I can't, I've to wait for stock on my telco provider (for whom I work) and they only have received the 16GB versions, not the 64GB... Bu it's coming soon!
I have Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and I consider this as a premium tablet because of it's display. It's much better to play with and downloading games since it's android base. Got at http://www.consumerrunner.com/top-10-best-tablets/
Not so fast. Considering the prices of iPhone 6's (I just picked up a 3 month old unlocked 6+ 64gb for the wife...$500 bucks) it might not be justified to pay $850 for the S equivalent.
I picked up a 64gb 6plus for $500 off eBay for my self and I also picked up the new 6s (non plus) for the wife. The new one is considerably faster, feels more solid due to the weight, and my wife enjoys the screen flash for selfies and the live pictures. I could go without the last two but the speed and solid build are desirable plus 3d touch is going to be a nice feature. If you can find a deal get the 6, but if not, get the 6s. I wouldn't pay more than $500 for a 6 plus and $350 for a 6 at this point in time.
I agree with you - if it was my money. But works pays for it, so 6s plus it is! Took 3 weeks to get mine, but I've been really happy with it. I thought the size would annoy me, as I previously had an LG 5.5" phone, but this works so much better I don't mind the extra bezel. Not disappointed at all, but again it's not my money.
I think you'd be surprised at the performance difference if you used a 6s versus the 6. It probably isn't worth it alone, but combined with the much faster Touch ID, the 3D Touch and some of the other improvements, the 6s is a surprisingly good upgrade.
They generally live with these phones as daily drivers for a few weeks before even starting to write the reviews. Can't blame them, churning out a review in 3 days is going to reveal little real-world data about the device.
The Mini 2 & 3 are miles away from the 5s in terms of battery life, display quality and thermal throttling. Not including prior versions of the product being reviewed for comparison is a pretty glaring omission.
Couldn't agree more. For someone looking for an upgrade the performance charts are pretty useless as they currently are. I mean, taking an iPhone 5S up in there as a replacement doesn't help much comparing battery times for example.
You can use bench to compare to a degree. All the A7-based iPads seem to have been returned when Anand left, as he reviewed them. While I wish I could run BaseMark OS II and GFXBench's tests, I just don't have a Mini 2 to work with. It would have to be a new Mini 2 as well, to avoid the issue of battery degradation, which is also why the Air 2 isn't in the BaseMark chart.
Like I always say to my brother (without any success so far) who buys every new iPad, just because something new comes out doesn't make your old devices any worse, it's still exactly as good as it was yesterday. All it really means is that there's now something better.
It's worth it. The charts give you sufficient perspective given they included iPhones. The gap between the iPhones is similar to what you would see between the iPads.
It makes sense to notice it in the article that TouchID is of first generation, and that iPad mini 5 is going to be thicker and heavier due to expected 3D Touch implementation.
By the way, because of 3D Touch coming next year, I would not recommend buying iPad 4, new iPod Touch, as well as upcoming iPad Pro, and even the new Apple TV (considering remote). All will be upgraded with 3D Touch/Haptic Engine next year.
I imagine they would have needed a bigger battery to offset the performance cost of the faster GPU and additional CPU core. Throw in a bigger battery and you have to make the iPad a fractional bit thicker, maybe 0.7mm, and another 14g heavier.
And throw those three changes (more expensive CPU, more expensive battery, heavier iPad) and you need to bump the cost up just slightly, reducing margins just slightly, on top of the changes in the display that already increase the cost, and it makes sense why they sacrificed performance slightly. This is especially true when the A8 is already and still class leading a year later.
This has nothing to do with cost... its just a decision to keep everything as thin and light as possible to appeal to the fans and consumers.
Ivy said not long ago, they could make a thicker iphone to last longer (battery), but they do not want as it will not appeal as much to the consumers as the current thin phones.
Nothing to do with cost or price... just a decision, some of us like, and some of us not. :)
None of the outward justification is cost, of course, but they have to hew to a budget like everything else in the world. They increased the cost of the SoC, the memory, the cameras, and the screen, as is. Throwing in the more expensive A8X, the battery for said A8X, and the thicker shell to support both means they would have, as you said, lose the design goal of thinner and lighter. So there would be three reasons to stick to the A8: 1) Thinner 2) Lighter 3) Cheaper
Considering how energy efficient the Apple chips are, het deffinitelly isn't a problem.
You has A8, even if a bit underclocked in an 6,1mm iPod touch. There it can almost perfectly sustain it's peak 1,1 Ghz CPU clock and GPU performance. iPad mini is just a much bigger device, there is more than enough room to dissipate heat, even if it would mean an A8X has to throotle a bit more aggressively than in Air 2.
A8X is a three billion transistor monster, it's big, it's pricey and since it's an X there is no stacked memory on it. That might be the reason - all iPad minis used PoP to save space and so I think that a possibility of an X chip in any iPad mini is quite small. Also it uses a quite lot of power. If you look at that Gfx bench battery life test above, maybe Apple wanted to match them in terms of battery life under load. And then while mini might be cappable of dissipating enough heat, Apple possibly didn't wanted the temperatures to go that high. iPad mini 4 is found to be rather cool running even under load.
But I doo agree that an A9 would be much better match. Even though it doesn't have 128-bit memory interface (What has it by the way ?) it bassically matches the performance of A8X, while being much smaller and lower powered, much more efficient than even A8.
