I'm going with yes. The iPad mini seems to be a smaller tablet boasting last year's specs. This time it's the ipad 2. Next time it will be the ipad 3. Probably A5X and retina display.
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Will the iPAD MINI 2 have 'retina' display and A6? Should I wait to buy the mini?
- Thread starter saintforlife
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A6 I will put money on it having, retina I will put money on it not having.
Reasons being that:
1) The current iPad retina screen is ridiculously POWER hungry. Yes they will use IGZO displays and find other ways to bring the power needs down but will they really be able to bring it down from needing a 11000mah battery to a ~4500mah battery in 12 months? COMBINED with the A6X (which it'll need) and also is higher clocked than the iPhone's A6.
2) It's still an expensive screen for them to make. I read somewhere that the retina screen costs them something like $30-$40 more than the non retinas (potentially at the first release of the iPad 3). It's only going to cost them a lot to produce that screen in a smaller state.
3) If they manage to do the above 2, the screens going to need to be stupid thin, look at how thin the iPad mini is! Thinner than the iPhone 5! I'm not sure whether resolution being higher makes this harder or not so I may be 100% wrong on this point!
4) It keeps people buying the big iPad over the mini for an extra year. They make more money on the big iPads, they've said it themselves. If the mini got an A6X + Retina screen then the big iPad has what? Slightly bigger screen and an A7? It's not like the iPhone, people put less emphasis into how different the cameras are. They need to differentiate the two by enough of a gap to push people into thinking "oh, for only $170 more I get the nice screen and x,y,z".
Just my thoughts, I would love it to get a retina screen because a 320ppi iPad display would look just utterly STUNNING! Especially at $329!
Oh yeah and it's also in about 2 years they will actually up and change the iPads display resolution (as well as the iPhones, again). If they are planning on doing it, they'll do it in 2 years time.
Reasons being that:
1) The current iPad retina screen is ridiculously POWER hungry. Yes they will use IGZO displays and find other ways to bring the power needs down but will they really be able to bring it down from needing a 11000mah battery to a ~4500mah battery in 12 months? COMBINED with the A6X (which it'll need) and also is higher clocked than the iPhone's A6.
2) It's still an expensive screen for them to make. I read somewhere that the retina screen costs them something like $30-$40 more than the non retinas (potentially at the first release of the iPad 3). It's only going to cost them a lot to produce that screen in a smaller state.
3) If they manage to do the above 2, the screens going to need to be stupid thin, look at how thin the iPad mini is! Thinner than the iPhone 5! I'm not sure whether resolution being higher makes this harder or not so I may be 100% wrong on this point!
4) It keeps people buying the big iPad over the mini for an extra year. They make more money on the big iPads, they've said it themselves. If the mini got an A6X + Retina screen then the big iPad has what? Slightly bigger screen and an A7? It's not like the iPhone, people put less emphasis into how different the cameras are. They need to differentiate the two by enough of a gap to push people into thinking "oh, for only $170 more I get the nice screen and x,y,z".
Just my thoughts, I would love it to get a retina screen because a 320ppi iPad display would look just utterly STUNNING! Especially at $329!
Oh yeah and it's also in about 2 years they will actually up and change the iPads display resolution (as well as the iPhones, again). If they are planning on doing it, they'll do it in 2 years time.
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I see a lot of you complaining about the weight of the 10" tablet. If Apple offers a Retina mini, I don't think anyone will be buying the 10" version any more. That is unless, hipster coffee shops want to mount them and use it for cash registers.
Also, it seems like most of you are too caught up on the word Retina. For me, I'm going to walk into a store, look at it in person, and if the resolution looks fine at the typical use distance, I'll pick one up.
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i understand your frustration, i think 90% of people that actually care are those who even come to the macrumor forums.... but this is all there is, this is what is avaliable NOW.
enjoy the new convenient form factor NOW.
buy it... enjoy it... sell it... and get the next one.
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maybe sharp couldn't supply 10 million high quality screen yields on time maybe next gen. you even get DOUBLE the battery life with IGZO.
If the iPad Mini goes retina with a different resolution it wouldn't have to be a major disruption to the app market. One way to minimize disruption would be a "leak" of the actual resolution, giving developers months advance notice. Besides, don't recent changes to the app store search in iOS 6 suggest that Apple might desire to cull the app store? Any apps without the financial incentive to adapt probably wouldn't be missed.
I'd take an iPad mini A6 w/o retina
Save on battery life while gaining processing power (offsets). I can live with that...
Save on battery life while gaining processing power (offsets). I can live with that...
Speaking from experience, No. I should have waited to buy the iPad 3 and stuck with my iPad 2 until the late 2012 ipad came out. I fear that if they do add the retina to the mini next year it will be plagued with the same heating and other issues that the iPad 3 was plagued with. I will probably keep my iPad mini and eventually pick up an iPad 5 whenever that comes out.
I don't know, but they can only go up... I certainely believe it'll get a higher res display. Especially since this is the main pain point of this generation, apart from the price. But Retina ?
If it has an A6, then it will still be outdated because the next iPhone will have the A7. You'll never win, just buy now unless you need Retina.
It is hard to tell, I am guessing what they put in it will be based on how well it does.
The problem with retina though is that it will need either A5X or A6X to power it (Because it is the same amount of pixels as the full size iPad.) The main issue that you will find there is reduced battery life from the quad core GPU and display which requires more power.
But I could see it happening though as the Mini will need some kind of upgrade in a year, and more than just a spec boost.
The problem with retina though is that it will need either A5X or A6X to power it (Because it is the same amount of pixels as the full size iPad.) The main issue that you will find there is reduced battery life from the quad core GPU and display which requires more power.
But I could see it happening though as the Mini will need some kind of upgrade in a year, and more than just a spec boost.
You should avoid that because it's not deserved.
Because of the small screen size, you have a tendency to zoom in to read small type; retina solves much of this need. The Mini, being physically larger does not require as much zooming on the same website.
The retina tech is there, but the price is not
iPad Mini is 163ppi. iPad Mini retina would be 326ppi.
326ppi already exists in iPhone 4, 5, and iPod Touches.
LCD screens are made in large sheets and then cut to the display size. In other words, the technology already exists and has been for sale in retail devices for 2.5 years now. For an iPad Mini, it's just a matter of cutting larger displays from the sheet.
I think the only issue is cost. Retina iPod Touches and unsubsidized iPhones are pretty damn expensive. Now imagine that cost ramped up to an 8in screen size.
I have no doubt a 326ppi iPad Mini could have been made this year, I'm just not sure you would have liked the price. Analysts have already stated the base model iPad Mini is the lowest margin device Apple makes and people are complaining about its above-$300 cost.
iPad Mini is 163ppi. iPad Mini retina would be 326ppi.
326ppi already exists in iPhone 4, 5, and iPod Touches.
LCD screens are made in large sheets and then cut to the display size. In other words, the technology already exists and has been for sale in retail devices for 2.5 years now. For an iPad Mini, it's just a matter of cutting larger displays from the sheet.
I think the only issue is cost. Retina iPod Touches and unsubsidized iPhones are pretty damn expensive. Now imagine that cost ramped up to an 8in screen size.
I have no doubt a 326ppi iPad Mini could have been made this year, I'm just not sure you would have liked the price. Analysts have already stated the base model iPad Mini is the lowest margin device Apple makes and people are complaining about its above-$300 cost.
Is that 326ppi at 2048x1536? Cause that will be the resolution. No tweeners or that would mess up the ecosystem.
