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Next iPad Mini Still Not Expected Before Late 2024 at the Earliest
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Im with you.
The mini is the only form factor I like now and wouldnt be interested in the larger iPads.
Ive always seen the mini as an 'iPad air mini' and the price agrees with that.
however, I do want the mini to get an M processor. I see no reason why it wont. It will also have to support the apple pencil pro, and get the landscape edge camera.
FaceID would be nice too again at these price points I can't see it as a problem.
Whatever processor they use, I think its important for the mini to support Stage Manager - even though it makes less sense on the smaller screen... it makes perfect sense to allow the mini to use an external monitor with stage manager... that would be a great machine.
I am still patiently waiting. I expect the iPad mini 7 will be the last iPad mini before Apple switches gears to invest in foldables. Where they can charge a LOT more for a similar sized display.
Hopefully they release one more regular iPad mini so I can wait on that device until the foldables iron out the first gen issues.
Hopefully they release one more regular iPad mini so I can wait on that device until the foldables iron out the first gen issues.
I would be interested in a Mini as an ebook, newspaper reader and to watch stuff while travelling. I don't even need a spec bump.
But it's too expensive for what it is and my use case and £500 for 64GB is ridiculous. I think I'd pay maybe up to 400 for at least 128GB.
But it's too expensive for what it is and my use case and £500 for 64GB is ridiculous. I think I'd pay maybe up to 400 for at least 128GB.
Still rockin' the Mini 5 and do love the size and design (Touch ID is useful still). Performance is starting to get small lag here and there. Screen is decent, but could use an upgrade, and the speakers/sound definitely could use stereo on each side. Passed on the Mini 6, because at this point it's a 2021 product and I rather wait for the next one now.
iPad Mini has usually had feature parity with the Air (in essence, it’s always been an iPad Air Mini). Hopefully the next one gets the landscape camera and support for the Apple Pencil Pro. I’d love an M-series chip on it too, but thermals and battery life are hugely limiting factors, unfortunately.
The Mini has better technology than the 10 though.
It’s pretty much a shrunken iPad Air.
A15 is the same process and the same cores as M2, the mini has a laminated display while the 10 does not, etc.
The best would be to have to iPad Lines, basically along the lines of iPhone and MacBook: an entry-level lines that is light yet still powerful and a «pro» line that costs quite a a bit more but delivers on the newest and latest tech that will trickle down to the consumer line a year or so later. I could do without the absurd «Air» moniker now that the «Pro» is the thinner and lighter model. Basically it would be iPad / iPad Pro, MacBook / MacBook Pro and so on, from AW to the Desktop Clients (you can do that with Studio «Mac» and «MacPro» = Studio with more features (but please keep the Ultra on the Studio ;-)).
That would finally mean, that the small form factor of the Mini does not equal yesterday's tech but feature paritiy, as far as possible, with the 11 and 13. Just imagine that thin OLED form factor in 6"....
That would finally mean, that the small form factor of the Mini does not equal yesterday's tech but feature paritiy, as far as possible, with the 11 and 13. Just imagine that thin OLED form factor in 6"....
I’m not sure why people don’t understand this.
The M2 is the same as the iPad Mini’s A15, just more cores, therefore more power hungry.
But when it comes down to the actual chip itself, the A15 and M2 are the same generation. The same second generations 5 nm process, the same blizzard and avalanche cores… the mini just has less of them. Because it requires more power efficiency. Because it’s a tiny little tablet.
This.
And also, id be quite happy for the mini to become the 'iPad pro mini' with the upgraded specs to match.
The long time length between iPad Mini releases is typical for this product. Keep in mind that the time duration between the release of the Mini 4 (fall 2015) and the release of the Mini 5 (March 2019) was 3 and a half years. If a Mini 7 is released this fall, that is still a shorter interval (3 years versus 3.5 years).
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Hardware released at WWDC
- 2003 Power Mac G5
- 2004 Aluminum Cinema Displays
- 2006 Mac Pro (intel)
- 2008 iPhone 3G
- 2009 iPhone 3GS
- 2010 iPhone 4
- 2012 MBpro 15”
- 2013 Mac Pro (trash can)
- 2017 HomePod and iMac Pro
- 2019 Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR (and the revolutionary $1000 monitor stand!!!)
