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rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,904
13,229
Why do you expect a price hike for the mini? It would seem to appeal to a lot of students and kids as well, not to mention its e-reader aspect, so it seems to me that they wouldn't do much with the price so that they can continue to appeal to that market.

As it stands, the mini is already pushing the limits for its product type in terms of price. Any further price hikes would bring it into a competitive price range with the iPad Air, which wouldn't make much sense for Apple.


Air 3 and mini 5 were both released in 2019 for $399 and $499 respectively. The mini 5 was pretty much a smaller down version of the Air 3.

The Air 4 has MSRP of $599 so to me, a pricing of $499 is likely for the mini 6 if it does end up being a smaller version of the Air 4.
 

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,402
13,283
where hip is spoken
Nice advice on the "pros" side. ;-) So, I guess you don't take much stock in Prosser's recent claims that the next mini will be considerably more retrofitted (and without a Home button?), then.
I don't place any value on the predictions of any industry prognosticators. Maybe I'm cynical. Maybe I've been in the industry too long. But I've seen time and again how companies will deliberately and selectively leak information to these people for their own purposes. Some of the info is correct. Some of it is disinformation. I make decisions based on what I know, what history shows, and my gut feel. This has served me well so I'm sticking with what works. 😆




Why do you expect a price hike for the mini? It would seem to appeal to a lot of students and kids as well, not to mention its e-reader aspect, so it seems to me that they wouldn't do much with the price so that they can continue to appeal to that market.

As it stands, the mini is already pushing the limits for its product type in terms of price. Any further price hikes would bring it into a competitive price range with the iPad Air, which wouldn't make much sense for Apple.

Perhaps you believe that the purported larger display size would account for the extra price? Still, if they do away with Touch ID/the Home button, that would actually reduce the number of components, you would think... ?
The thing that many people misunderstand about the target market for the iPad Mini is that it ISN'T for the general consumer. Yes, consumers can purchase an iPad Mini but they are not the primary market that Apple intends for the Mini.

The "vertical markets" heavily use the iPad Mini in numbers much higher than general consumers. Vertical markets are those specialized uses like, warehouse workers, delivery drivers, medical professionals, point-of-sales terminals in retail outlets, pilots, drone operators, musicians, lab work, etc.

These vertical markets buy iPad Minis in large quantities so they have a large investment in the platform. They often have custom-made kiosks, countertops, cases, holders, and peripherals that are specific to that specialized market.

This is why Apple has retained the general chassis and form-factor of the Mini. Changing the body as significantly and as often as Apple does for models like the iPad Pro would result in a significant cost to those vertical markets as they would have to re-tool and refit those custom holders for the Mini. The result would be that they wouldn't be so quick to upgrade to a newer model if the model changed size.

Apple can't update the Mini too frequently, even if they perfectly retain the physical body from the previous gen, because it would cause the generation of Minis that they have deployed to become closer to obsolete quicker than if there was a slower upgrade cycle.

With the introduction of support for the Apple Pencil 1 in the Mini 5, the Mini had become even MORE desirable in those markets.

These markets rely on things like a headphone jack, lightning port, and home button.

If Apple were to produce an Air/Pro style Mini, I expect that they would continue to sell a version of the Mini with the current form-factor. (In the same way that the 8th gen iPad retains those elements)

All that to say, the pricing of the Mini is not for consumers, but for those vertical markets. Yes, single unit prices are high, but bulk purchases can then be heavily discounted.
 

Digitalguy

macrumors 601
Apr 15, 2019
4,634
4,461
I don't place any value on the predictions of any industry prognosticators. Maybe I'm cynical. Maybe I've been in the industry too long. But I've seen time and again how companies will deliberately and selectively leak information to these people for their own purposes. Some of the info is correct. Some of it is disinformation. I make decisions based on what I know, what history shows, and my gut feel. This has served me well so I'm sticking with what works. 😆





The thing that many people misunderstand about the target market for the iPad Mini is that it ISN'T for the general consumer. Yes, consumers can purchase an iPad Mini but they are not the primary market that Apple intends for the Mini.

The "vertical markets" heavily use the iPad Mini in numbers much higher than general consumers. Vertical markets are those specialized uses like, warehouse workers, delivery drivers, medical professionals, point-of-sales terminals in retail outlets, pilots, drone operators, musicians, lab work, etc.

