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iPad mini Where is the iPad Mini 6?
- Thread starter DexBell
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iPad - Compare Models
Compare resolution, size, weight, performance, battery life, and storage of iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad, and iPad mini models.
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A few things
1) With the A12 chip, the iPad mini is already plenty powerful (the base iPad was just updated to this chip this year) and will last several years. It also has a fully laminated display (the base iPad does not, though it is rumored to get it). Honestly I could see the mini sticking around in its current format for another year. I could also see a simple spec bump to the iPad mini this year.
2) Upgrading to the stuff many are asking for would make it just a smaller size of the iPad Air, which I am not sure Apple wants to from a pricing standpoint
There’s precedence for a “smaller size of the iPad Air” (see mini 5 & Air 3), but I’m pessimistic as well now that Air 4 is out. To expect anything more than a bezel tweak similar to the 10.5” and a spec bump is setting yourself up for disappointmemt.iPad - Compare Models
Compare resolution, size, weight, performance, battery life, and storage of iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad, and iPad mini models.www.apple.com
A few things
1) With the A12 chip, the iPad mini is already plenty powerful (the base iPad was just updated to this chip this year) and will last several years. It also has a fully laminated display (the base iPad does not, though it is rumored to get it). Honestly I could see the mini sticking around in its current format for another year. I could also see a simple spec bump to the iPad mini this year.
2) Upgrading to the stuff many are asking for would make it just a smaller size of the iPad Air, which I am not sure Apple wants to from a pricing standpoint
Haha just wait when they announce an iPad Mini Pro and take everyone by surprise XD
We should just be happy if they announce any iPad mini in March ?
That would be AWESOME - but I'd be lying if I didn't think the best we can hope for is an iPad Air Mini design. which would be almost as good as I'm concerned.
A sixth-gen Mini with improved internals and smaller forehead and chin? Incoming.
A squared Mini with "Pro" design?
Yeah, no. It won't happen.
It won't happen for a very simple reason -- it wouldn't make sense in the iPad's price model.
Timmy loves adding a few advanced features to current products, this way he has an excuse to increase the prices significantly and therefore investors' gains. Even if this slaps Apple's tradition and values right in the face? Yes, it's his thing. Cook has done this since the beginning with every Apple product you could think of -- MacBooks, iMacs, iPhones and iPads.
In fact, Timmy loves doing this so much that if Apple has to come out with some marketing-bs out of hand and rebrand a device, expand a product lineup to a more convoluted one or even create an entirely new subcategory, they will do it. Case in point, iPad "Pro".
If the Mini got a 9" edge-to-edge screen, quad speakers, USB-C, Apple Pencil 2 support and you were expecting Timmy to still sell it at $399, I'd say you are high.
The thing is, Timmy could indeed lift its price, but by that point it would totally mess with the price tag of the other half-dozen of iPads currently available.
So no, it won't happen. Business-wise it doesn’t make sense.
As a side note, this Ameliozation of Apple's current lineups has gone way too far.
When it comes at least to the iPad, I'd simplify rather radically, going from the current five models to just two -- a 9" model and an 11" one. Both would share the same features -- edge-to-edge display, Face ID, quad speakers, USB-C, Apple Pencil 2 support, ProMotion, etc. One could start at $449 and the other at $649 or something like that.
Oh, and I’d give both a totally new and radical name: the iPad. No idiotic monikers that mean nothing.
Now how radical and magical would that be.
I feel like there is a pretty decent chance of a Mini 'Air'.
I would see it as having the following changes over the current model:
- Air/Pro styling
- Air's Touch ID button
- Air's dual speaker setup
- Smaller size (screen size similar to current at about 8 inches)
- Pencil 2 support would be a no-brainer.
- A13
- Price bump of circa $75 at low-end to $100 at high-end
- USB-C
On the CPU I could see A14 or sticking with A12 as possible alternatives to A13.
Main reasons why I think this will happen are:
- Apple can release a Magic Keyboard Mini for $249 and make $$$ on that accessory alone
- Apple Pencil 2 sells for $30 more
- A13 won't cost materially more than A12 (same process node and similar die size)
- Mini is long overdue a design refresh and it will help drive replacement sales
- Easier to justify pricing the mini between basic iPad and iPad Air (slots in more closely to the mid-point between iPad and iPad Air)
Basically I think it's profitable for Apple to do it.