Apple said that it's an shrunken down iPad Air 2. In terms of battery life, features, design, cameras display yes. But with smaller size (and less matter to built a tablet from) there has to be compromise somewhere. Apple didn't matched the performance of Air 2, because it would require more advenced tech (A9) to do so in smaller device. But that would make it more advanced than an shrunken down Air 2 in terms of used tech. Bassically they built the best small tablet possible with let's say the same genertion of technology as iPad Air 2.
iPad mini 2 got smaller color gamut, iPad mini 4 got lower performance. And unless Apple invents a way to make those devices bigger from the inside, they can't defy physics.
Here's the thing, the A9 would've been an easy drop in the Mini 4 and would've matched/exceeded the Air 2 in most benchmarks along with giving better battery life and much less heat. Apple is just being Apple - milking the cow for all it's worth.
Thanks for the review. I always enjoy reading Anandtech reviews of Apple products. While I'm an Android/Microsoft guy (any hints on when to expect your 6P review? I'm sure it's a ways off but I'd love a hint!), I have a lot of respect for Apple's hardware engineering and SoC design teams. They do really, really great work, and it almost disappoints me that I dislike iOS (and to an extent, Apple. This is an opinion that is fully subjective and not looking to start a fight! There's plenty of reasons to like Apple).
Apple has, for the last several years been a major driver of innovation in the whole industry, which is great. It's awesome to see (in my opinion) both Microsoft AND Google doing the same nowadays. All three of the big guys are driving the industry forward, and it's good for us all :D
Same here, I recommend Apple products to others(my parents and my brother all use iPhones), but when it comes to personal device, I'll go with Android/Nexus, will be picking up a Nexus 6P soon, when it's available in Hong Kong.
ps: Personally, I want to support Google/Alphabet, don't want to give my money to Apple and then have it sit in their bank doing nothing(besides earning interests ;). It's just a personal believe, I believe with great power comes great responsibilities(Apple should be doing more to help the [tech] world). Luckily, there are always companies like Google who pushes on with crazy projects like Project Loon, Project Fi, Project Soli, Project Jacquard and etc... I watch Apple WWDC and Google IO live every year, Google's event is just so much more exciting and inspiring to the tech geek in me. Apple's show is more about how they are the best and if you can't join them, then you're a loser kind of show, lol. Knowing my money helps Google to help improving the world/tech helps me sleep better at night, lol.
The A8 is still a good decent Soc from what I can see and I have a suspicion that in the Apple TV for not having similar thermal constrains and no battery it can go even faster...
I wonder if this is pretty much what we can expect from the A8 in the ATV 4. Though it has a heatsink and no battery requirements, so it could go a bit further if they were arsed. Anything coming on that, AT team?
It's a bit insulting that it uses the same SoC as the iPod Touch 6G. I would've preferred a underclocked A8X over a speed-bumped A8, mostly for the A8X's GPU. Considering the typical iPad user, this probably wouldn't be much of an issue as the A8 is still a fast SoC for the mundane things people do.
iPad Air Mini 4 should have shipped with an A9 processor, a, TouchID 2 sensor, and, IMO, debuted before the iPhone 6s. The iPad 2 for example introduced the A5 months before the 4s. It was Apple’s most significant platform move ‘evah’. Here is our new technology. This is exciting!
“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price” Steve Job, Jan 28 2010. ‘Magical and Revolutionary’ are smoke and mirrors, but from the iPad 3, the formula became last years technology and yesteryears design. Serviceable? Yes. Exciting? No.
Even when the Air 2 did have genuinely new/interesting advancements: the A8X and 2GB Ram, Apple could hardly bring themselves to talk about it. Nothing should be allowed to detract from the iPhone. If the iPad is less expensive, it must be inferior, or so the thinking goes. Even today, the iPad Pro, which matches iPhone pricing does not sport the new TouchID. Apple’s whole mindset is flawed. An IPad is not a substitute iPhone. Doh.
Yeah I would've bought it for sure with an A9 chip which they easily could've had considering they take less power than A8. The mini 4 GPU is the part that turned me off instantly. Iphone 6 plus GPU performance a year later. No thanks.
And let me guess, an A9 iPad would not have put you off from buying an iPhone if you needed one? No, hand me down technology does not impress anyone, but hey, let's kill enthusiasm and an entire product line while we are at it. Even the iPod got an A8 when it was still current. Bozos.
I guess I should have added that with 4x as many pixels to push, the mini 4's onscreen graphics are slower, a lot slower than the iPod 6. For example, the iPod 6 scores 41.7 fps onscreen for Manhattan HD, GFX Metal, while the iPad mini 4 pushes 15.7. (Source: arstechnica) Double plus stupid.
Yeah for the mini 4 to be taken seriously by me, a typical power user, it needed better hardware inside. It's literally the performance of an iPhone 6 plus graphics wise, which there's some instances where 6 plus dropped frames and lagged, even in the animations in iOS 9. I have yet to even go look at one because I was SO turned off by A8 rather than A8X or A9. Apple really did exactly everything they needed to do to chase me away from the iPad mini line, and iPad air 2 is too bulky in my personal opinion.
