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iPad mini iPAD MINI 6 prediction or wishlist
- Thread starter supertiffany
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Let’s hope not. Regular iPad is still too cumbersome for a knee board in the cockpit. Was hoping to pickup an updated model with a little more “future proof” and pro specs.
Myself as well, but I have a hard time understanding why Apple wouldn’t choose that event to release an updated mini, which makes me think they’re over it.
The Mini continues to be used heavily in "vertical" markets. There are no viable alternatives, it is a captive market. And the current form-factor and design works great for those purposes.
Death knell of the Mini? I think not.
The Mini isn't primarily for the average consumer. Phablet iPhones and "full-sized" iPads are.
The 256GB Mini 5 MSRPs for $550. (I bought mine on sale for $500) A Mini with the iPad Pro design of that capacity would be around $650. How many people are going to run out and buy it?
Interesting points! Given these, do you have a prediction for Apple's stance on the mini?The Mini continues to be used heavily in "vertical" markets. There are no viable alternatives, it is a captive market. And the current form-factor and design works great for those purposes.
Death knell of the Mini? I think not.
The Mini isn't primarily for the average consumer. Phablet iPhones and "full-sized" iPads are.
The 256GB Mini 5 MSRPs for $550. (I bought mine on sale for $500) A Mini with the iPad Pro design of that capacity would be around $650. How many people are going to run out and buy it?
Aside: Honestly, I want a phablet-phablet, something with a screen size between the Pro Max and the Mini.
I wouldThe Mini continues to be used heavily in "vertical" markets. There are no viable alternatives, it is a captive market. And the current form-factor and design works great for those purposes.
Death knell of the Mini? I think not.
The Mini isn't primarily for the average consumer. Phablet iPhones and "full-sized" iPads are.
The 256GB Mini 5 MSRPs for $550. (I bought mine on sale for $500) A Mini with the iPad Pro design of that capacity would be around $650. How many people are going to run out and buy it?
The Mini continues to be used heavily in "vertical" markets. There are no viable alternatives, it is a captive market. And the current form-factor and design works great for those purposes.
Death knell of the Mini? I think not.
The Mini isn't primarily for the average consumer. Phablet iPhones and "full-sized" iPads are.
The 256GB Mini 5 MSRPs for $550. (I bought mine on sale for $500) A Mini with the iPad Pro design of that capacity would be around $650. How many people are going to run out and buy it?
What is called "vertical market" ?
On the other points, I agree the iPad Mini is unlikely to be phased out completely but also unlikely to receive frequent updates. When the Mini 4 was updated, only few people were still hoping for a new model...
As would I. I’d be all in on a tablet in a compact form factor that can run Garmin Pilot in the air then dock to a larger monitor/keyboard at the office and run SMS software, access crew and maintenance records and then utilize apps for Sporty’s or Kings.
I’m super curious. Why do you, as an avid reader, prefer an iPad mini over, say, a Kindle Paperwhite?
* Now the iPad Mini is the 9" iPad Air
* edge-to-edge display
* squared design
* touch ID in the lock button
* USB-type C
* Apple Pencil 2
* starts at $499
(This also offers the advantage of simplifying the current mess that Apple has with its iPad lineup. Also, it finally ditches the Apple Pencil 1st gen and Lightning. And if Apple wants to keep selling cheaper iPads for 'vertical markets' or entry-level consumers, they could still sell the old, basic iPad with Home button and audio jack at $329.)
I know you didn't ask me but ... for just a few hundred more, one gets a fully functional tablet that can do more than just read a book - makes carrying it around much more adaptable to other uses.
All my books are on iBooks. I've got almost 300. I love it that I can purchase a DRM Free book, drag drop it into iBooks and poof, it's on all my Apple devices.
If I had all my books in Amazon, I might consider a paper white but I don't. A lot of ebooks these days have massive colorful pictures (the ones I read anyway).
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the Kindle - I used one for years, several years ago.
Respectfully disagree, the 11" is not "small" form factor. Its still meant to be used on tables or with both hands while the iPad mini was marketed as something you could hold one-handed. If anything there needs to be a 3rd row – "Normal sized" or "Intermediate form-factor".l
* Now the iPad Mini is the 9" iPad Air
* edge-to-edge display
* squared design
* touch ID in the lock button
* USB-type C
* Apple Pencil 2
* starts at $499
(This also offers the advantage of simplifying the current mess that Apple has with its iPad lineup. Also, it finally ditches the Apple Pencil 1st gen and Lightning. And if Apple wants to keep selling cheaper iPads for 'vertical markets' or entry-level consumers, they could still sell the old, basic iPad with Home button and audio jack at $329.)
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
lol. OP's chart is just depicting how in this scenario the air/pro models of iPad would each have a smaller/larger model. The pro already has 11"/12.9" options, so the Air would just add a 9" model to have 9"/10.9" options. The post literally has nothing to do with what you are respectfully disagreeing with... OP even puts small/large in quotes to indicate it's a relative term. Which is obvious, because no rational person would think that OP means that a 11" iPad Pro is smaller than a 10.9" iPad Air.
