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New iPad mini

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270 pointssoheilpro625 comments

They should stop handicapping the non-Pro displays at 60hz refresh rate. The world moved on 5 years ago. It’s getting tiring now.

Has any non pro consumer ever noticed a display greater than 60 hz. I can barely get the regular people in my life to nice anything above 30 hz or turning off motion smoothing. I really don't see how any of this stuff matters for most people

I'm sure there is a point of diminishing returns for display refresh rates, but I can tell you from experience that it is definitely higher than 60hz. 90hz feels meaningfully smoother (on a Steam deck), and 120/144hz (on a desktop monitor in my case) feels smoother than that. Even mouse input latency is perceptibly lower. I've never used a display faster than 144hz but I honestly would not be surprised to discover that one can still tell the difference well past 144hz.

60fps is basically fine as long as you are unaware that it can be any better, but once you find out you are forever spoiled by the knowledge.

Someone was complaining to me that Apple took a long time to add 120 Hz displays to phones. I didn't even know what my iPhone had, turns out it's 60 Hz cause it's a 12 mini. I've used 120 Hz displays before. Cannot tell the difference.

I think Apple has held off 120 Hz for so long precisely because the average person gets a bit of a jolt of "this device is fast, it runs so smooth compared to..." they can't quite immediately place until someone explains it's the refresh rate.

Without this, it'd be very hard for an average user to "feel" a performance difference between an A18 Pro in the Neo and say as far as the M5 Max in a MacBook Pro unless they had a "special" use case which really needed the extra CPU/GPU cores.

Of course, they can't stay forever on that. E.g. with the iPhone 17 they finally flipped the non-Pro over. Probably because it was starting to make the iPhone seem sluggish/stuttery compared to other phones more than it was making the iPhone 18 seem fast. Tablets have never seemed to be as fierce a market in terms of your average Joe comparing them, but I'd expect the same switch to being a liability instead of a tool will happen there as well (if they aren't already late to the game).

For doomscrolling or watching videos it makes little difference. For an iPad that advertises drawing with the pencil, the latency of the brushstroke is a massive difference between the two. The more immediate feedback unlocks more confidence and reduces a lot of friction.

You don't have to know what Hz is to see that scrolling on some devices is smooth and on other (coug..Apple) devices is choppy. 60Hz feels like a decade old phone.

I would be surprised if >10% of people didn't notice a difference between 60Hz and 120Hz.

Whether the hardware can keep up with Liquid Glass and push 120 frames a second is a different story, of course.

Scroll text in 60 and 120Hz. Can’t read while scrolling at 60Hz. It’s not movies what makes you notice

From what I can tell, it's the thing they notice more than almost anything else. I was recently shopping for a new phone and my brother, who has no interest in tech, kept telling me I need to get the one with it (I forgot the exact term he used, it wasn't 120hz admittedly).

My Samsung Galaxy has a switch for either 120hz or better battery life. Never bothered to even try the 120hz. The phone feels fine. Hell, the only reason I even upgraded to this one was to get security fixes.

I am a nerd, but scrolling and my mouse cursor is obviously smoother at 120hz over 60. I can't tell the difference at 144 vs 120 however.

> I can barely get the regular people in my life to nice anything above 30 hz or turning off motion smoothing. I really don't see how any of this stuff matters for most people

"I don't have an issue with it, so most people also don't have an issue with it"

False Consensus Effect (or false consensus fallacy):

It happens when someone overestimates how much other people agree with them, assuming that their own personal beliefs, values, or experiences are the default for everyone else.

Nobody ever wanted a >60Hz display, but once you've used one it's hard to go back. It's like having a higher-performance car. You're now stuck with paying more just for baseline happiness.

It's probably not actually as hard to go back as we think it is, but holding on to stuff is in our genes.

Yes? 30-60 is night and day so i have a hard time believing this.

There is an argument to be made on battery life 60-120 but my god i can instantly tell between 60-120. The key part is the input responsiveness more than anything else. If you tell someone to look at “frame rate” few will notice the dif but have them grab a window and wiggle it around, obv dif with responsiveness

My monitors accidentally switched to 30hz and it was extremely noticeable.

I think it only really matters for gamers, but seriously, who's gaming on an iPad?! Use a PC or console!

Agreed.

If they INSIST that it MUST be 60 Hz, I'd accept the consolation/compromise of 60 Hz but 0ms-ish latency. (Maybe they already do it that way.)

As in waiiiiit until the 16.67ms between frames is almost up while sampling inputs, then bam!, render quicky, bam!, transfer it over a link that could carry more than 60 frames per second, bam!, fast OLED display. Each frame fresh and close to input.

To the why?-sayers: Because the difference is noticeable. We can get all philosophical and discuss whether it's a competitive advantage for someone to not notice the difference, or vice versa. Why the why?, why not just… take us difference-noticers on our word? Like… we're not taking your 60Hz 16.67ms crunchiness away from you?

Using a 60hz screen after you’ve been on high refresh rate screens for a few years literally feels like something is broken.

Like, is the battery running out or is a setting misconfigured somewhere? I won’t spend a dime buying any device that can’t hit at least 90-100hz+

> (Maybe they already do it that way.)... take us difference-noticers on our word

You didn't convince me.

If you give me a choice between buttery smooth >60Hz refresh rate animations, and better battery life, I'll choose the battery life 100% of the time. But that's just me. But then again, with the insides of a typical tablet being 90% battery these days (along with a little motherboard along one edge) maybe that's all a nonissue. Phones, on the other hand... my unambitious, cheap (from when you could still get half decent cheap phones) one goes two days on a charge easily, whereas a friend with an "advanced" phone struggles to get through one day with it, often running out during all-day outdoor adventures. Tradeoffs!

This tradeoff doesn’t exist.

Look at Apple’s own smartphone lineup. The Pro models with 120Hz screens get better battery life than the low end iPhone models.