You guys are hilarious. The A8 is t designed to push this many pixels (I'm writing this on iPad mini 4) but the A5 was? Or the A6x? The A7? I've got an iPad 4 as well as the Air 2 and I've used it daily since its release. It's awesome! Truly phenomenal. I've also used the mini 2 since it dropped. Killer tablet with excellent performance. Even today. It's using an A7 with identical resolution. That said, doubling the memory with the GPU & CPU share makes all the difference in the world. On the iPhone 6s, the Air 2 and now the mini 4. I've got every triple A title ...if that's what you 'power users' are power using??? (I'm lost and I'm making money with mine!) from the App Store. Every. Single. One. There's not a single app or task i can perform on my Air 2 or iPhone 6s+ that I can't just as efficiently and quickly 'do, play, maiplulate read, consume, watch or produce' on the iPad mini 4. It's been through ten and twelve hour days with me the last few weeks and it's all the Air 2 is - I'll agree in a smaller package. App developers are currently releasing apps aimed at the A5 & 6 as required hardware. Tomorrow that won't change and if anything will benefit the new mini ...as developers move into the 64bit minimum requirements of the first edition, the A7.
Thought as an actual user, consumer, producer, 'fellow power user?' (I've got a 15" MacBook Pro I typically use for heavy lifting but resources at thee largest tech and software companies in the world are now shifting ...in some cases 'more' resources to mobile than the desk. As a Creative Cloud subscriber since its inception, I'm floored by Adobe's mobile releases. They're incredible and work perfectly with Premier Pro, AE, PS and InDesign. IMHO MS could've left the iPad versions of Word, Excel, Power Point and One Note on v1. They're beyond awesome. I also fly (as a pilot) and rely on the iPad mini as my flight bag. It files my plans, tells me how much gas I need, weather and traffic conditions with up to date Jep charts, plates and NOTAMS. I'm not sure how much more power you're using than I am but there's simply no equal. Anywhere. You guys all sound goofier than a three dollar bill. A month ago you couldn't get this package of performance. Today you can. It's lacking the A9, but has all other bases covered with display and doubling of RAM, incredible battery life and a smaller package yet YOU'VE got to have the might A9 or the three cores of the A8s ...when I'm absolutely sure as an owners of both you've NECER brought an Air 2 to its knees or limits. If so, please share (I'm aware of two limits on the Air 2 with apps currently available on iOS only ...any guesses?) I'm honestly curious as to what constitutes a 'power user' of an iPad Hilarious. Thanks for the laugh
K. Next Ryan, it's Sunday bro! :) I kid Excellent write up as always. Many thanks J
I meant to add the speed of the onboard storage and it's read write performance as well as the anti reflective coating, better color gamut and similar brightness with phenomenally accurate displays ...my guess is it's a power users dream to own a secondary display that is this mobile and this accurate with a gazillion apps that benefit the creative folk
Anyway Moving along
...there's more than just the 'A8' here that's in play and the iPod touch isn't much of a comparison.
If the iPad switch to match the ID of the iPhone 6, the rounded edges would render useless the multiple Keyboard or stand accessories that I've purchased. That hard edge on the iPad is important for stability, to be able to firmly catch the edge on whatever stand you're using.
For example, the Microsoft Universal Mobile keyboard works well to prop up just about any device I own, except for the iPhone 6. The rounded edges catch just enough to hold it, but the slightest bump on the desk will send it crashing down.
Of course, manufacturers would just make new accessories for a new iPad ID, but I wonder if what I mentioned above factors into their decision to keep the existing ID. Having stability on a stand is much more critical for an iPad than for an iPhone, and iPad accessories on average will be a more significant monetary investment... so I'm quite glad my new Mini 4 still works on my keyboards and stands.
for example... think about how you would have to design a keyboard stand for an iPad with iPhone 6 industrial design, if you wanted to allow multiple viewing angles, like if you wanted to offer a 45-degree angle. With the rounded edges, this would be difficult to do without having a holding mechanism that needs to have a contact point far up onto the glass... basically the contact point would have to be right at the edge of where the screen starts. I don't think it would work unless they left a pretty decent flat margin between the edge of the device and the edge of the touchscreen.
The charge time for the iPad mini 4 looks really exciting, bassically on par with an iPhone 6 Plus (with an 5W adapter).
It's better than any iPad ever cause if i remember corectly the iPad and iPad 2 got around 4 hours (10W ) the new iPad got over 6 (10W) the 4 get something like 5,5 (12W) and then Air got a much smaller battery and pushed down back to 4.
But please, from every source i can find, only the late 2012 iPad and iPad Air shipped with an 12W adapter and both mini 4 and Air 2 got the 10 W power adapter. Can anandtech confirm this ? And does it mean there could be even a bit better charge times made with an 12W one ?
And then... what about the iPad pro ? Its got a 38,5 Wh cells which is bassically two iPad mini batteries stucked in there. So the big question is if it's going to ship with a 12W power adapter, or something higher. Like you know the Mac Book with it's 39,7 Wh battery got a 29W power adapter and I just feel thet iOS devices got behind in this area. Would like to see some charging time data for the MacBooks.... to compare.
And the maybe even more important question to some, will this X-watt power adapter charge the smaller iPads even waster than the 12W one ?
Regarding that final tip. If you are a student and you need to create word documents then you will quickly find out that the default apps on IOS and Android do not support track changes. With a lot of searching I did find an app (Documents Ti Go) for Android and for IOS I never found one.
So basically if you want to edit documents your best bet is a Surface (Pro) where you can just install the full office suite like you are used too.
I can't imagine being a student and creating word documents on a tablet, though. At least get a cheap laptop. Then again I was a college student before laptops existed, and was using a desktop with Windows 3.1 and dot matrix printer. Our track changes was "Save As...".