- 2022 MBair M2 and MBpro M2 13”
- 2023 Vpro and MBair 15” and Mac Studio & Pro with M2 Ultra
M4 popping up in iPads is a massive departure from some perceived schedule of releases. The question to ask is that if there is NOT hardware announcements at WWDC, is anything else M4 really going to wait for October? I doubt it. In fact, my gut guess is that there WILL be some M4 stuff at WWDC followed by some (unprecedented) surprise event out in the middle of summer somewhere for some more... so that the October event will be more towards "finishing" a transition vs. starting it (in Macs).
Why? Apparently N3E process is CHEAPER and Apple loves extra profit wherever they can get it. Apparently M1-M3 have an "unfixable hack hole" that MAYBE M4 closes, something about AI-AI-AI, some competitive push by Qualcoms incoming PCs, etc.
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Hey Apple...know what would sell...A PRO IPAD MINI.....Why not...you have the technology...those would sell like crazy, until you blend a foldable iphone with an ipad mini.....
But you wont do that...that would actually be cool!
But you wont do that...that would actually be cool!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Don't compare the number... diagram both or download some properly measured comparisons. While the number in inches seems pretty close, it's night & day when compared side by side.
Update: Daytona 360 did this for anyone down in post #96. Obviously night & day even though the numbers don't seem very different.
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Yes the new mini should come with the A18 as Apple is swiftly moving away from the costlier low yield A17 chips
I sometimes use a 3rd party application to turn my Mini into a 2nd screen for my MacBook Pro, having the stage manager functions salted in with that would indeed be an awesome feature addition!
Because just because it is smaller doesn't mean it is the low-end option. The iPad mini is years ahead of the iPad in its specs. The iPad's next refresh will probably get the A15, a chip the mini got by then 3 years earlier (and the question remains then whether or not it will be the lower end A15 variant from the iPhone 13 or the higher-end version that was in the iPhone 13 Pro and iPad mini.
Then I'm just completely ignoring how every other aspect of the iPad mini is much more current then the basic iPad (from screen specs, to Apple Pencil support, to its outer redesign, its cameras, etc.).
The iPad mini hasn't been the "cheap iPad" since 2019...
Here’s the thing…
The new M4 iPad Pro has a 31.29 Watt hour battery.
The Mini has a 19.3 Watt hour battery.
For Apple to make an iPad mini with an M4 chip, FaceID, an OLED display and the full rear camera system, while keeping the thing under 2/3 of a pound and 10 hour battery life, something has to be compromised.
Not to mention keeping it anywhere close to that $499 mark.
It’s simply makes no sense, from either a marketing standpoint, or even from a product development standpoint.
Maybe eventually one day all of these things will trickle down to the mini, I believe OLED is expected to trickle down around 2026.
But for now this “iPad Mini Pro” would be a device with tons of compromise, extreme thermal limits, terrible battery life and no doubt a decent increase in heft and thickness.
Given that the people buying the iPad mini like it, because of how small, light, thin and unobtrusive it is, trying to stuff it with components clearly not meant for that type of form factor is just asking for issues.
Not to mention the price, who’s gonna pay $800 plus for an 8 inch screen? Not many.
The new Mini will likely be the A18 chip as the A17/M3 N3B would cost Apple so much more to put in there devices vs A18/M4 N3E at a much lower price. That’s why they skipped the M3 chip for the new iPad pro and went straight to the M4 chip, cost 💲 💴I want an iPad to replace my ageing, more or less un-used, iPad mini 4. Note, I don't really need one, I just want one..
Now both the new M4 iPad pro and the M2 iPad air (11" versions) seemed quite tempting when released, but holding the (now old) 6th gen iPad mini, it became quite clear that it the mini I want...just a newer mini.
I'd hoped that Apple would quietly upgrade the mini now before WWDC with a A17 pro (or bionic) chip, but if I'll have to wait until fall, and then get an updated mini with an A18 pro/bionic chip, then so be it... I'll wait.
