Everything's a guesstimate with the iPad Mini Whatever at this point... I hope Ming-Chi Kuo's take on it is approximately correct.
but... at least I'm pretty sure there will be a refresh of the line at some point, since I finally caved in recently and bought an Apple refurb iPad Mini 4 to tide me over. My old iPad mini 2 runs pretty well on iOS 12 (better than on iOS 11, I think) but I'd expect 12 to be about the last joke that model can take, and I'm not even asking much of it. I love that form factor for reading books and playing (generally downloaded) music and some video podcast content.
Anyway I figured if at some point it started sounding like Apple was going to let the line die with the iPad mini 4, there could be a run on those in the space gray model with black bezels. The black border seems a little easier on the eyes when reading or playing video content, so I went for one now while they're still readily available. I can't be the only customer still coddling an old iPad Mini 2 while waiting, waiting, waiting for a newer option.
Anyway I figured if at some point it started sounding like Apple was going to let the line die with the iPad mini 4, there could be a run on those in the space gray model with black bezels. The black border seems a little easier on the eyes when reading or playing video content, so I went for one now while they're still readily available. I can't be the only customer still coddling an old iPad Mini 2 while waiting, waiting, waiting for a newer option.
I did really hate shelling out for a chip that old, but I kept telling myself yeah and your iPad Mini 2's chip is even older and the device has years of use on it, so keep your eye on the problem not the prize with this product line.
Still hoping for the refresh of course, but now I'll probably wait for it to pop up available as Apple refurb.