You could make up for the difference in battery life with an almost undetectable amount of extra battery capacity from both a cost and size standpoint.

Phones use VRR displays, they don't always scale up all the way to 120Hz, only when justified by the content.

Even on the 120Hz displays, you can choose to cap them to 60Hz in settings.

What's magical about 60 there? I'd naively think you'd just want VRR and some power saving render rate behavior rather than a fixed target framerate equal to the max framerate for all types of content all the time. The latter gives you neither good power saving nor good experience in most combinations.

the irony is that 120hz screens are actually 1-120hz vs constant 60hz which makes it more battery efficient most of the time except for when you're scrolling

I think you missed the point of their comment. The point is they are reducing features (marginal cost difference for them) to provide a worse experience for a cheaper model. I'm pretty sure it's less complicated to have a shared manufacturing process with fewer SKUs than to have two separate displays (if they're even different and not just software locked).

Do you think they couldn't add a refresh rate control to the device if you wanted to have lower battery? They already have variable refresh rate implemented, a much harder problem.

I remember the age of when Intel used to lock down hardware multipliers for overclocking behind the K versions, and GPUs did too. This is a well known practice, and Apple is not above it.

Apple should also unlock the bootloaders on devices once they add them to their own "Obsolete" list.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102772#ipadobsolete

While I agree 100%, I'm more interested in the variable refresh down to 1hz that comes with 'Promotion' to save on battery when viewing lots of static text.

Why?

I could not care less about any refresh rate over 30.

You can care about it, but that just means it sounds like a differentiator to me, not something everyone should pay for just because you care about it.

You will have to somehow prove it if you would say that the panel and driver chip are all already ready to do 100+ hz for free by default, and are actually artificially limited, and that that artificial limitation doesn't come with some other advantage like battery life (allowing a smaller battery or less cost in some other way).

Why? Because.

Or, jokes aside, I honestly think that you might just have beefier time-integrating sensory-processing circuits in your brain than I do. Really. I do profoundly notice the difference, and it's a gritty and distracting thing. A slight but persistently intrusive and distracting perceptual thing. I honestly wish I didn't notice, but I do. I basically ask this: believe us when we ask for higher framerates and lower end-to-end latency.

And I'm fairly certain that the hardware and software to do higher frame rates across the board is a baseline commodity in the Apple source hardware ecosystem the build and integrate from. And it's certainly a better fit to consider it a line drawn between "pro" and "not pro" for marketing and pricing purposes than any fundamental and meaningful price-of-equipment threshold.

For movies, 30fps is good enough, but for a screen which you interact with, the change to 120hz is dramatic. And there is no reason why they should not be adding it.

The base iPhone 17 has a 120 Hz display, I suspect they are going to drip feed it through their products as a cheap spec bump (vs adding extra RAM or storage).

Or this will be an anomaly and they'll drop the base iPhone and keep the E model for the new base, the Air, the Pro and now the Duo.

> I suspect they are going to drip feed it through their products as a cheap spec bump (vs adding extra RAM or storage).

The iPhone sells way more units than the iPad, so it makes sense that it's not a feature for the iPad mini yet.

The non-Pro iPhone 17 has ProMotion. I have to assume it's a matter of time before it'll make its way to the non-Pro iPads.

Sure, but the parent comment is saying the “matter of time” should be in the past. I wouldn’t buy a 60hz device today.

To everyone over here stating the pro vs regular consumer argument:

- Apple introduces OLED and talks about deep blacks and 1200 bits

- Why do they think people care about the above and not 120hz as well?

To the average consumer, neither matters much. True. But the above did not make much sense to me.

To the average consumer, deep blacks will look great in the next Avengers movie.

To the average consumer, obsessing over scroll feeling not completely perfect is a distraction from watching the next Avengers movie, if not downright neurotic behavior.

To a prosumer, the value may be obvious but the price may not be worth it. Which can lead to a distaste for the company, for not being a more accommodating company.

To a professional, if you need it, you need it, and you begrudgingly pay for it. Because you need it.

I don’t even know what my phone screen has. Wasn’t why I bought the pro at the time. Wanted the additional ram. So I wouldn’t feel as pressed to upgrade now. (Prosumer, aka neurotic.)

Apple introduced Tandem OLED there is a difference most of the PC world is still using single OLED with all its shortcomings along with Thunderbolt 4.

120hz at 5k requires Thunderbolt 5 (ie better graphics card, more info down the pipeline.

Which is why most of the PC world is on cheap 4k monitors still.

Came in to say exactly that. That’s what’s holding me back from upgrading my older Pro. I refuse to go back to 60hz.

I always change back my devices to 60Hz. There's no brain here. I get motion sickness easily.

Usually it's low FPS (if FPS at all) that causes motion sickness. This comes up in VR discussion a lot. IIRC like 90Hz is considered a minimum.

I get horribly motion sick playing some games like Half-Life 2, Metroid Prime, or the original DOOM. I run my phone at 120Hz and like it. For games, cranking up the FoV tends to help, also disabling effects like viewbobbing, blur, shaking, etc.

I understand this is not fun to experiment with, though. Once I'm motion sick, I tend to be the entire day, only sleeping fixes it, so I'm not usually excited to keep trying to tweak the thing that makes me sick. I tend to dive into settings before playing any game now. I hate when it auto starts the game to appear cinematic.

Oh you should try the accessibility feature for that with the little dots on the screen.

High refresh rate displays are an interesting feature because most users do not notice the difference.

I can spot a 60Hz display from jiggling the mouse pointer for a second.

I’ve also done side-by-side comparisons of full screen scrolling on 60Hz and 120Hz screens for less technical people who could barely perceive a difference when I was pointing it out, but it took some time to get them to see it.

MKBHD (YouTube tech video and reviewer) talks about this a lot: It’s highly valuable to people like you and me who are attuned to the performance of our devices, but most people don’t notice. Or care!