I agree with you, but the iPad mini and Air aren't productivity tools, but media consumer tools. The iPad Pro maybe's another story, but it's too soon for known for sure...
But there's lot of uses that are perfect for the iPad's! I've a cousin that is an engineer and uses a 3G iPad (2nd generation, I think) with AutoCAD reader app to take blueprints to the fields instead of the blueprints! Works like a charm, and he was the first, soon all his colleagues done the same! And I've know a lot of more stories...
Which means you can totally envision being a college student with a tablet! I had to go to a lab to use a computer and would totally have used a tablet + keyboard if it meant I could write in a quiet room by myself.
I could totally imagine that. I may be getting old, but I remember students writing papers on those dedicated "word processor" things that had 8 line 70 column monochrome LCD screens :)
I'd think student writing would be fine day to day, maybe really long papers would be a chore? I mean there are keyboard shortcuts now for moving between pages and such, and even "trackpad-like" cursor editing. So I think it would work a lot better now than before (iOS 9 improvements).
iOS Word does support Track Changes, not sure what you're talking about. I just launched it, there's a big ol "Track Changes" button in the Review menu. I believe you have to have an Office 365 subscription for it to be enabled, though.
I'm curious about speed more than anything. My iPad retina 2 feels slower now with iOS 9. It shouldn't, since it's technically only 1 generation behind in processing power, but does the Mini 4 feel faster than the retina 2/3? Apple has been good about not letting hardware become obsolete quickly. That's one of the biggest things I like about them. So I don't understand the glitchy swipes in multi-view, etc. on the iPad retina 2.
9.1 fixed that for me. I would suggest doing a complete backup and install. My Dad's iPad 3 is running better than I can remember . I was very pleasantly surprised.
I can confirm after 6+ weeks of usage, iPad Mini 4 is the best tablet I've ever had. Speedy, stable, bright crisp colors, nice audio, great build quality and the resolution is fantastic for browsing/video/casual gaming.
Lousy Apple product. Wouldn't buy one in the past and see no need to now or in the future. About the time I'm ready to finally buy an iPhone, they get just too big. Well, TBT, most of the Android competition thinks they have to be just as big as Apple. Need to get a life. There's a large population out here that wants a pocket-able device of modest size and we don't want to stream movies sor play video games. Bottom line way down here - no, thanks.
I have Ipad mini4 but it's not getting charged but when I connect the charger its showing charging but as I remove the charger Ipad gets switched off automatically. <a href="www. acersupport21.snack.ws ">Acer customer support</a>
I have Ipad mini4 but it's not getting charged but when I connect the charger its showing charging but as I remove the charger Ipad gets switched off automatically. [url ="http://acersupport21.snack.ws"]acer support[/url]
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twin-pt - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
NIce! That means there's an iPhone 6s/6s Plus review in the next couple of days?Ryan Smith - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
It will be up Friday.twin-pt - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
YES !!! Just in time before placing an order on my 6s Plus!!!ciderrules - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Just order one already. You won't be disappointed.twin-pt - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
I can't, I've to wait for stock on my telco provider (for whom I work) and they only have received the 16GB versions, not the 64GB... Bu it's coming soon!MarvinGaye22 - Saturday, November 14, 2015 - link
I have Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and I consider this as a premium tablet because of it's display. It's much better to play with and downloading games since it's android base. Got at http://www.consumerrunner.com/top-10-best-tablets/Samus - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Not so fast. Considering the prices of iPhone 6's (I just picked up a 3 month old unlocked 6+ 64gb for the wife...$500 bucks) it might not be justified to pay $850 for the S equivalent.2likru - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
I picked up a 64gb 6plus for $500 off eBay for my self and I also picked up the new 6s (non plus) for the wife. The new one is considerably faster, feels more solid due to the weight, and my wife enjoys the screen flash for selfies and the live pictures. I could go without the last two but the speed and solid build are desirable plus 3d touch is going to be a nice feature. If you can find a deal get the 6, but if not, get the 6s. I wouldn't pay more than $500 for a 6 plus and $350 for a 6 at this point in time.kmmatney - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
I agree with you - if it was my money. But works pays for it, so 6s plus it is! Took 3 weeks to get mine, but I've been really happy with it. I thought the size would annoy me, as I previously had an LG 5.5" phone, but this works so much better I don't mind the extra bezel. Not disappointed at all, but again it's not my money.dsumanik - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Thats what i did, picked up an unlocked 6+ 128gb off of ebay for 700 bucks. 90% of the performance for half the price.NetMage - Saturday, October 31, 2015 - link
I think you'd be surprised at the performance difference if you used a 6s versus the 6. It probably isn't worth it alone, but combined with the much faster Touch ID, the 3D Touch and some of the other improvements, the 6s is a surprisingly good upgrade.twin-pt - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Can't wait to see your (final) findings on the TSMC/Samsung dual source A9's... :DRyan Smith - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
It won't be our final findings. Something is in the works, but it won't be ready for Friday.twin-pt - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Was that what caused the delay in reviews Ryan? Ok, We'll just wait and see...Samus - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
They generally live with these phones as daily drivers for a few weeks before even starting to write the reviews. Can't blame them, churning out a review in 3 days is going to reveal little real-world data about the device.lucam - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Which Friday are you referring to?WorldWithoutMadness - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
What about the duo nexus?Brandon Chester - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
https://twitter.com/nexusCFX/status/65914440652449...Tigran - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Looking forward to throttling issue, it's not clear in T-Rex On-screen due to V-Sync 60 fps limit.Der2 - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Ryan, thank you for blessing us with the good news. Expected it over 2 weeks ago, but that's fine as we finally got the verdict for the release date.lucam - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Still can't see any review...lucam - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
For Halloween?!! Oh Gosh! :)TelstarTOS - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Finally :)a619 - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
It's Friday! : )lucam - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Here it's Saturday morning and still can't see any review! :)BDawg - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
But you didn't say which Friday!Ishwa - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
This Friday or next?ToastyFlake - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
It's almost 11:00 pm EDT on Friday and still no 6s/6s plus review.nerdstalker - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
It's Friday, Friday! Fun, Fun Fun!tehdef - Saturday, October 31, 2015 - link
Why do you lie to me, Ryan Smith?我叫王晨曦 - Monday, November 2, 2015 - link
maybe.....FatalError - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Thanks for the review. @Ryan - typo specs - 2 x Apple Typoondamianrobertjones - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Confused! Without having an iPad Mini, mini 2, or even a Mini 3 (Which I own) I have little idea if the 4 is worth a purchase at all.Madness.
