels than the 2019 5th Generation. What a shame.

View attachment 939452

yeah, but it has like 100x the processing power (random number), maybe they needed that couple extra hairs long of space. Not THAT much of a shame.

 

[amartinez1660]

we had one at work. glitchiest apple device I've ever used. just threw it out last year

Maybe a lemon? My experience with iPads are that I don’t even have to restart them for months and months at a time and it’s always working snappy.

Have had: iPad 2, iPad Air (very first one still alive and running), iPad Pro 11 2018.

 

[leejmac]

Still using the original mini with iOS 6.1.3 on it, mainly for Spotify. The old UI is so much better than the current one.

View attachment 939322

How I wish it was practical to run iOS6 an all my iOS devices (I've devoted a lot of time and effort to making Mojave look like Mavericks).

 

[Digitalguy]

I guess that means I can still keep my 2017 iPad Pro going until 2025 then.

June 2024

 

[Wokis]

Ran one side by side iOS 9 vs an iPad 2 (same hardware) with iOS 6 still on it and let me tell you they were both sluggish and could load pretty much the same length of a website (not much).

I don’t find my OG mini much useful anymore but it is still in excellent cosmetic condition so I keep it charged (it uses Lightning!) on a table in the toolshed for no reason other than painful google sessions.

If they updated the screen to body ratio in the next mini I’d be all over it.

 

[pshifrin]

flashback to when we had a few delivered for a work project.

 

[hot-gril]

Still using the original mini with iOS 6.1.3 on it, mainly for Spotify. The old UI is so much better than the current one.

Like the Music app UI on an iPhone. I picked up my iPhone 4 running iOS 6 and thought wow, this is great.

 

[Christian 5G]

Still remember I saved up for one in high school and bought it first thing when it came out, was so excited 😀

 

[djlythium]

A groundbreaking device when it debuted!

 

[SkippyThorson]

I picked up an original iPad Mini in slate grey because they color is simply awesome.

While it’s certainly a little long on the tooth, it still feels better at this age than most first-gen Apple products in their vintage phase.

Side note - the people on a tech forum not getting the 512gb Ram joke is kind of scary.

 

[Seanm87]

A groundbreaking device when it debuted!

Wasn’t it just following the trends of other small tablets at the time?

Not a hater btw my first iPad was this model and I loved it. I think Apple only released it due to losing sales to the compact tablets by competitors.

 

[Mr Fide]

We had one of these. I wonder where it is.