I would appreciate high Hz displays everywhere, but I admit that Apple has probably made the right consumer choice tradeoff to compromise on refresh rate for these lower end devices where minimum cost and maximum battery life are the two most important features for those who buy them.

I'm one of those who can't spot a difference. I've tried to with the mouse trick or scrolling and I just can't see it. I can see the difference between 30fps and 60fps but anything north of 60fps is imperceptible to me. Maybe it's from a lifetime of gaming on toaster specs where I'd scarcely break 25fps.

I think another thing to keep in mind is that there’s probably an element of sensory adaptation at play here. Like when you wear a watch: you notice it at first, and then you don’t notice it on your wrist anymore.

So if you’re actively moving between a high-refresh-rate device (like a lot of people here with their 144hz monitors) and then one with a lower refresh rate, you’re probably more sensitive (and potentially annoyed) by the discrepancy.

Did it? Most devices are still at 60

Right? Pro devices should be 240hz now

Why? Reference monitors in the production industry aren't.

do people have NASA sensors instead of eyes? 48hz is fine, let alone 60hz. Probably they save a lot on battery as well.

A 40% price increase compared to pre June pricing, a 60Hz display (that’s likely just software locked), and still starting at 128GB of storage.

I was actually excited for this, but now I’m going to pass.

Thanks AI.

I wanted to upgrade my air(gen4) but with these prices it's just not happening. Oh and no support for the perfectly fine apple pencil I already got with it is just....

... AI and the RAM-pocalypse.-

It's hard to even know what price to use to calculate the delta, since there are different processors with different memory capacities, different CPUs based on memory, and higher price for the nano-texture display.

But yeah, a top-of-the-line iPad mini costs well more than an MBA, which seems kind of nuts. Add on a keyboard case and Apple Pencil Pro and you're looking at $1,500.

I would not assume it is software-locked. Display controller on 120Hz ProMotion displays is more expensive. Also, the panel itself is likely cheaper LTPS vs. LTPO.

Such a shitty proposition. Why would anyone buy this.

Now I get why they only announced it via press release...

Value/$ in iPad basically has not changed since 2022. Inflation (general and AI/antitrust-driven component shortages) has cancelled out technical gains.

I doubt the display is hardware locked. Apple is too good at protecting its margin to do that.

They ticked all the boxes.

Add to that a locked OS, and you got a bingo.

128gb...

it's water resistant

that's huge

Is it? I’m curious what use-cases you think are the most relevant here.

Putting the ipad right next to the sink when doing dishes is the best I can come up with. Or maybe if it’s used in a business context, such as for salespeople doing a promotion on a sidewalk

Who can afford this shit?

I can, easily, wouldn’t feel the cost in any way.

The question you I think should ask is who finds this value reasonable?. To which, I can only answer my myself who can’t see any reason to upgrade from my iPhone 15.

It makes no sense to make the devices so thin and then having a fat camera. This requires a cover to equalize the size with the camera for haptic reasons. Better use this space for other stuff like larger batteries and make the device the same thickness everywhere.

The carousel 2nd image appears to have erased the camera to make it fit the marketing narrative? That's pretty bold.

The argument is most people use a case regardless, so if it were the same thickness across the device, the iPad would be considerably thicker once in a case. That and weight. I don’t use cases so it bothers me too, but it does make some sense.

I have a hard time believing the camera bump isn't the result of intensive consumer psychology experiments. Setting a bare apple device down on a flat surface feels like chair with a leg sawed off. They need you to buy the accessories. This is part of making the ecosystem viable.

I'm ok with the bump, but make it not wiggle on a damn table. Google figured this out. The first MacBook Airs figured this out (wedge).

They came up with the plateau, just make the whole plateau flat already.

If they levelled it out you could surely fit a far larger battery in it too. I'd far rather have a device 1.5mm thicker with a battery lifespan twice as long and no silly bump on it.

Since basically everybody uses a case anyways, the important factors are weight and width with the case on. This design makes both of those significantly smaller than your suggestion.

Even stupider for iPads because who even is using the back camera? Just get rid of it entirely and the device will be exactly as functional.

Tangentially related: this is the funniest rant about this "devices with a fat camera bump that don't lay flat" rant that exists: "Why?" - Lazy Posy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP7lYuyGTmg

More material, bigger battery = heavier device. For something this size I figure people want something they can comfortably hold in one hand for a session.

Perhaps if they put a very small lip around the camera lens and a physical bump on the other side so the device doesn't rock, at least it would be symmetrical and the glass would be slightly less prone to surface contact.

A real pro model would be chunky and blocky with lots of connectors, ports, and user replaceable parts.

Why can't we have two product lines. Classic/Elegant and Pro/Chunky

I always keep my phone in a case... I've had one too many drops, and I'm super-careful.

That being said, even with my Pixel in a case, the camera still protrudes.

It would be interesting to try a camera where the lens extends out when the camera is activated; and flat otherwise.

Isn’t the bump already used to pack components that don’t fit in the rest of the device body? I don’t believe it’s only used for the camera.

Though I do hate that bump. I just tried a duo and the bump makes it awkward to hold as a tablet

> This requires a cover to equalize the size with the camera for haptic reasons.

Not really! The cover just follows the seam. And larger batteries will increase the weight as well, which Apple definitely doesn't want.

> larger batteries and make the device the same thickness everywhere

thermals.

Aren't most people using their device with a case anyways?

This is why I believe the Pixel 10a is the best designed phone to date.

More battery means more weight, and no one wants these to be heavier.

It makes sense for the manufacturer, they save a LOT of materials.

Yeah it's infuriating. I love how even Apple are embarrassed by it, since in the first two animations of people holding and rotating the device they've left off the camera bump, making it look smooth flat.

What about weight?

The iPad Mini has never had a camera bump.

But don't you just need a big camera on your giant tablet? How will you ever manage if you don't have a nice camera on both sides of all your handheld devices? /s

If they put the tiny "front-facing" camera pointed out the back it would be enough for the vast majority of people I imagine.