damianrobertjones - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
With regards to the performance chartsRyan Smith - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
The Mini 2 & 3 are a stone's throw away from the 5s, which is in our charts.tybaltcapulet - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
The Mini 2 & 3 are miles away from the 5s in terms of battery life, display quality and thermal throttling. Not including prior versions of the product being reviewed for comparison is a pretty glaring omission.Qonstrukt - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Couldn't agree more. For someone looking for an upgrade the performance charts are pretty useless as they currently are. I mean, taking an iPhone 5S up in there as a replacement doesn't help much comparing battery times for example.Brandon Chester - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
You can use bench to compare to a degree. All the A7-based iPads seem to have been returned when Anand left, as he reviewed them. While I wish I could run BaseMark OS II and GFXBench's tests, I just don't have a Mini 2 to work with. It would have to be a new Mini 2 as well, to avoid the issue of battery degradation, which is also why the Air 2 isn't in the BaseMark chart.http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1251?vs=156...
colonelclaw - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Like I always say to my brother (without any success so far) who buys every new iPad, just because something new comes out doesn't make your old devices any worse, it's still exactly as good as it was yesterday. All it really means is that there's now something better.michael2k - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
It's worth it. The charts give you sufficient perspective given they included iPhones. The gap between the iPhones is similar to what you would see between the iPads.LinkTiger - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
"...because I live in Canada it's not likely that I'll see the sun again for many months..."As a North Dakotan (waking up to snow on the ground), I can confirm this statement.
Der2 - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
This review good. But a 6S review would be great.tipoo - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Friday he saidmichael2k - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Does the iPad mini 4 use the same improved touch ID sensor as the new iPhone 6s?Brandon Chester - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
No.tipoo - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Ach, that's disappointing. Anyone using a 6S will be spoiled for it, going back to TouchID 1 could be slightly jarring.DERSS - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
It makes sense to notice it in the article that TouchID is of first generation, and that iPad mini 5 is going to be thicker and heavier due to expected 3D Touch implementation.By the way, because of 3D Touch coming next year, I would not recommend buying iPad 4, new iPod Touch, as well as upcoming iPad Pro, and even the new Apple TV (considering remote). All will be upgraded with 3D Touch/Haptic Engine next year.
michael2k - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
I don't think the mini or iPad Pro will get 3D Touch until 2017. It's a toss up between Pencil or 3D Touch for the iPad Air 3 next year.Laxaa - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
And while we're on the subjcet of reviews, when can we expect the Nexus-reviews? Late next week?Brandon Chester - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
https://twitter.com/nexusCFX/status/65914440652449...Speedfriend - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Any idea why this uses the 8 and not the A8X? Does that imply the chassis is not capable of dissipating the higher TDP of the A8X?michael2k - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
I imagine they would have needed a bigger battery to offset the performance cost of the faster GPU and additional CPU core. Throw in a bigger battery and you have to make the iPad a fractional bit thicker, maybe 0.7mm, and another 14g heavier.And throw those three changes (more expensive CPU, more expensive battery, heavier iPad) and you need to bump the cost up just slightly, reducing margins just slightly, on top of the changes in the display that already increase the cost, and it makes sense why they sacrificed performance slightly. This is especially true when the A8 is already and still class leading a year later.
ThomasS31 - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
This has nothing to do with cost... its just a decision to keep everything as thin and light as possible to appeal to the fans and consumers.Ivy said not long ago, they could make a thicker iphone to last longer (battery), but they do not want as it will not appeal as much to the consumers as the current thin phones.
Nothing to do with cost or price... just a decision, some of us like, and some of us not. :)
michael2k - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
None of the outward justification is cost, of course, but they have to hew to a budget like everything else in the world. They increased the cost of the SoC, the memory, the cameras, and the screen, as is. Throwing in the more expensive A8X, the battery for said A8X, and the thicker shell to support both means they would have, as you said, lose the design goal of thinner and lighter. So there would be three reasons to stick to the A8:1) Thinner
2) Lighter
3) Cheaper
GC2:CS - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Considering how energy efficient the Apple chips are, het deffinitelly isn't a problem.You has A8, even if a bit underclocked in an 6,1mm iPod touch. There it can almost perfectly sustain it's peak 1,1 Ghz CPU clock and GPU performance. iPad mini is just a much bigger device, there is more than enough room to dissipate heat, even if it would mean an A8X has to throotle a bit more aggressively than in Air 2.