These vertical markets buy iPad Minis in large quantities so they have a large investment in the platform. They often have custom-made kiosks, countertops, cases, holders, and peripherals that are specific to that specialized market.

This is why Apple has retained the general chassis and form-factor of the Mini. Changing the body as significantly and as often as Apple does for models like the iPad Pro would result in a significant cost to those vertical markets as they would have to re-tool and refit those custom holders for the Mini. The result would be that they wouldn't be so quick to upgrade to a newer model if the model changed size.

Apple can't update the Mini too frequently, even if they perfectly retain the physical body from the previous gen, because it would cause the generation of Minis that they have deployed to become closer to obsolete quicker than if there was a slower upgrade cycle.

With the introduction of support for the Apple Pencil 1 in the Mini 5, the Mini had become even MORE desirable in those markets.

These markets rely on things like a headphone jack, lightning port, and home button.

If Apple were to produce an Air/Pro style Mini, I expect that they would continue to sell a version of the Mini with the current form-factor. (In the same way that the 8th gen iPad retains those elements)

All that to say, the pricing of the Mini is not for consumers, but for those vertical markets. Yes, single unit prices are high, but bulk purchases can then be heavily discounted.
The mini is also for consumers, more than what you imply, and Apple will not hesitate to change the form factor if this means hiking the price and putting it in the mid-tier segment together with the air 4...
We'll see who is right in a couple of months....
 

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,402
13,283
where hip is spoken
The mini is also for consumers, more than what you imply, and Apple will not hesitate to change the form factor if this means hiking the price and putting it in the mid-tier segment together with the air 4...
We'll see who is right in a couple of months....
I am not concerned whether or not I'm right. I care about making the correct purchase decisions regarding the Mini... and I have a good track record in that regard. My purpose in sharing my thoughts is to help others who are in similar situations have a wider range of opinions and views so that they can pick one that closest matches to where they're at.

I have no incentive to convince anyone to change their opinions and take mine. Your opinion is different and that's fine.
 
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RoadWarrior56

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2014
251
495
I've got an iPad mini 4 that's been upgraded to the latest iPadOS version (14.6 as of today). For the past several months, I've noticed a definite lag in terms of performance all around the board, especially with apps like Evernote but also with Safari, Ulysses, Maps, Apple Music and so on. Apps seem to take longer to launch, and are not as responsive as before. Evernote in particular does not do well with the iPad mini 4 on iPadOS 12.6—most operations take several seconds or more to complete.

Of course, this could be simply my subjective perception in comparison with other devices I own... but I'm wondering if anyone here has upgraded from the mini 4 to the mini 5 and experienced noticeably better performance and responsiveness? Did the upgrade seem to be worth it?

The Geekbench scores for the mini 5 vs. the mini 4 are like night and day (1112 vs. 355 for single-core—I got a 365 single-core score on my mini 4), but does this translate into much snappier performance from a real-world point of view?

Thoughts are encouraged!
Yes!!! I went from a Mini 4 to a Mini 5 just after the "5" came out. There is no comparison between the two devices. To this day, I have no performance issues with the Mini 5. It is fantastic for web surfing and media consumption. And an added bonus is the pencil support. I am NO artist, but as an engineer, I frequently mark up PDF plan sets. The Mini with a pencil or Logitech Crayon is the perfect portable plan review tool, especially in the field.

One more thing..........it is possible that the Mini 6 will be out later in the year. If you are ok with the Mini 4 for the time being, you may want to wait until fall, being that "6" will have all the improvements of the "5" and more. But if you need the Mini 5 now, it should do the job for some time to come.
 

Digitalguy

macrumors 601
Apr 15, 2019
4,634
4,461
I am not concerned whether or not I'm right. I care about making the correct purchase decisions regarding the Mini... and I have a good track record in that regard. My purpose in sharing my thoughts is to help others who are in similar situations have a wider range of opinions and views so that they can pick one that closest matches to where they're at.

I have no incentive to convince anyone to change their opinions and take mine. Your opinion is different and that's fine.
that's exactly what I am doing too, trying to give a different opinion so that someone does not take the wrong decision based on what I think is not what it's going to happen (as in this case you would not be helping, even if, I have no doubt, that's your intention). I have no incentive either... and I don't claim to have a better track record than you, just as you can't claim to have a better one than me... We both have experience with the mini (I have has the 2, 3 and 5) but we just can agree to disagree on what's going to happen in a few months...
 
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