Yes that stupid camera bump ... I hope those designers lose their jobs to AI. Then again, perhaps they already did :)

I am so glad that I bought so much new tech before 2025 that I can make do without them for a while now.

These prices are insane and there is no sign of things slowing down.

I would happily give up on the entire AI industry in exchange for more affordable hardware. No hesitation. The worldwide inflation resulting from the AI rollout is shameful to say it politely

I've thought a lot about that actually. I have a number of hardware purchases I'd like to make but I'm delaying due to the insane prices. That said, would I give up LLMs for the prior prices? No. Prices will come down eventually once more factories come online (it's just slow to bring up a new factory/fab, especially for RAM) and LLMs are such an awesome tool that I'll take the short-term pain of higher hardware.

The Apple TV really threw me, $299 new but last gen started at $129

The original iPad had a 9.7" screen; it was later bumped to 10.2", and today the smallest iPad/iPad Air screen is 11".

The iPad Mini started with a 7.9" screen, bumped today to 8.5".

The iPhone Duo inner display is 7.6", there are already rumors saying a gen 2 or gen 3 might be 7.9".

It's interesting how smooth the iPhone/iPad continuum is becoming.

Unlike the iPhone getting bigger, the iPad with the 9.7/10.2/11" screen is still basically the same size though. It's just the bezels getting smaller.

Quick look at the Mini dimensions also seems like it barely got bigger overall since 1st gen.

Still waiting for a 13 Mini refresh :(

There's an obvious gap where the iPhone mini used to be. Please fill that gap Apple!

I love this dude's "reviews" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTiiZTi3aC8

when he goes "iphone small (big)" "iphone big (bigger)" and so on. He has a bunch of them.

What isn't smooth is the separation between the iPad and iPhone teams. I'm pretty sure new things being visited on the Duo such as the split keyboard interface have already been tried on the iPad side.

This iPad mini is actually slightly smaller than the previous gen; it's just the bezels that got smaller; the device footprint didn't grow.

The outer dimensions are largely the same, it's mostly a reducing the bezel size to increase the display size.

Hopefully as Apple's own N-series Wifi chips mature and get rolled into more products, they will include GPS/GNSS capabilities into the chips, as right now if you want that functionality you have to purchase the "Wi-Fi + Cellular" variant:

* https://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/specs/ § Location

Edit: to perhaps make it more clear, I meant still sell a +Cellular variant with the C-series chips (or whatever), but move the GNSS functionality into the N-series chips. So you'd have a non-cellular and a cellular, but both would have GNSS.

I wouldn’t hold my breath. I think the +cellular is enough of a differentiator that Apple will always charge for it.

The buyer is also signing up for a monthly payment. So clearly they have the cash to make an “extra monthly payment” or two up front.

AI Doomer: AI is going to rise up and destroy humanity!

AI Optimist: AI is going usher in an era of unparalleled productivity and achievement

The reality: RAM/Chip prices are way, way up. The starter iPad mini is $700.

The cheapest configuration of the original model was $329 in 2012 [0]. Even when corrected for inflation, that would still be less than $500 in today's money -- so quite a bit less than $700!

Is the comparison unfair because today's model is much more powerful than the one from 14 years ago? Perhaps. But perhaps it shouldn't be compared to the past, but to its relative competitors?

[0] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2012/10/23Apple-Introduces-iP...

> RAM/Chip prices are way, way up

So that cloud providers can have servers and GPUs sitting unpowered in warehouses and datacenters.

How does AI explain the mini being $250 more expensive than the regular 11-inch iPad?

The whole supply demand spherical cow model of capitalism really breaks down when suppliers decide they'd collectively use their cartel to not engage in demand and instead gouge prices.

> The reality: RAM/Chip prices are way, way up. The starter iPad mini is $700.

This has tiny 128 GB of storage and unknown but obviously not too high amount of RAM. At best 16, but probably less.

That's just Apple beeing greedy as usual.

Apple: Just fix the software. I have an iPad Mini (6?) and it's clearly just such an orphaned product. They're not even TRYING to make it usable. The on-screen keyboard takes up the majority of the screen when in landscape mode. In portrait mode, the "drawer" on the left side of the screen takes up so much space in apps like Maps/Flighty that it covers the location you're currently at.

They've clearly given almost no thought into how the (already marginal) iPadOS renders on a smaller screen.

Literally the one thing it needed was 120hz. I could somewhat understand that being a "Pro" feature in 2018, but in the big '26 there's no excuse.

Why are these things always The Biggest Update Ever.

If that were literally true, by now we'd be walking around with devices the size of Mt. Rushmore.

"We just changed a couple things, no biggie, don't buy it" is the reality, but that doesn't sell. Marketers optimize for sales saying what they can get away with.

You're not wrong. The video video on Youtube gives a very good (and quick) overview of the marketing behind phone screen glass marketing claims; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YrdI7h2XoY

The same will apply to everything any company is marketing, at the very least it will always be their 'best' 'new' product.

That's just the nature of (slow) exponential gains. If the processor gains 1% in flops each generation, the absolute flop increase is always the largest ever. Now consider that a device has tens of marketable metrics and that is always a defensible claim.

Last iPad Mini I bought in 2015 was 32gb for $379CAD, one today 11 years later is $949CAD for 128gb, 2.5x over 10 years, I know there is different tech, inflation and times are different but I always though the mini as the budget option, now with this recent releases Apple is just going for: it's expensive because that's the only way we can keep growing....

The mini is not the budget option, at least not anymore. The base 11" iPad starts at $450 in the US (and can often be found on sale for less). It is the cost-down with lower-spec components, and is probably a more compelling product for the consumer looking for the cheapest iPad option than a cost-down mini would be.

Their budget iPad I think got 70% increased in price a couple of months ago. I was planning to upgrade my iPad mini to the normal 11inch iPad and when I checked the price it was nowhere near the price I remembered I last saw it.