A8X is a three billion transistor monster, it's big, it's pricey and since it's an X there is no stacked memory on it. That might be the reason - all iPad minis used PoP to save space and so I think that a possibility of an X chip in any iPad mini is quite small.
Also it uses a quite lot of power. If you look at that Gfx bench battery life test above, maybe Apple wanted to match them in terms of battery life under load.
And then while mini might be cappable of dissipating enough heat, Apple possibly didn't wanted the temperatures to go that high. iPad mini 4 is found to be rather cool running even under load.
But I doo agree that an A9 would be much better match. Even though it doesn't have 128-bit memory interface (What has it by the way ?) it bassically matches the performance of A8X, while being much smaller and lower powered, much more efficient than even A8.
Apple said that it's an shrunken down iPad Air 2. In terms of battery life, features, design, cameras display yes.
But with smaller size (and less matter to built a tablet from) there has to be compromise somewhere. Apple didn't matched the performance of Air 2, because it would require more advenced tech (A9) to do so in smaller device. But that would make it more advanced than an shrunken down Air 2 in terms of used tech. Bassically they built the best small tablet possible with let's say the same genertion of technology as iPad Air 2.
iPad mini 2 got smaller color gamut, iPad mini 4 got lower performance. And unless Apple invents a way to make those devices bigger from the inside, they can't defy physics.
Pneumothorax - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Here's the thing, the A9 would've been an easy drop in the Mini 4 and would've matched/exceeded the Air 2 in most benchmarks along with giving better battery life and much less heat. Apple is just being Apple - milking the cow for all it's worth.NetMage - Saturday, October 31, 2015 - link
The mini's considerable price drop versus the Air or phone means giving up something.Drumsticks - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Thanks for the review. I always enjoy reading Anandtech reviews of Apple products. While I'm an Android/Microsoft guy (any hints on when to expect your 6P review? I'm sure it's a ways off but I'd love a hint!), I have a lot of respect for Apple's hardware engineering and SoC design teams. They do really, really great work, and it almost disappoints me that I dislike iOS (and to an extent, Apple. This is an opinion that is fully subjective and not looking to start a fight! There's plenty of reasons to like Apple).Apple has, for the last several years been a major driver of innovation in the whole industry, which is great. It's awesome to see (in my opinion) both Microsoft AND Google doing the same nowadays. All three of the big guys are driving the industry forward, and it's good for us all :D
amdwilliam1985 - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Same here, I recommend Apple products to others(my parents and my brother all use iPhones), but when it comes to personal device, I'll go with Android/Nexus, will be picking up a Nexus 6P soon, when it's available in Hong Kong.ps: Personally, I want to support Google/Alphabet, don't want to give my money to Apple and then have it sit in their bank doing nothing(besides earning interests ;). It's just a personal believe, I believe with great power comes great responsibilities(Apple should be doing more to help the [tech] world). Luckily, there are always companies like Google who pushes on with crazy projects like Project Loon, Project Fi, Project Soli, Project Jacquard and etc...
I watch Apple WWDC and Google IO live every year, Google's event is just so much more exciting and inspiring to the tech geek in me. Apple's show is more about how they are the best and if you can't join them, then you're a loser kind of show, lol.
Knowing my money helps Google to help improving the world/tech helps me sleep better at night, lol.
lucam - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
The A8 is still a good decent Soc from what I can see and I have a suspicion that in the Apple TV for not having similar thermal constrains and no battery it can go even faster...tipoo - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
I wonder if this is pretty much what we can expect from the A8 in the ATV 4. Though it has a heatsink and no battery requirements, so it could go a bit further if they were arsed. Anything coming on that, AT team?Spectrophobic - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
It's a bit insulting that it uses the same SoC as the iPod Touch 6G. I would've preferred a underclocked A8X over a speed-bumped A8, mostly for the A8X's GPU. Considering the typical iPad user, this probably wouldn't be much of an issue as the A8 is still a fast SoC for the mundane things people do.Tech_guy - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Yeah the GPU in the A8 wasn't designed to push this many pixels. And I hate paying a premium for a year old chip.NetMage - Saturday, October 31, 2015 - link
Paying a premium over what?denem - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
iPad Air Mini 4 should have shipped with an A9 processor, a, TouchID 2 sensor, and, IMO, debuted before the iPhone 6s. The iPad 2 for example introduced the A5 months before the 4s. It was Apple’s most significant platform move ‘evah’. Here is our new technology. This is exciting!“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price” Steve Job, Jan 28 2010. ‘Magical and Revolutionary’ are smoke and mirrors, but from the iPad 3, the formula became last years technology and yesteryears design. Serviceable? Yes. Exciting? No.
Even when the Air 2 did have genuinely new/interesting advancements: the A8X and 2GB Ram, Apple could hardly bring themselves to talk about it. Nothing should be allowed to detract from the iPhone. If the iPad is less expensive, it must be inferior, or so the thinking goes. Even today, the iPad Pro, which matches iPhone pricing does not sport the new TouchID. Apple’s whole mindset is flawed. An IPad is not a substitute iPhone. Doh.
