Apple will keep the mini at least 1+ generations behind the iPhone plus.
In the fall of 2015, the mini will get an A8 when the iPhones get an A9.
And this assertion of yours is based on...?
Since it's been given a total of two updates, this isn't saying much.
While I agree that the "improvements" in the Mini 3 aren't worth more than a $20 premium over the rMini, saying that this is the weakest update the line has ever seen makes it seem like the Mini got years of great updates and suddenly this one dropped the ball. The Mini received exactly one great update, from Mini 1 to rMini. There haven't been enough released of the Mini to suggest a pattern yet.
Don't read to much into this. Yeah the 3rd model is old, but so was the 1st. The second was current only because they had to go retina and retina needed the better hw for it not to suck. This isn't a lack of love problem, it's a lack of money problem. An air 2 quality mini would cost near as much as an air 2 to make but since smaller must be cheaper, the margins were to small. Mini will be back with an a8 next year, when the air 3 gets an a9.
How misleading.
It would be more reasonable to say it's worse than the previous and only other update. The refresh it received last year was much more than people were expecting.
People must have forgotten that a whole two hardware revisions ago it was using an A5.
I count all three releases of iPad mini. The first one was revolutionary as it was the first of its kind. Yes, it was one generation of processor technology behind just as today's model is now, but the whole thing was new and it sported tons of other features that were new to the iPad family at large. The second generation gave it retina, and put it on par to the latest iPhone and only a hair behind the iPad Air (which had a slightly faster variant of A7 than the second gen iPad mini and iPhone 5s). That was a bump in specs that was almost as significant as the original introduction. Now, at the third generation, it seems that such enthusiasm on Apple's part is all but dead. The iPad mini 3 was an afterthought, both in terms of how much keynote time it had as well as what there was to even say about it. It's literally the same device as the second generation, save for TouchID, a damn-near useless NFC chip and the option to buy it in gold.
So yes, while it is only the second update, it's the third release. Releases one and two were met with a lot of fanfare and excitement, both on Apple's part as well as the fans'/customers' parts. Release three might as well not have happened.
Again, I pose this question because the iPad mini 3 was launched one day after the chief competitor to the iPad mini line, namely the Nexus 7 (arguably the most successful "Nexus" product that Google has ever released as well as arguably the most viable iPad mini competitor product) was discontinued in favor of something much closer to the iPad Air's range. Google doesn't just discontinue its most popular Nexus product in favor of nothing and Apple doesn't just decide to hold back on one hell of an update to "its most best selling iPad".
In fact, arguably, if the iPad mini was the best selling iPad, it would make sense for Apple to keep it as current as possible, lest they release an update to it that unanimously has reviewers and customers alike balk at how lame of an update it has.
All these theories about Apple crippling & ultimately doing away with the iPad mini because it canabalizes the iphone 6 plus are absolutely ridiculous! Seriously. Was this update a weak one compared to the iPad Air 2? Yes. But if anything it was to push more people to the more expensive iPad Air and not to the iphone 6 plus. The mini was outselling the air.
People will buy an ipad even if they have an iphone. Some will want the air. And some will want the mini.
Trust me, the iPad mini is here to stay. And it'll get all the features the iPad Air 2 just got. It may even get them in a mid year update. But it will get them. People love the mini.
What sense does it make to cripple your best selling product so that you can gamble to sell your second best selling product even easier? That's not Apple's style at all. Hell, their best selling Mac has always been the 13" MacBook Pro. Not only does that machine get timely updates, but they have taken two years to gently handle the transition to retina (a transition that took half the time with the 15" model). I appreciate that Apple sees the first and second generation iPad minis as affordable gateways to the iPad family, but introducing an underwhelming third generation model that more or less has nothing to offer those torn between it and the second generation (for the one storage capacity that is common between them), isn't necessary.
i think the weak mini update is just because of a lack of resources.
The only resources that it would've needed to be a better update is an A8 chip like the ones found in the 6/6 Plus, and the chips/resources for 802.11ac w/ MIMO. They could've taken the camera from the iPhone 6 (and not even the 6 Plus) and that would've been sufficient. Somehow I have a feeling that these are not the most scarce components.
Smaller tablets are
more popular than ever:
Image
My theory on the Mini is that Apple have a big update waiting but cannot manufacture enough A8 SoCs until they catch up with iPhone demand. Thus they glued a TouchID on the old one, called it a "Mini 3", and in 6-8 months the real update will arrive with a display as good or better than that of the the Air 2.
If that's not the case, then Apple should just terminate the iPad Mini. It tarnishes Apple's image, ruins the iPad reputation, and makes a joke of the "Retina" display branding. Frankly it is an insult to consumers and Apple have no excuse to be pushing such a
pathetic display on anyone in 2014.
I believe that chart when it shows 7.0"-8.4" tablets in 2011 (more or less non-existent) and 2013 (which is the first full year of iPad mini, Nexus 7, and Kindle Fire), but its projections on 2017 are meaningless without data from 2014. I believe a change occurred at some point between late 2013 and now and that, as a result of that change, we now have no more Nexus 7, we have the iPad mini obviously being pushed as a budget model that pales in comparison to the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPad Air. The only thing the iPad mini 3 has going for it is that it is still better to use than whatever Kindle Fire tablets are comparable. Though, I think that even Amazon is putting its focus on the 8.9" and larger range and not so much the 7.0" to 8.4" range.
Again, manufacturers seem to be steering away from that range, at least in terms of how much care and focus they put into engineering for it.