Exchange rate is also a factor.

The iPad mini hasn’t been the budget iPad for quite a few years now. It is more like a small iPad Air now.

It is a very rare event what is going on right now. The prices are mostly up due to memory shortage.

> I always though the mini as the budget option

Keeping up appearances:

Lease from $14.99/mo. per month for 36 mo.months with Apple Upgrade Footnote ※

8.7% annual inflation is pretty high but most luxury goods have kept up with that

Check Porsche 911 / Boxster pricing in Canada over those years or Chanel bags

Luxury inflation > normal inflation

Agentic coding has slowly but surely allowed me to enhance many aspects of my life, big and small, with self-made software and automation. These systems are just for myself and my loved ones.

I left the mess of Android years ago in favor of iOS. The restrictive distribution system always irked me but never affected me personally. Now though, having to jump hoops and resort to PWAs for many different things I want to do with my devices, iOS truly feels maliciously crippled. I’m in the market for exactly this kind of tablet, if only they’d let me run my own code in peace maybe I’d buy it.

I’ve had a side quest of finding a true Linux tablet with cell service with similar battery life to my iPad. They don’t seem to exist, or there’s one or two that cost double my iPad. It’s unfortunate

isn't android about to push an update that nerfs most of its advantages in this regard? the duolopoly sucks. (yes, other options exist but with pretty drastic tradeoffs.)

I bought a used iPad for my daughter for her birthday about a year ago for about $500.

M4 chip.

Her mom's cats chewed on the corner of the screen. It won't turn on.

The cost to replace that screen: $1200.

Apparently OLED screens break completely if just a single pixel is damaged.

I don't think that's unique to OLED. There's all manner of things that could've gone wrong when breaking a corner in both LCD and OLED

> The cost to replace that screen: $1200.

That's Apple saying to you: omg, stop being so poor and wasting our time, just buy another one

Only Apple can properly replace these screens and pair the parts (FaceId etc), so setting the standard repair cost high enough helps push people toward Apple Care eligible new devices, handicapping the second hand market.

That has been the case basically since Apple Care existed IMHO.

your ex’s cat chewed on the corner of an iPad? Does the cat have some more interesting stories of destruction since it apparently likes chewing on metal/glass, a higher level of destruction setting than the standard cat.

Because you gave the context clues of M4 chip and OLED screen and $1200 repair cost, this means you somehow snagged an iPad Pro 13” with the cellular modem for $500, which is way below market value.

The current version of this model of iPad purchased brand new is $1700.

In other words, this is the highest end iPad available. Any other lower spec model reduces the repair cost lower than what you were quoted.

Where do you find an iPad with M4 and OLED screen for $500 ?

That happened to my MBP without OLED. Fortunately I had Applecare.

Her mom keeps jungle cats or something?

Given the criticism the Duo has had for not being a very good iPhone[1], I was hoping for a foldable iPad mini, which would seem to dodge those problems. Maybe in a year or two (does anyone remember the iPod Touch, which was an iPhone without the phone bit? I loved that thing.)

[1] - See "far the worst iPhone experience ever" Daring Fireball review: https://daringfireball.net/#:~:text=one.%20The%20outer%20dev...

The point of foldables is that they fit a big screen in your pocket. What's the point of a foldable display? Fit a 10 inch in your tiny purse? Very hard sale for double the price.

We will eventually see "foldable MacBook" because I genuinely want a 20" screen in my backpack or even just a smaller 16" MacBook. I guess not coming before 2035

I expected the Duo to closer to the size of a normal iPad. I didn't realize it was a foldable iPad Mini that's also a phone. imo It's too small for the bulkiness that it adds. Also sacrificing the camera was not worth the fold.

Just curious, is that based on your own experience or negative reviews you’ve read online? I’m using the Duo now and quite like it. It’s a first-gen device, so it has its quirks, which is expected. Calling it the worst phone is a bit of an exaggeration though. It’s a foldable, not a conventional phone, so you can’t really expect to use it the same way.

I have a 2022 mini that I use constantly. I was looking forward to this update. I like the oled and the lower weight, but it's just too expensive for what you get. The processor upgrades etc. mean nothing to me, my 2022 mini isn't slow. I don't want the camera on the side either.

It's too bad because Apple only updates these things every couple years and the price never goes down, so this is the best moment to update. Oh well. Maybe I'll buy a new cover for my old mini.

Whenever I get bored with my m1 ipad, I buy a new cover for it, and then I enjoy using it again :)

Ctrl+F "ProMotion" 0 results

non-starter

60hz is the reason i sold mine. Otherwise I loved that little ipad

Seriously, what’s the point if it doesn’t have ProMotion? 60hz feels so sluggish.

Apple likes to slow roll features out. It's kind of a necessity when Wall Street expects you to put out a desirable hardware version every few years. Gotta protect that runway!

Same. But thats what drives me to duo. Probably the whole point

I was hoping the next mini would. Guess I’ll keep my 6th gen around.

I'm shocked Apple haven't acquired Procreate yet. It's nearly always in iPad marketing material. Personally I know so many artists who've bought iPads, and the only app they have installed is Procreate.

It’s possible they simply don’t want to sell. ProCreate parent company is extremely successful on its own, it’s possible being part of Apple wouldn’t bring anything to the table for them. Looking at some apps Apple acquired it’s not clear that being part of a mega corporation benefits creative tools.

Seems like they made their decision when they acquired Pixelmator.

> in an even thinner and lighter design

Never once did I hold my iPad mini with a case and think, "damn this thing is heavy"

I’ve been raw dogging my mini for the past couple of days because I removed the Smart Folio to wash off all the accumulated gunk. The sudden thinness and lightness was amazing.

I thought the same thing about iPhones, then I got an iPhone Air and can’t imagine going back to those fat bloated bricks people lug around daily. Worse, they put a thick case on it making it even more portly, because the aluminum bodies dent so easily. iPhone Air is what Steve Jobs would have wanted: a super thin strong Titanium phone that doesn’t need any case to feel complete.