Don’t disagree at all - just think that this is pretty much how it has been already, except for the naming convention. The mini has always been higher spec’d than the base iPad (as long as there has been one), and on par with the iPad Air.
* Now the iPad Mini is the 9" iPad Air
* edge-to-edge display
* squared design
* touch ID in the lock button
* USB-type C
* Apple Pencil 2
* starts at $499
(This also offers the advantage of simplifying the current mess that Apple has with its iPad lineup. Also, it finally ditches the Apple Pencil 1st gen and Lightning. And if Apple wants to keep selling cheaper iPads for 'vertical markets' or entry-level consumers, they could still sell the old, basic iPad with Home button and audio jack at $329.)
Anyway, hope you are right and this continues.
I don't think there will be a different variation of the iPad mini. Maybe it'll be the iPad mini 7.
It's not just naming convention. By treating the iPad mini as something different than the Pro and the Air (no way they are treated the same!), Apple just relegates it to a subpar category with crappy hardware, no updates in 4 years, no marketing, etc.
This. In fact, things would be way simpler if Apple just stretched out the iPad Air to 11" and the larger iPad Pro to 13"+. Then they would have just two lines under the iPad brand and, overall, three sizes: 9", 11" and 13".
Actually it's no different to what Jobs did with the MacBook during its golden era. Apple would sell the 11" and 13" MacBook Air, and the 13" and 15" MacBook Pro.
EDIT: For reference
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Vertical markets = businesses with specialized needs... warehouse workers, doctors/nurses, pilots, point-of-sales retail/service. The iPad Mini is still heavily used in those (and many other specialized markets). There's nothing else that comes close to the power performance, stability, and reliability of the Mini in that form-factor.
From my admittedly limited point of view, I can see Apple producing a Mini 6 in another year or so that retains the same design as the 5. Things like the headphone jack, home button w/touch ID, and external size/dimensions are important to those markets. (custom-built cases and retail cabinets would need to be redesigned and retrofitted if the Mini's physical design changed)
With Apple pushing the larger iPads to become closer to Macbooks in form and function, and the increasing size of the iPhones, I don't see Apple producing an iPad Pro-esque Mini. It doesn't make sense to me in the context of their product line.
That's not to say that there isn't a segment of their customer base who want that... but again, not in the quantities that would be required to make it a profitable endeavor.
There are probably some other contractual obligations that Apple has that might require them to keep the current design, or... other contracts that are coming to an end that would push Apple to make a change (eg. Apple Pencil 1 vs. Pencil 2).
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
Yes that would be the dream. I've always hated the 7.9", 9.7", 10.5" 10.9", and 12.9" variants... And Apple has long since realized it can slightly adjust screens in minor variations. It's especially strange many Mac screen sizes don't align with the EXACT stated dimensions, so Apple could literally just call their current iPads 8", 11", 13", etc and nobody would care.
I see, but that's precisely why I, as an iPad mini and iPad Air owner, like the Kindle more -- so I can actually read a book instead of getting distracted with notifications, mail, browsing the web... ('The Shallows', by Nicholas Carr, explains in great detail how your brain tends to retain much less info by actually skimming in these chaotic digital enviroments.) On the other hand, for your eyes, e-ink is just the best hands-down.
The point about DRM is not that relevant to me honestly since, AFAIK, DRM is easily removable on Amazon e-books. DRM on the Apple side, on the other hand, is not. Frankly, I'd never pay for 300 'books' knowing I can only read them on Apple devices.
I see your point. I am very tempted to try a Kindle - despite most of my books living in Apple Land (a good chunk of them are DRM free).
You're right, I can't remove Apple DRM and Kindle DRM is only removable if one has access to an old Kindle and sets up Calibre with DeDRM and the serial number of that Kindle - so have to get books to the old Kindle, copy them to computer, Calibre removes Kindle DRM, and boom - you got yourself a DRM Free EPub after a short conversion process. <cough>. But yeah, newer Kindle DRM is uncrackable atm.
I really dislike how ebook prices have gone higher than print AND I don't own them.
But I am tempted to get a Kindle.
Right now I'm using an iPad mini 5 as my "kindle" reading device and do most of my news/other reading on my Mac.
To each their own, but regarding the statement/argument that e-ink is inherently better for the eyes, I hear that from e-ink users quite a bit, but I question the science on that. I have no doubt most iPad screens are set to be much brighter and bluer and therefore harsher on our eyes than e-ink screens. But I see no reason why an iPad screen’s color and brightness can’t be programmed to match an e-ink screen’s. As far as I know, there is no other quality about photons (besides frequency and quantity) that would make a difference to our eyes. And I think with true tone and other settings on the iPad, it can be matched for all intents and purposes. It’s just that people don’t bother.
Totally in agreement. The state of digital media purchasing, particularly for ebooks, is terrible. So for any books I care about, I buy an analog copy and I may or may not procure an ebook version for convenience purposes. If there’s a book I don’t care to own but need for some reason, then I’ll give in and buy the ebook just so I don’t have a physical book taking up space. I pretty much abide by these rules for other digital media as well. But I dream of a day I can buy and truly own a digital copy of something (and in the exact form the creator intended). I don’t think companies will ever figure that out. Blockchain is my only hope.