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Sketchy Rumor Claims 'iPad Mini Pro' Launching in Second Half of 2021
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I think the iPad Air Mini makes more sense.
- iPad and iPad Mini for those that want a low price, and don't care about the design or prefer the home button
- an iPad Air and iPad Air Mini (or just an iPad Air at two sizes) for those that want a new design and faster performance
- iPad Pro (at two sizes) that maximizes the best performance and features at the highest price.
This may make sense and should provide something for nearly everyone at every price range.
This would make sense to me - as the current mini is (was) closer to the last gen Air than the regular iPad (laminated screen/bezel %). You could extrapolate that the new mini should look more like the newer Air. We'll find out soon enough.
When comparing the belated Steve Jobs words in this video to the iPad line at present it holds true. At present we have the following device lines and capabilities:
1. iPad Mini 7.9” (Gen 1 ApplePencil support and TouchID).
2. iPad 9.7/10.2” (Gen 1 ApplePencil support, TouchID and SmartConnector and SmartKeyboard).
3. iPad Air 10.5/10.9” (Gen 1/2 ApplePencil support, SmartConnector bottom/rear, SmartKeyboard/MagicKeybord and TouchID/Power Button TouchID).
4. iPad Pro 11/12.9” (Gen 2 ApplePencil support, MagicKeybord and MagicKeyboard).
Quite a bit of product and feature overlap. Need to streamline and limit product name confusion.
There is confusion in this post, not in Apple line IMO. The 9.7 and 10.5 were discontinued by Apple. And the 7.9 will probably too once a new model arrives. The line is pretty clear and gives choice to people. We only need to see where they place the new mini in the line. I like the new Apple under Tim Cook, I like what they are doing with the iPad line and I am confident it will get even better over the next couple of years, both with iPads and Macs
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I firmly believe the majority of iPad Mini sales go into applications like warehousing and medical where people may be wearing masks and therefore TouchID works better than FaceID would.
What is the point of this? We already have an iPad Pro and an iPad Mini. So Tim Cook is deciding to just place probably the A12Z Chip in the iPad Mini and call it a day. If you want to do this, just add the A14 Bionic Chip in the Mini and then call it day. First off, they really need to slow down the product line. And now they are just throwing things in a device. Come on Tim Cook.
Why is it a sketchy rumor? A new iPad with slimmer bezels and upgrades has been rumored for a while now
Other than trying to upsell a potential consumer from iPad Air 4 (10.9”) to the iPadPro 11” was any reason not to afford the Air that extra 0.1” display. Considering the dimensions for the shell and it being compatible with the MagicKB and Gen 2 ApplePencil, the is real for non-tech people.
I have had this discussion with many elderly and not so elderly who are not tech focused and the sentiment is of I want an iPadMini their know exactly what screen size one is getting. With the iPad 10.2”, the Air 10.9” and the Pro 11” it’s like what is the difference and will I notice it on a day-by-day usage. Mini it’s portable and powerful. Maybe Apple should consider merging the iPad 10.2”, 10.9” and 11” as “iPad” and drop the “Air” moniker.
iPad Mini 8.5” (edge-to-edge display, physical dimension unchanged due to being single handed carrying capable). iPad 11” (basically the Air with screen size parity to the Pro) and iPad 13.5”. Give them all ApplePencil Gen 2 if not an updated unannounced Gen 3 Pencil. All have a rear SmartConnector, all have quad speakers, all have ProMotion. Now divide this line between Standard and Pro and let people decide if the additional “Pro” features is valuable to them.
Even the design language has skewed. Bring it all together Apple & Co.
Did you mean to write "like they used to"? I'm from the freaking Ukraine and I know this ain't right. Could never understand how native speakers can't speak their own language
IMO that's not the way Apple sees it... They want to have 3 price points and they need to separate the 3 tiers.
So far the mini has been put in the mid one, as a cheaper leg of that tier.
And the 11 is the cheaper leg of the pro tier.
I can understand your idea of simplification, but merging iPads is probably not going to meet as many people needs, and will translate in lower sales (also because some people buy more than 1 tier), so not in Apple's interest.
If some older or less tech savvy people are confused, well they'll turn to more tech savvy people for advice.... (I have a whole team of people that regularly turns to me for advice)
Unless you are an Apple Employee or being compensated by Apple, if someone needs advice on a product or line of products it has failed its original intent of being a simple user friendly device.
I am sure Apple really cares about offering up affordable devices, the tech in an iPad Mini has been recuperated a long time ago considering it received the trickle down features of its larger brothers.
I don't agree. Most people know very little about tech and need help whether it's to buy a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone. And, personally, I am glad to have more choice and to help people choose. So we'll agree to disagree on this...
In the past these redesigned systems just replaced the originals and usually at the same entry price. Now we get to pay more for the privilege while keeping the originals at the same old price points and and the ones that should have replaced them with the redesigns in new more expensive price points. The bean counters are in charge, its lame.
No, prices have gone up as well as down.... down at the entry level and up at the pro level, with the entry level slowly inheriting pro features every year...
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
I have to agree with those that think that the current lineup is a mess, but I think it's because the naming conventions have truly gone off the rails into Microsoft territory.
I really, really hate the whole "Air" suffix thing. And the "Max" thing.
It should all just be SE, Standard, and Pro, each in their respective sizes.
iPhone SE, iPhone, iPhone Pro
iPad SE, iPad, iPad Pro
AirPods SE, AirPods (current "pro"), AirPods Pro (the Max cans)
They had the opportunity to fix this when the new iPad Air and the AirPods Pro came out, but nope...
I really, really hate the whole "Air" suffix thing. And the "Max" thing.
It should all just be SE, Standard, and Pro, each in their respective sizes.
iPhone SE, iPhone, iPhone Pro
iPad SE, iPad, iPad Pro
AirPods SE, AirPods (current "pro"), AirPods Pro (the Max cans)
They had the opportunity to fix this when the new iPad Air and the AirPods Pro came out, but nope...
All the Monday morning Product Managers should stop now. The current iPad lineup serve a specific niche or customers and have very clear delineations with the exception of the iPad Air and 11” iPad Pro. Your attempts at “streamlining” the product line completely fail to grasp what Apple’s strategy is with the iPad line. None of you would make it past the first line interview.
If the width is wider that a man's hand can grab on both sides, this thing will be a no go for me. The iPad mini can't get bigger and it HAS to have thumb width bezels top and bottom.
If it grows bigger, they ruined it
If it grows bigger, they ruined it