Just because it's good doesn't mean it can't be better

The novelty of how thin my M5 iPad Pro is still hasn't worn off. Sometimes it's just nice to hold some tech in your hand that feels like it's from the future.

You don’t really understand how heavy devices are unless you have something to compare to.

Supports extended display - with Apple ignoring the capabilities of Pro iPhones (give us the Dex already!), this is now the smallest device you can take on trips to have it become a (nerfed by software) workstation when plugged to USB-C monitor.

$700? Dang. Prices are climbing so fast.

No need to involve dang in this. He's had nothing to do with these price hikes.

That plus an iPhone cost less than a Duo. But yeah that's expensive.

Yes, those AI subscription prices have a hidden cost ...

I saw a lot of people say the homeview is stupid, they can get an iPad and a dock

The homeview at $299 is the great value Apple product by far, compared to the price of new iPads

The 512 nano texture iPad mini with a case and pencil and Apple care and tax and tip in Canada is well over $2000!!!

I don’t see homeview being worth it unless they allow app installs. $300 for a display that shows photos and smart home controls is kinda pointless. You can’t even put up your home assistant dashboard on it.

The homeview is DOA, I'm sorry. Who is the target for this?

There is no app store. I mean maybe they will add one later, but still until that happens I really dont see any use case besides setting some kitchen timers.

Yes, smart home is a thing, but tons of people need apps like Hue or Shelly to control their setup.

I haven't been in Canada in a while. I don't understand why you are tipping on an iPad mini. Are you Doordashing it? What changed since I left?

You tip for purchases from a shop in Canada? Or is that a joke that's gone over my head?

I don't like when they force a storage upgrade just to get a matte screen. I have no need for more storage, but would like a matte screen. As a $100 upgrade for nanotexture, it already seems steep, but forcing it to a $200 upgrade due to a needless storage bump is too much to ignore.

I also question what is required for nanotexture. I read the iPhone Duo has this in a replaceable screen protector, effectively. A replacement, under AppleCare is $15. Are we being charged $100 for a factory installed screen protector? If so, why does that need to be tied to certain levels of storage to reduce SKUs?

Nanotexture on non-folding displays is etched glass.

Costs as much as the full-size one did until recently.

Tech price appreciation is really throwing me off!

OLED is really good for media consumption, and IMO, this form factor is one of the best for carrying around in trips and watching movies on the car/plane/train/etc.

But the price is a bit high, that's the history of Apple though. On the other hand, I think this particular screen is probably going to be sourced by cheaper small android tablets at a much more competitive price, and if you're using it for media consumption, there's no difference between an Apple and an Android tablet.

So I'm happy to see OLED on this model.

Is Stage Manager with an external monitor possible with this new iPad Mini or still artificially limited to M chips? I mean it’s more powerful than the M1 iPad Air which supports it.

I'd like to have that confirmed too. Size wise, I'd love to get a Mini, but only being able to mirror to an external display, especially at this price, is a no from me.

I don't see anything suggesting it can perform this, so likely the artificial limit is still in place.

Tech pundits should just talk to me. I bought AirPods the week before the new ones came out, and I bought a new iPad 48 hours ago!

Luckily I didn’t buy a iPad Mini, but I really like the form factor.

Lucky 10000, there is a return window of 2 weeks :)

Higher brightness and nano-texture make this a must-have for ForeFlight. Too bad it'll probably require a new yoke mount.

As a life long and continuous Apple user (and iOS SWE), I recently got a $150 Samsung Android tablet that I can use as a claude interface. It can take in voice commands, and create new builds of itself on a network Mac. So I can essentially have whatever screen or interface I want for any given moment. Right now I'm tuning my motorcycle with an OBD bluetooth device and recording engine behavior on rides.

I looked at the tech specs but I don't see how much ram it has. I ended getting more storage than I needed on my pro because it also gave it more ram.

Gizmodo thinks it will have at least 12GB RAM, but it sounds more like an educated guess than a confirmed fact:

https://gizmodo.com/ipad-mini-oled-a20-pro-chip-2000830541#:...

The 512GB option actually has a better chip with 1 more CPU core and twice the neural engine...

Boneless iPhone Duo

How would an OLED screen be an improvement over an ipad 8th generation? I'm debating on what to upgrade to but I mainly use my ipad for reading comics nowadays. Movies/TV are for the big screen.

They have better blacks and no light bleed. The colors are more vivid and spectral too. That's cool for watching movies in the dark

However, whether you really notice a difference reading on the thing I kinda doubt.

And furthermore Apple’s OLED screens tend to have more color reproduction issues. I don’t have an iPad any more but gather a group of people using OLED iPhones. Use light mode and open the Settings app at the same time. You will see that different OLED screens render the same white menu items differently. Some will have a yellowish tint, others an unpleasant green tint. This happens regardless of whether one turns on or off TrueTone. This has been going on since the very first OLED iPhones. The old LCD iPhones never had this problem. It is highly subjective but it bothers me way more than a 60Hz refresh rate.

In general display technologies are highly subjective. Besides LCD versus OLED, there are people who love nano texture and there are people who hate them. There are people who absolutely need 120Hz and there are people who can’t tell the difference between 60Hz and 120Hz. It’s a shame that we can’t customize the display technology exactly as we want.

I own no iPads but all my screens are OLED and I would never buy anything else. The true black is an absolute killer feature. It makes the device just a glowing wonder at night, magical feeling, no way to overstate it.

OLED + dark mode after sundown are awesome. On Android we also get the extra dim mode which makes it perfect for lights-out.

It's not. OLED screens use PWM, i.e. they are switching to almost black 256 times a second. That's tiresome for the eyes. Especially when you read from it with artificial lighting which is dim, that makes those black periods long and noticeable. Yes, recent iPhones sometimes don't go full black, but that's only for near-100% brightness.

