Amaya Toman As usual, Apple should introduce a collection of new products to the world in September. A trio of new iPhones is considered almost certain, the media also speculates that we could expect an updated iPad Pro, Apple Watch, AirPods, and the long-awaited wireless charging pad AirPower. At the end of one of the reports, however, there is an interesting paragraph:
After its introduction in 2012 and three subsequent annual updates, the iPad Mini series hasn't seen an update since the fall of 2015. The absence of any information about a new version suggests — even though the iPad Mini hasn't been officially discontinued — that the product is dying out, at least within Apple.
iPad sales have been slowly declining since 2013. In that year, Apple managed to sell 71 million units, a year later it was only 67,9 million, and in 2016 even only 45,6 million. The iPad saw a year-over-year increase during the holiday season in 2017, but annual sales fell again. The aforementioned iPad Mini is also receiving less and less attention, whose history we will recall in today's article.
The birth of the Mini
The original iPad saw the light of day in 2010, when it had to compete with devices that were smaller than 9,7 inches. Speculations that Apple was preparing a smaller version of the iPad were not long in coming, and two years after the release of the first iPad, they also became a reality. Phil Schiller then introduced it as a "shrunken" iPad with a completely new design. The world learned about the arrival of the iPad Mini in October 2012, and a month later the first lucky ones could also take it home. The iPad Mini had a 7,9-inch screen and the price for the 16GB Wi-Fi-only model was $329. The original iPad Mini came with iOS 6.0 and the Apple A5 chip. The media wrote about the "Mini" as a tablet, which, although smaller, is definitely not a cheaper, low-end version of the iPad.
Finally Retina
The second iPad Mini was born a year after its predecessor. One of the biggest changes to the "two" was the introduction of the expected and desired Retina display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels at 326 ppi. Along with the changes for the better came a higher price, which started at $399. Another new feature of the second version was a storage capacity of 128 GB. The iPad Mini of the second generation ran the iOS 7 operating system, the tablet was fitted with an A7 chip. The media praised the new iPad Mini as an impressive step forward, but called its price problematic.
To the third of all good and bad
In the spirit of Apple tradition, the third-generation iPad Mini was revealed at a keynote in October 2014, along with the iPad Air 2, the new iMac or the desktop operating system OS X Yosemite. The "troika" brought a significant change in the form of the introduction of the Touch ID sensor and support for the Apple Pay service. Customers now had the opportunity to purchase its gold version. The price of the iPad Mini 3 started at $399, Apple offered 16GB, 64GB and 128GB versions. Of course, there was a Retina display, an A7 chip or 1024 MB LPDDR3 RAM.
iPad Mini 4
The fourth and (so far) last iPad Mini was introduced to the world on September 9, 2015. One of its most significant innovations was the "Hey, Siri" feature. The tablet as such was not given much attention in the relevant Keynote – it was basically mentioned at the end of the section dedicated to iPads. "We've taken the power and performance of the iPad Air 2 and imported it into an even smaller body," Phil Schiller said of the iPad Mini 4 at the time, describing the tablet as "incredibly powerful, yet small and light." The price of the iPad Mini 4 started at $399, the "four" offered storage in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB variants and ran the iOS 9 operating system. The tablet was taller, thinner and lighter than its predecessors. Apple said goodbye to the 16GB and 64GB versions of the iPad Mini in the fall of 2016, and the only Apple mini tablet currently in production is the iPad Mini 4 128GB. The iPad section of Apple's website still lists the iPad Mini as an active product.
Finally
The largest iPhones of the last two generations were not much smaller than the iPad Mini. It is speculated that the trend of "bigger iPhones" will continue and that we can expect even larger models. Part of the competition for the iPad Mini is the new, cheaper iPad that Apple introduced this year, starting at $329. Until its arrival, the iPad Mini could be considered the ideal entry-level model among Apple tablets - but what will it be like in the future? A relatively long time without an update doesn't support the theory that Apple could come up with an iPad Mini 5. We just have to be surprised.
Source: AppleInsider
When the mini 2 was released, it offered exactly the same as its larger variant. People could then choose according to size (and weight). That's why I fucked him. Even today, many people would buy a mini, but it is now much older and weaker compared to the larger variant. If they come out with a mini 5 that will have the same internals and performance as the new 10 inch Pro, I'll go back to the mini. But that probably won't happen. The shift from mini 2 to mini 3 to mini 4 was not particularly interesting, so now I have an old mini 2 that I would like to replace with something newer. The size of the mini is great and I cannot replace it with a large iPad in many situations - due to the size and weight.
The product name is iPad mini! Not the iPad Mini.
With a price of CZK 10.990, the mini model can hardly compete with, for example, the 5th generation iPad with 32 GB of memory priced at CZK 6.990.
I would like an iPad Pro mini, with a pencil. But similar to other cases, Apple's u <> is what I'd like.