Mine works great. Running the latest iOS. The size is perfect for my needs. There will always be haters.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Why does is iPad Mini 4 still for sale?
- Thread starter icemantx
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Mine works great. Running the latest iOS. The size is perfect for my needs. There will always be haters.
Who says it “doesn’t sell enough units”?
Apple would have already discontinued or updated it if they weren’t profiting from its sale.
iPad Mini 4 uses an A8, iPhone 6/6+ and SE use an A9. I wonder what they will do with all 3 of these devices. Would they update to an A10 and be inline with iPhone 7, iPad (2018) to streamline their product line or kill some of them off. I really wonder.
6/6+ uses A8, 6s/6s+ uses A9, I believe. But they wouldn’t update the 6 nor 6s. Old generation iPhones are just replaced with the next in line. I don’t think they’ll stop the SE or some version of the one-handed phone. They’ve admitted people still want one-handed phones, so I don’t see them abandoning that completely. They’ll probably update it sparingly. The mini is the bigger question. But personally I think it fills a big enough role that Apple will keep it or some version of it around, updating it sparingly as well.
I like my mini 4 as everyday carry and in bed than iPad Pro. Surprised how well it continues to handle the demands and remain a functional device. Love it!
In my Opinion, They sell the iPad Mini 4 because of two Permanent Reason:
1. They sell it as a main competitor to e-book, iPad Mini 4 is bigger than Kindle E-book like Paperwhite which is 6 inch.
2. iPad MIni 4 thinks "I am the bigger one, and i will make the smaller one (E-book) do what i want!
So iPad Mini 4 will be a total replacement for Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, as it use the Fully Laminated Display, Anti Reflective Coating, (which Both iPad 2018 lacks) almost as par as kindle white and acts like iPad Mini Pro lol.. And it can do several things, watching movies, gaming, Word, presentation for work, and lastly also use it iBook to Read some Comics.
I don't have one but I like the form factor and I would thinking about buying one once it is updated. I feel sorry for the people who are not informed about the details of apple products and don't know that support will be very limited.
What will be the last iOS for A8 based devices? IOS 12? So it's very likely that new buyers have an obsolete product end of next year.
What will be the last iOS for A8 based devices? IOS 12? So it's very likely that new buyers have an obsolete product end of next year.
It is for sale because it is. It will always be for sale until something kills it. I’m still on a mini 2.
The Paperwhite is a far superior reading device for plain reading (text with no graphics, no color). It's much less expensive, smaller, lighter, and the screen can be read in bright sunlight. I have a Paperwhite, then a Voyage, and now both Oasis. I would not use my Mini 4 as an ereader except for color and PDFs.
Looks like it will be getting iOS 13 as Apple are still supporting the A7 chips with ios12. I bought my iPad mini in January knowing that iOS 12 would be the last update, however it seems as though it might be supported until 2020.
It is possible they will drop the A7 and A8 devices together - though it’s also possible they will make 2GB ram the cutoff for 13, in which case the mini 4 would be the sole A8 device to survive (well, alongside the A8X touting air 2)
Don’t think they could support the mini and not the support the 6/6 plus. Maybe because of the battery scandal they want to be seen to be supporting older devices for longer and the iPhone 6 series was at the forefront of that debacle.
No they don't. Look at the iPad 3 it has doubled the ram of iPad 2. but did not get iOS 10.
iPad 3 HAS THE SAME AMOUNT of RAM of an iPhone 5/5S/6. but did not get iOS 10. Ram isn't just the factor for getting the newer version of iOS. in iOS, the newer the chip, the newer the device the better chance of getting supported. Besides When did Apple drop two generations at a time not even in macs... in fact the A7 will be 6 years old in the fall of 2019 before iOS 13 finally drops it. so A8/A8X device WILL 100% get the iOS 13. or maybe the A7 is still supported until iOS 13 considering the iOS 12 is now fast on OLDEST weakest 64 bit device which is A7 Devices like iPhone 5S which is only clocked at 1.3Ghz just like the iPhone 5. if that happens A7 device would be the longest chip to be survived at, surviving iOS 8 - iOS 13.
It does tend to be chipset based as I alluded to, but the A8s were the first chipset to feature differential RAM configuarations so it’s not impossible Apple might decide to split it that way - particularly as the mini 2 is one of the only A8 devices still on sale.
Virtually nil chance of the A7 getting iOS 13, 12 seems to be the final optimised version they can leave the chipset on. As the A8 is only a very small bump in power over it - and since iOS 11 dropped A6, if iOS 12 were to have dropped the A7, iOS 13 would be dropping the A8 anyway - I don’t think it would actually be all that surprising to see all A7s and A8s go together. Their list of compatible devices is ballooning so they’re going to have to trim it down eventually for practical reasons.
Mini 2 is A7. A8 devices on sale are Mini 4, iPod touch 6th generation, Apple TV 4th gen and HomePod.
Yes mini 2 was a typo - I wouldn’t count the HomePod or ATV as they don’t run iOS strictly speaking. Will be interesting to see if they update the iPT though
I think the iPod touch will only get updated if they intend to carry on selling it. I don’t see them bringing out a 7th gen touch so its all about when apple want to discontinue it.
I'm not going to say that the A7 and A8 would be dropped together. Though they are similar enough to each other. The A8 isn't THAT different from the A7 and is nowhere near as big of a jump from it as the A9 is to the A8. Given that Apple made its most sizable jump in Mac minimum system requirements by requiring a GPU with Metal support (essentially nixing two years of Mac models in a single jump), it's not out of the question for Apple to say, especially with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus being plagued with as many issues as they are, to require A9 and up for iOS 13.
I don't think it's likely. But it's certainly not out of the question.
I would say that the one factor keeping A8 in play is that it drives HomePod. Though, it could be that HomePod's version of iOS is so stripped down that it doesn't matter.
I don't think it's likely. But it's certainly not out of the question.
I would say that the one factor keeping A8 in play is that it drives HomePod. Though, it could be that HomePod's version of iOS is so stripped down that it doesn't matter.
It came out in September 2015. Spending $300 on a 3 year old iPad is not a good idea IMO.
Is that a 128gb wifi model? Sounds like a pretty good price for a new one (Apple sells for $400). I was looking at a new 128gb LTE model and they are $530. In the end I just couldn't justify that price when the 2018 9.7" 128gb LTE iPad only cost $30 more.
I love my Mini, it replaces my phone when I go overseas.
I use it to make phone calls from overseas with my phone at home on WiFi, works really well for that.
It replaced an iPad 3, the smaller form factor is way better for my usage.