There’s a tiny segment of folks (like me) who have been waiting a very long time for an 8ish inch OLED tablet. For some reason, until mid 2025, they were extremely rare, even in the Android multiverse. I’m excited because I read a ton with white text on black, and an OLED display (especially with this nanotexture stuff) will make a huge difference.

The price justifies even a supernote manta if you're looking for some nice tech to write on.

I wish Apple did an iPhone Uno or iPad nano — basically a wide phone with camera cutout, status and dock on the right or left side. Yes, two design versions for both left and right handed people. It will be so amazing for multi-tasking on mobile by quickly changing between apps with a permanent dock.

Not in a snarky way but who is the target market for this?

from previous [1] threads on the iPad Mini, at least aircraft pilots are a target audience

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19421163

And with a 1-nit minimum brightness, iPad mini is even more suitable for dim environments, from users reading in bed at night to pilots checking their electronic flight bag in the cockpit.

As per other comments, my guess is somewhere between 1% and 5% of ipad mini sales are to pilots. It's gotta be significant or they wouldn't drop a line that in their main copy!

I've been hoping for a water and dust resistant tablet for use in the pottery studio for a while (for photographing work in progress, cataloguing glaze ingredients, taking notes, etc), as it's a wet and dirty environment, but the price kills all interest.

They only sell around six million minis per year, so it's not a large market (for Apple).

Nurses and elderly homes are a large market for minis in Japan. You get up to date patient data without the bulkiness of a regular iPad or the minimal screen of an iPhone. It also surprisingly fits in the pockets of nurse uniforms.

It’s an Apple device so tech support is minimal.

I like using my 6th gen as an erader. With the right color settings the screen doesn’t fatigue me, and it’s nice to be able to read from any source (kindle, Apple Books, Libby, a pdf, etc).

I can give you at least one group that loves them. Taxi/uber drivers who use them as bigger displays for their maps and apps.

People waiting for >v1 Duo? Same processor, 1" larger screen, lower cost but you still carry a phone.

Can I please have an iPhone mini next?

I have the gen 6 mini for reading and notes. It'sthe least needy, most capable of my devices. I bring it everywhere.

I'm excited for the OLED display because it would make bedtime reading easier on the eyes. I'm also happy about the weight reduction.

Still, it's €749 vs €549 in 2021. I will use mine until it stops fulfilling its role, which might take a few more years.

I hope you’re a patient person. My 2017 iPad Pro is still getting security updates.

I understand ram shortages but what is the justification behind selling the mini as a “pro” product? People want a smaller base iPad, that’s it.

One of my beloved devices was the Nexus 7, it was an excellent affordable template that didn't feel cheap, nor fancy or pro. Just a good media consumption / general purpose small tablet.

I wish Apple would make a similar device. I'm fine with recycled chips and getting a bit gimped on RAM size.

Like the MacBook Neo of iPads; I just really want a media consumption device. A20 Pro means nothing to me.

In what way are they selling it as a "pro" product?

Back in the mid 2000s, Palm sold Treo smartphones with the camera removed, for high-security places that forbade cameras. Why do I tell this story? It means there is (was) a market for it. I would LOVE and iPad mini with the camera (and its bump) removed. A nice thin slab.

Nice, but I don't see anything that compels me to trade up from my current-gen Mini (which I use daily).

Since this iPad is a different size, it will need a new case (I use a Moshi), and those may take some time to show up.

They have enough bezel room to make it into 8.7" or even 8.9" version without changing the dimensions of the mini.

I believe this is the lightest iPad at only 255g. I just wonder how much more weight can they shave off.

And if they are going to kill the iPad? The current iPad line up is split into Pro, Air, (iPad) and Mini. Surely the mini could replace the normal iPad?

Call me when it can boot into macOS and they all have some standard docking

Unlike the rest of the comments I actually do think this is the biggest upgrade to the iPad mini lineup.

Everything looks really good and way better than I’d expected.

Yes, the price increase sucks. I feel it is kinda warranted given the feature increase and current market. But only kinda.

Yes, 120hz would have been nice, but we all now Apple is gating that for their pro lineup. So no surprise.

Yes, the camera bump is stupid. An iPad that doesn’t lay flat is silly. But all the other I-devices has a big bump so again, no surprise.

I’ve been in the market for a mini and I am glad I hesitated.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I love that they are advertising minimum NITS and not just max!

> Apple gives iPad mini its biggest update ever

That's it! Hitting "Buy". This was all I needed to read. Even though the ™ symbol is missing it will do.

iPad still don't support multi-user profiles, which makes it really uncomfortable sharing my iPad with my kids (Tailscale, Bitwarden etc).

It would be great if it can use fingerprint to unlock different profiles.

Starting at $949 before tax (~$1050 after tax in most provinces) in Canada for 128GB

Zoinks

It's the same price as a MacBook Neo

£700 here (VAT incl). That's ~$1,310 CAD!

Starting at $1,099 AUD. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

edit: That's more than a MacBook Neo, they're only $1,049!

Goodness, Apple is going back to the luxury item category... thanks ai

Only the 512GB version gets the full fledged A20 Pro CPU (6 core 7 core GPU), the 128 and 256GB version only gets the 5 core CPU.

I don't understand why the color gamut is only P3. With an OLED display, I assume it's quite easy to push gamut > P3, no?

Anyone use a cell version instead of a phone?

With Apple ads there is always something uncanny with the hands, like the fingers get unnaturally longer behind the device.

What's the value proposition compared to the iPhone Duo? Aren't they relatively similar now?

Less than half the price and less fragile, for people who often carry a bag or purse with them.

The iPad Mini has more screen real estate. The taskbar on the Duo eats up a noticeable portion.

It is just over a third of the starting price of the Duo

Screen won't kill itself

Well this is great news for ereaders. Guess I’m upgrading my kindle now

So it's like my iPad 3 but newer. Hope I can read epubs on this one too ;)

As I understand the model with cellular still can't make calls without iPhone?