Tech_guy - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Yeah I would've bought it for sure with an A9 chip which they easily could've had considering they take less power than A8. The mini 4 GPU is the part that turned me off instantly. Iphone 6 plus GPU performance a year later. No thanks.denem - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
And let me guess, an A9 iPad would not have put you off from buying an iPhone if you needed one? No, hand me down technology does not impress anyone, but hey, let's kill enthusiasm and an entire product line while we are at it. Even the iPod got an A8 when it was still current. Bozos.denem - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
I guess I should have added that with 4x as many pixels to push, the mini 4's onscreen graphics are slower, a lot slower than the iPod 6. For example, the iPod 6 scores 41.7 fps onscreen for Manhattan HD, GFX Metal, while the iPad mini 4 pushes 15.7. (Source: arstechnica) Double plus stupid.Tech_guy - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Yeah for the mini 4 to be taken seriously by me, a typical power user, it needed better hardware inside. It's literally the performance of an iPhone 6 plus graphics wise, which there's some instances where 6 plus dropped frames and lagged, even in the animations in iOS 9. I have yet to even go look at one because I was SO turned off by A8 rather than A8X or A9. Apple really did exactly everything they needed to do to chase me away from the iPad mini line, and iPad air 2 is too bulky in my personal opinion.akdj - Sunday, November 1, 2015 - link
You guys are hilarious. The A8 is t designed to push this many pixels (I'm writing this on iPad mini 4) but the A5 was? Or the A6x? The A7? I've got an iPad 4 as well as the Air 2 and I've used it daily since its release. It's awesome! Truly phenomenal. I've also used the mini 2 since it dropped. Killer tablet with excellent performance. Even today. It's using an A7 with identical resolution.That said, doubling the memory with the GPU & CPU share makes all the difference in the world. On the iPhone 6s, the Air 2 and now the mini 4.
I've got every triple A title ...if that's what you 'power users' are power using??? (I'm lost and I'm making money with mine!) from the App Store. Every. Single. One. There's not a single app or task i can perform on my Air 2 or iPhone 6s+ that I can't just as efficiently and quickly 'do, play, maiplulate read, consume, watch or produce' on the iPad mini 4. It's been through ten and twelve hour days with me the last few weeks and it's all the Air 2 is - I'll agree in a smaller package.
App developers are currently releasing apps aimed at the A5 & 6 as required hardware. Tomorrow that won't change and if anything will benefit the new mini ...as developers move into the 64bit minimum requirements of the first edition, the A7.
Thought as an actual user, consumer, producer, 'fellow power user?' (I've got a 15" MacBook Pro I typically use for heavy lifting but resources at thee largest tech and software companies in the world are now shifting ...in some cases 'more' resources to mobile than the desk. As a Creative Cloud subscriber since its inception, I'm floored by Adobe's mobile releases. They're incredible and work perfectly with Premier Pro, AE, PS and InDesign. IMHO MS could've left the iPad versions of Word, Excel, Power Point and One Note on v1. They're beyond awesome. I also fly (as a pilot) and rely on the iPad mini as my flight bag. It files my plans, tells me how much gas I need, weather and traffic conditions with up to date Jep charts, plates and NOTAMS. I'm not sure how much more power you're using than I am but there's simply no equal. Anywhere.
You guys all sound goofier than a three dollar bill. A month ago you couldn't get this package of performance. Today you can. It's lacking the A9, but has all other bases covered with display and doubling of RAM, incredible battery life and a smaller package yet YOU'VE got to have the might A9 or the three cores of the A8s ...when I'm absolutely sure as an owners of both you've NECER brought an Air 2 to its knees or limits. If so, please share (I'm aware of two limits on the Air 2 with apps currently available on iOS only ...any guesses?)
I'm honestly curious as to what constitutes a 'power user' of an iPad
Hilarious. Thanks for the laugh
K. Next
Ryan, it's Sunday bro!
:) I kid
Excellent write up as always. Many thanks
J
akdj - Sunday, November 1, 2015 - link
I meant to add the speed of the onboard storage and it's read write performance as well as the anti reflective coating, better color gamut and similar brightness with phenomenally accurate displays ...my guess is it's a power users dream to own a secondary display that is this mobile and this accurate with a gazillion apps that benefit the creative folkAnyway
Moving along
...there's more than just the 'A8' here that's in play and the iPod touch isn't much of a comparison.
osxandwindows - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
No they could not produce more a9s then was necessary for the iPhones.denem - Saturday, October 31, 2015 - link
You have some inside information perhaps? The whole iPhone supply chain is set up to be able to meet demand.akdj - Sunday, November 1, 2015 - link
Hence the reason they're using two companies to fab their SoC this year? TSMC & Sammy? That's not tradition. It's very likely a contributing factorosxandwindows - Tuesday, November 3, 2015 - link
What did you want them to make 120 million of a9 chips?, come on dude even thats a hy number for samsung.akarogi - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
If the iPad switch to match the ID of the iPhone 6, the rounded edges would render useless the multiple Keyboard or stand accessories that I've purchased. That hard edge on the iPad is important for stability, to be able to firmly catch the edge on whatever stand you're using.For example, the Microsoft Universal Mobile keyboard works well to prop up just about any device I own, except for the iPhone 6. The rounded edges catch just enough to hold it, but the slightest bump on the desk will send it crashing down.
