“Apple may be preparing a new version of the iPad mini, a report from a Chinese newspaper claims, with a fifth-generation version of the pint-sized tablet allegedly on the way, coupled with other changes to the iPad lineup in 2019,” Malcolm Owen reports for AppleInsider. “The iPad mini has not received an update since the announcement of the fourth-generation version in September 2015, with the lack of changes to the product in over three years suggesting the device line is probably on its way out, and faces removal from the iPad roster completely.”
“China Business Times sources claim Apple will be launching two low-priced models of the iPad in 2019,” Owen reports. “A new low-priced model of the 7.9-inch iPad mini is slated to arrive in the first half of 2019, with the supply chain starting production for the model in late December. It is unknown if there will be any major changes to the device’s design, as observed for the iPad Pro. ”
“A 2019 iPad is also planned, but according to the report, it will be undergoing a refresh that seems similar in many respects to the iPad Pro alterations,” Owen reports. “While still a low-priced option, the iPad will apparently have a larger screen that’s more than 10 inches in size, while also having a narrower frame.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It sounds like the next-gen iPad will lose the Home button, which is great news. If there is a next-gen iPad mini, hopefully it will also drop the Home button. Both iPads could then keep similar physical dimensions to what they offer now, but offer larger display sizes or the iPad mini could shrink its physical dimensions to match the existing 7.9-inch display. Some might say the 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max is very close to the iPad mini, but the iPad mini is great for kids and, if it does come to pass, should be priced accordingly.
Yeah, I’m like, so excited. Not.
I wish Apple would reveal more of their Mac Pro plans instead of this torturous wait until maybe June at WWDC followed no doubt by an end of the year actual product release.
You can be so secretive Apple that the people you’re making this stuff for have long gone by the time you deign to show it. I’m sorry but for all their years of indifference and neglect to the pro Mac faithful they’re all incompetent assholes.
SE2 and iPad Mini for each dedicated use, rather than compromising with the X Max etc. The life looks rosy!
I’ve also been noticing the comments section of MDN has been becoming more & more of a Ghost Town as people become less enchanted with Apple in general and their recent effarts. This malaise probably will continue until the head leadership is replaced. Scott Forstall is looking better and better isn’t he?
Very true!
I’ve been noticing it too. So have many others too, I suppose.
There’s no doubt that Apple under Tim Cook has had a horrific fall. During his tenure, the epic fails have been, well, epic. Poor hardware, poor inventory, extremely poor software, dismantling the ecosystem. It’s been one relentless failure after another.
Had Steve Jobs not left Tim Cook an amazing company, able to virtually coast under Cook’s inept leadership, Apple would be in a very tragic state.
There’s no difference between Tim Cook and Steve Ballmer. None.
To be honest I think it’s endless variations of comments like this part realistic yes, but sadly large part sureal nonsense and hyperbole wound up in a mostly meaningless repetitive charade that drives people away from contributing. Like the endless bs re Siri the truth and common sense of valid criticism gets lost in the added dirge of misrepresentation and in the end banging your head against the wall seems more constructive to actually reading so much nonsense in trying to find the valid and objective stuff.
Yes
Scott Foreskin was and remains an ass.
I love my 2015 mini. I have the cellular. It is just the right size to carry around, especially on trips. The big phone just isn’t quite up to snuff as an iPad. I can carry the mini and a little bluetooth keyboard in a small case to do productivity and non-productivity (games) tasks easily.
I really hope this is true!
My wife wanted a new mini for Christmas to replace her Gen 2 version. It still works but is getting slower with age. I looked at the “new” ones on Apple.com and saw they still had the 2015 version. WTH? Told her to hold off unless she absolutely needed it. Glad to hear this as she’ll be excited!
My iPad mini is perfect for medical text books. It’s large enough for diagrams and pictures but not too large to carry every day.
There is a significant market for SMALLER sized, high quality devices. Please update the iPad mini AND iPhone SE2 ASAP. FYI, an iPhone 7 is slightly too large to fit in my EMT trousers as well as my hands with fireman gloves on.
Perhaps we will see the under display fingerprint sensor in the low cost iPad. This would allow for thinner bezels and the wider screen, but still not have the Face ID capability of the iPad Pro. It makes sense that this fingerprint tech would find its place in lower-end products. Perhaps even to an SE2 variation (wishful thinking).
I‘ll take mine with 500GB of storage, please
I love my Gen 3 Mini, but it’s now too slow for most uses. Unfortunately, some apps come in two versions, and the iPad version works better than the iPhone version, even comparing my iPad Mini with my iPhone XS Max.
I would gladly buy an updated Mini.
Let’s call Apples iOS lineup what it is:
FRAGMENTATION
The genises in cupertino can’t even manage any semblance of consistency in screen resolution and ratio. Hence each version of the OS carries more bloat and developers are always chasing useless changes driven by unwanted screen rounded corners etc. stupid.
Would the mini exploiting a dock of some kind not be potentially the perfect Home assistant? Why the hell did Apple not think of that years back. We have home speakers essentially a visible human crutch that do the assistant job which in all honesty existing products should have dominated by default which Apple then copies when, if they were a valid product it should have created as it had all the elements available yet now Google/Amazon are creating products to do the same job that now look like static tablets (yet can’t truly function as such) and omg still offer something to the public that Apple doesn’t, at least perceptually offer as a home controller despite having products that dominate that area in look and feel. Start being a leader again Apple.
Will this new iPad mini feature a bent chassis as part of the normal manufacturing processes used?
Outrageous.
No Tim, only bent minds like yours will make such comments.