I imagine we’ll get an Air 5 in 2022 - and balance will be restored to the universe… or at least to a differentiated and segmented iPad product line.
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iPad The new iPad mini makes iPad Air one generation behind
- Thread starter TigeRick
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Simply how product lines evolve. All of the features missing on the current iPad Air and then some will likely appear on the next generation of the Air.
You haven't been following their scattered release patterns unfortunately. There is no set time of year that Apple releases Air or Pro.
With Air 3, it was spring 2019. With Air 4, it was fall 2020. It was more about an 18 month gap than a set release time.
The Pro is all over the place. The original was fall 2015, the 9.7" was spring 2016, then the next ones were in summer 2017, followed by new ones in fall 2018. Last year they came out in spring. This year they also came out in spring, but that's more because they needed to refresh them sooner than usual to update them from the older A12 series chip to the M1.
The Air is due next for an update, since it's now an outlier in regards to the front camera, and the Mini has upstaged it in the processor department. The Pros are in no need of an update anytime soon. Spring would be too early this tine around. Expect the next Pros in the fall of 2022, probably with an M2 chip.
Would not an M2 chip be released later this year with the new laptops? So iPad Pros could get that and an 11” one a mini-LED in the spring?
Potentially. We don't know how the M series will be renamed each iteration. It could go from M1 to M1X to M2, or go from M1 to M2. We'll see.
iPad being updated alongside iPhone is odd, especially a non-base model. So much so that I didn’t check out the event and only found out about the Mini 6 when I happened to open the forum.
I expect we will see the next Air in the usual October iPad slot.
I expect we will see the next Air in the usual October iPad slot.
For now. The Air will be updated next when it will be given the latest processor and probably more RAM. Also the mini does not get updated yearly.
Neither does the Air. The next significant Air update, IMO, would be giving it an OLED screen and 5G, as well as some more minor bonuses, like more RAM & storage. I doubt this will happen this year, though. 🤷🏻♂️
The Air will catch up to the Mini in due time. It was superior to the Mini for a whole year. The Air will likely be refreshed in about 6 months.
I remember how people complained about that when my Mini 4 was released with 2GB in 2015.
6 years later and it is getting updated to iPadOS15.
The amount of RAM people think the iOS devices need at least to have, always seem very arbitrary.
The new "base" iPad only got 3GB, btw.
I'm so happy Apple didn't nerf the Mini 6 needlessly just to please Air 4 owners. The salt I've seen on so many forums makes me thirsty.
He even compares 9th gen iPad to iPad Air which is interesting...
Me too, no doubt it was predominantly done as a Pro selling tactic though. Now those wanting an Air will buy the Pro or Mini if it’s not too small. There’s already a thread evidencing that the price of the 256 with LTE makes the 11 Pro tempting too.
I’d bet on Apple releasing a 128GB and maybe 512GB mid cycle (as it’s taken 9 years to lose the current form factor and only 3 Minis have really been up to date on release (2, 5 and 6) the Mini 7 is bound to be at least 3 years away.)
Nerfing the Mini isn’t necessary. There is still an argument for Air 4 if you want an 11“ screen but don’t need ProMotion or huge storage.
They’re already at 16 sku’s, considering past sales rates. To risk going 32 would take a pretty serious boost in popularity. I think they’ll see a bump but not probably enough for more than 24 skus.
You would still have the option of buying the 10.2" iPad or the iPad mini if you want to keep touchID. They only give you a single option on the iPhone, the iPad would still have two models with TouchID.
I'd still prefer to have the Air with TouchID available than either of those options.
I had to choose between Air 4 and 11" Pro earlier this year and much as I'd love to get 5G and 8-16GB RAM, the Air 4 won out because I'm finding TouchID invaluable right now.
Although I really would prefer to have dual TouchID+FaceID on the 11" Pro. That would've been perfect.
Well now this makes things even more interesting…
Early Apple iPad mini (2021) benchmarks reveal downclocked CPU and GPU
www.gsmarena.com
Early Apple iPad mini (2021) benchmarks reveal downclocked CPU and GPU
Early Apple iPad mini (2021) benchmarks reveal downclocked CPU and GPU
The new iPad mini uses an Apple A15 chipset with 5 GPU cores like the iPhone 13 Pro duo, but it seems to run at a lower clock speed.
Well now this makes things even more interesting…
Early Apple iPad mini (2021) benchmarks reveal downclocked CPU and GPU
Early Apple iPad mini (2021) benchmarks reveal downclocked CPU and GPU
The new iPad mini uses an Apple A15 chipset with 5 GPU cores like the iPhone 13 Pro duo, but it seems to run at a lower clock speed.
Interesting. That puts it right around Air 4 performance except for GPU. Of course, it should match or exceed Air 4 battery life despite the lower battery capacity.
IMO
TouchID (Power Button) > FaceID > TouchID (Home Button - because a home button is awful)
It's an excellent implementation. It bothers me that the 2021 iPad Pros lack the TouchID in the power button and only have FaceID. Aren't they supposed to be the definitive iPads? Shouldn't they not lack any features? It's a missed opportunity for the Pros to not have both. I noticed my wife entering her passcode the other day on her '21 Pro and asked her why she wasn't using the FaceID. Turns out, it doesn't always recognize her. Kind of lame if you ask me. Maybe it depends on the angle of how you hold it that helps the FaceID, but still.
But back on topic, the Mini is a great purchase today. I got to see it in person, and it looks and feels perfect (I maybe would've liked it to be a tiny bit larger, but I get it, it's a Mini). Of course, I wish it could've gotten the Pro treatment with more RAM, ProMotion, more storage options and perhaps MiniLED, but the Mini seems destined to stay in Air territory.
I hope that "jelly scrolling" issue can be resolved with a software update. I hate to see a bunch of people exchanging it if it can be fixed through software. I think that's one of the biggest complaints so far, and it's mostly from users, not professional reviewers. Who knows if Apple is on the case trying to resolve it.
My mini 4 is all but useless. iPadOS 14 is a dog on the 2GB mini 4. The heat on the back tells me it’s really struggling. Even just looking at Apple News lags. I may do a wipe and install OS15 just for fun to see what happens, but right now it basically just sits in a drawer. Besides, the battery is basically toast on it, anyway.
Very happy to have the mini 6 as a replacement.