Right, iPhone and iPad must be on the same wifi network for normal phone calls to work.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/ipad/ipadf97892b2/ipad...

Facetime / Signal will work fine over just data.

Is iPad mini finally smaller than iPhone maxi?

Or this exciting marketing twist still to come?

Promo picture looks like it says iPad Nini.

With a 5G radio, this is so much more appealing than the Duo

It's year 2026 and still no use-case for the iPad in sight...

The iPad is great for sketching, and for making music. It's like having a precision tool, such as a quality chef's knife. If you like to cook, you may not need a nice knife every day, but when you do need it, it's outstanding.

Mine is a notebook, a sketch book and a reading device. I read books and queued Instapaper articles, take meeting notes, and make digital art. I love that device to bits.

You can look skyward. I don't know a pilot who doesn't use one.

Media viewer wherever you want it. Planes, trains, treadmill, whatever. I don’t have one but it’s an obvious (nice to have, not needed) use case?

People who want to consume movies without a TV, people who want to read more comfortably on a non-e-ink tablet, millions of POS terminals.

My iPad Pro is six years old now, the last generation before they started putting M chips in them. Still not interested in buying another until I can run a Linux VM on it.

this would be nice with an eSim and an agent application so I can control DSH on my M5U at home. would that be possible?

Lack of 120hz display on a $700 device is non-negotiable.

Everything old is new again - return of the phablet.

$700 bucks entry level model in this economy?

It’s not the entry level mode, that’s the base iPad.

Whats the closest Android equivalent to this?

https://www.oppo.com/en/accessories/oppo-pad-mini-matte-disp...

Sadly not available in the West...

There is none when it comes to software/hardware combo, long life and resell value.

I can only point to a big one, without a camera and with non-glossy oled high refresh rate screen - wacom movinkpad 14

I would love Apple to actually make something that is worthy of the name Apple. When Steve was alive, Apple was A-P-P-L-E and now it is just a shell of its self.

AKA non-foldable Duo.

Delivering iPad mini but no iPhone mini is double disappointing.

interesting this would come out so close to the iPhone Duo release.

And again a useless camera with a bump forcing clients to use it with cover, otherwise it will wobble on a table..

As much as form factor is intriguing, I'd rather keep my 'old' pixel9a and wacom movink 14 combo.

(Bonus points, not supporting Epstein crowd with my money)

interesting this is so close to the iPhone Duo release.

The second image in the carousel (well, video, really) hides the camera bump. This seems highly disingenuous of Apple.

The true innovation is hidden deep in the announcement:

"iPad mini supports both Apple Pencil (USB-C) and Apple Pencil Pro,.."

Like literally FINALLY. Having the wrong pencil for the wrong device sucked so much. (Deal with many iPads/iPhones at work, demo units, just such a hassle).

Double the price of the original iPad mini when it first released in 2012

749 € starting price WTF ?

I want to upgrade my old Mini 5 with Lightning since I want one with USB-C, and the OS is getting slower and slower, but at these prices?

All I do is read websites and watch Youtube on it anyway, so maybe I'll just get an Android Tablet for 300 €.

This is getting ridiculous!

Do there exist any good small Android tablets at a reasonable price?

There were none available in Canada with cellular when I looked a few years ago so I ended up buying an African-region Galaxy Tab A9 for $170. It's functional, but by God is it slow, and that's after adb-removing about 50 pieces of Samsung bloat.

I don’t know about everyone else but I’m just so sick of Apple releasing marginally improved products, calling it their biggest update ever, and then jacking up prices. $700 for an iPad mini is absurd RAM price increases or not.

$699 for 128GB is wild. Between this and HomeView apple has two meh launches in a row now.

Another (earlier?) post:

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50243646

Oh yay, they made a kindle

I wish they would do that. I'd love a dedicated $200-$300 ereader from Apple.

"We have released another mind-enslavement tool for your kids! It's the most potent ever!"

No Face ID, still Touch ID. Are they serious?

I was considering buying one, but will skip until the older model becomes unsupported or when Apple adds Face ID.

> 60 Hz screen

lol, no, thanks

will it run Omarchy?

$1,099 CAD for 256GB. Yeah, no.

60hz. hard pass

The 60Hz display is pretty disappointing. The size is just right, though.

A bit disappointed it lacks ProMotion adaptive refresh.

where iPhone mini

do it you cowards

This is a disappointment. Apple has so much potential with iPad minis, but they consistently hold back simply because they don’t want to cannibalize their pro models.

That's the whole iPad line. No multi-user because they don't want families to buy only one iPad, no support for running apps outside of the app store, etc.

Isn’t all that potential shown off in the duo?

Ok, how is this a disappointment - what does it not have that the pro does that you're seeking? To me, this just looks like a large phone without cellular. Not sure I'd want this, as I already have a large phone - good enough.

I’m not interested due to the inclusion of parts designed in israel.

Not questioning your motivations, but that seems like a tough exclusion to make. Do you exclude every product with an Intel chip?

Also https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/01/03/apple-ceo-tim-coo...

Okay, he's not a CEO anymore, but the aftertaste remains.

Thought China would have flooded the ram market by now

They are working on it (CXMT for RAM and YMTC for NAND flash) but not having access to ASML’s EUV lithography equipment hobbles them.

The US government is also trying to kneecap them, threatening Apple with tariffs if they went ahead with YMTC storage, even if only for the Chinese market.

They are thus primarily focusing on the Chinese market, but if they weren’t there, DRAM and flash is a global commodity market and prices would have gone up even more insanely than today.

You can't just spin up factories producing top of the line components like RAM. It's an extremely expensive process

two-three years out.

With OLED, this is going to be the best e-book reader in dark mode, and given that it's water resistant you could even use it in bath/hot tub w/o destroying the device - if you're willing to put down $700 for an e-reader that is.

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