I would see it as having the following changes over the current model:
- Air/Pro styling
- Air's Touch ID button
- Air's dual speaker setup
- Smaller size (screen size similar to current at about 8 inches)
- Pencil 2 support would be a no-brainer.
- A13
- Price bump of circa $75 at low-end to $100 at high-end
- USB-C
On the CPU I could see A14 or sticking with A12 as possible alternatives to A13.
Main reasons why I think this will happen are:
- Apple can release a Magic Keyboard Mini for $249 and make $$$ on that accessory alone
- Apple Pencil 2 sells for $30 more
- A13 won't cost materially more than A12 (same process node and similar die size)
- Mini is long overdue a design refresh and it will help drive replacement sales
- Easier to justify pricing the mini between basic iPad and iPad Air (slots in more closely to the mid-point between iPad and iPad Air)
Basically I think it's profitable for Apple to do it.
It’s really not that far behind
a12
the flagships were a12x and a12z. The regular iPad just got an a12 drop in a few months ago
yeah we have an air4 with a14 now but that’s ahead of even the 2020 pro
by this year with the new 2021 pro’s it will be a bit dated but
my a10x 12.9 is still humming along
a12
the flagships were a12x and a12z. The regular iPad just got an a12 drop in a few months ago
yeah we have an air4 with a14 now but that’s ahead of even the 2020 pro
by this year with the new 2021 pro’s it will be a bit dated but
my a10x 12.9 is still humming along
The Mini 2 was also just a smaller Air 1. Even the Mini 4 was very similar to the Air 2, just with an A8 instead of an A8X chip. In a lot of ways the Mini line has always just been a more portable version of the Air line. So the next Mini being just a smaller Air 4 isn't totally out of the question, and that would actually be pretty awesome.
yet so many are crying about how horribly outdated the barely year old 2020 iPad Pros are, and they have a newer processor.....mini needs an update the most.
that’s different. Releasing a $800 and $1000 iPad Pro a year and a half after the previous and only adding LiDar and maybe more gpu power is an inexcusable cash grab IMO for anyone that already had the 2018 or can’t hold out anymore
$400 for an iPad mini 5 in spring 2019 ( a year earlier, half price , even less against the 12.9) that was the latest silicon since a13 didn’t come to iPhone until late 2019, is fine
coupled with a spotty refresh cycle of a product line the mini 5 is doing just fine
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At least there was an update with new features and a new processor. Would be great if AppLe stopped ignoring the iPad mini. I just hope it doesn’t go another FOUR years between updates. iPad Pro users have nothing to cry about.
that’s true
I’d be cool with 120hz, new design, and quad speakers
but I really like my ‘ retro’ mini 5
I hold onto iPads for a while
It would be very awesome and I hope that’s what happens. Most Mini’s always seemed to be up to a year almost behind their Air counterparts until the Mini 5 & Air 3 launched the same day. That said, I’ll take a more portable version of the Air 4 whenever Apple decides to ship it.
Nonsense. People did however point out that the flagship iPad has had a rather mediocre update and the medium offering has a newer chip.
Crying? Cut the drama.
Not crying but the Pros are overpriced for essentially 3 year old tech and the Air 4 even has a newer chipset.
The A12Z is practically the same as A12X, just with improved yields to unlock one more GPU core. The difference is similar to 7C vs 8C GPU M1 MacBook Air - practically non-existent.
The 2020 iPad Pro is a very minor refresh to the 2018 iPad Pro. How would you like a successor to the 2019 iPad mini 5 whose only difference is an ever so slightly better GPU and LiDAR?
Granted, the mini is overdue for a design refresh and given the Air 4, that might come sooner rather than later, possibly at $499 entry level. Going by Apple's refresh cycles, the mini appears to to be less profitable compared to other models else, it would've been upgraded more often.
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One thing that saddens me about Apple's lineups is how the newest and greatest are always restricted to the largest models. I'm someone who prefers my screens small and portable. Them releasing an iPhone Pro Mini and an iPad Pro Mini would be a dream come true, but alas.
The dream may well be coming true by the end of the year. according to Korean sources...
PS this is not the mini 6 but a separate mini pro
If that's true, then its unlikely we see a Mini 6 anytime soon which is unfortunate. I dont want a smaller, overpriced mini version of the iPad Pro, I want a mini version of my Air 4 for $399
not necessarily, it my just be a separate device belonging to the pro category, but we'll know soon enough, if there is no mini 6 in the next couple of months then yes....