Of course, manufacturers would just make new accessories for a new iPad ID, but I wonder if what I mentioned above factors into their decision to keep the existing ID. Having stability on a stand is much more critical for an iPad than for an iPhone, and iPad accessories on average will be a more significant monetary investment... so I'm quite glad my new Mini 4 still works on my keyboards and stands.
akarogi - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
for example... think about how you would have to design a keyboard stand for an iPad with iPhone 6 industrial design, if you wanted to allow multiple viewing angles, like if you wanted to offer a 45-degree angle. With the rounded edges, this would be difficult to do without having a holding mechanism that needs to have a contact point far up onto the glass... basically the contact point would have to be right at the edge of where the screen starts. I don't think it would work unless they left a pretty decent flat margin between the edge of the device and the edge of the touchscreen.GC2:CS - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
The charge time for the iPad mini 4 looks really exciting, bassically on par with an iPhone 6 Plus (with an 5W adapter).It's better than any iPad ever cause if i remember corectly the iPad and iPad 2 got around 4 hours (10W ) the new iPad got over 6 (10W) the 4 get something like 5,5 (12W) and then Air got a much smaller battery and pushed down back to 4.
But please, from every source i can find, only the late 2012 iPad and iPad Air shipped with an 12W adapter and both mini 4 and Air 2 got the 10 W power adapter.
Can anandtech confirm this ? And does it mean there could be even a bit better charge times made with an 12W one ?
And then... what about the iPad pro ? Its got a 38,5 Wh cells which is bassically two iPad mini batteries stucked in there. So the big question is if it's going to ship with a 12W power adapter, or something higher. Like you know the Mac Book with it's 39,7 Wh battery got a 29W power adapter and I just feel thet iOS devices got behind in this area.
Would like to see some charging time data for the MacBooks.... to compare.
And the maybe even more important question to some, will this X-watt power adapter charge the smaller iPads even waster than the 12W one ?
Exchequer - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Regarding that final tip. If you are a student and you need to create word documents then you will quickly find out that the default apps on IOS and Android do not support track changes. With a lot of searching I did find an app (Documents Ti Go) for Android and for IOS I never found one.So basically if you want to edit documents your best bet is a Surface (Pro) where you can just install the full office suite like you are used too.
kmmatney - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
I can't imagine being a student and creating word documents on a tablet, though. At least get a cheap laptop. Then again I was a college student before laptops existed, and was using a desktop with Windows 3.1 and dot matrix printer. Our track changes was "Save As...".Tech_guy - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Yeah I don't see this or any iPad appealing to students.twin-pt - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
I agree with you, but the iPad mini and Air aren't productivity tools, but media consumer tools. The iPad Pro maybe's another story, but it's too soon for known for sure...But there's lot of uses that are perfect for the iPad's! I've a cousin that is an engineer and uses a 3G iPad (2nd generation, I think) with AutoCAD reader app to take blueprints to the fields instead of the blueprints! Works like a charm, and he was the first, soon all his colleagues done the same! And I've know a lot of more stories...
michael2k - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Which means you can totally envision being a college student with a tablet! I had to go to a lab to use a computer and would totally have used a tablet + keyboard if it meant I could write in a quiet room by myself.blackcrayon - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
I could totally imagine that. I may be getting old, but I remember students writing papers on those dedicated "word processor" things that had 8 line 70 column monochrome LCD screens :)I'd think student writing would be fine day to day, maybe really long papers would be a chore? I mean there are keyboard shortcuts now for moving between pages and such, and even "trackpad-like" cursor editing. So I think it would work a lot better now than before (iOS 9 improvements).
michael2k - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Well, no you've found an iOS app that tracks changes:https://support.apple.com/kb/PH17142?locale=en_US
It was evidently added in v1.7 in 2012
http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2012/12/pages-tr...
Oh, and Pages was the default app for iPads (free) since 2013
blackcrayon - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
iOS Word does support Track Changes, not sure what you're talking about. I just launched it, there's a big ol "Track Changes" button in the Review menu.I believe you have to have an Office 365 subscription for it to be enabled, though.
FL777 - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
SAMSUNG BEATS APPLE IN SMARTPHONE SALES!!!!! By quite a bit.http://www.sammobile.com/2015/10/29/samsung-beats-...
Samsung is dominating the smartphone market.
osxandwindows - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
GTFO samsung fanboyosxandwindows - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Smartphone shipments do not equal sells you idiot.LarryTempleton - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
I'm curious about speed more than anything. My iPad retina 2 feels slower now with iOS 9. It shouldn't, since it's technically only 1 generation behind in processing power, but does the Mini 4 feel faster than the retina 2/3? Apple has been good about not letting hardware become obsolete quickly. That's one of the biggest things I like about them. So I don't understand the glitchy swipes in multi-view, etc. on the iPad retina 2.denem - Saturday, October 31, 2015 - link
9.1 fixed that for me. I would suggest doing a complete backup and install. My Dad's iPad 3 is running better than I can remember . I was very pleasantly surprised.Rahul1010 - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
nice ..jklip895 - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
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Lavkesh - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
No sign of the iphone review and it is already saturday in my part of the world.MutualCore - Sunday, November 1, 2015 - link
I can confirm after 6+ weeks of usage, iPad Mini 4 is the best tablet I've ever had. Speedy, stable, bright crisp colors, nice audio, great build quality and the resolution is fantastic for browsing/video/casual gaming.Highly recommend it.
dennphill - Tuesday, November 3, 2015 - link
Lousy Apple product. Wouldn't buy one in the past and see no need to now or in the future. About the time I'm ready to finally buy an iPhone, they get just too big. Well, TBT, most of the Android competition thinks they have to be just as big as Apple. Need to get a life. There's a large population out here that wants a pocket-able device of modest size and we don't want to stream movies sor play video games. Bottom line way down here - no, thanks.acercustomerservice - Friday, February 16, 2018 - link
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