“Apple is testing a new iPad mini that includes a faster processor but not a Retina display, according to references in the iOS 7 SDK sent to us by a developer,” Mark Gurman reports for 9to5Mac.
“The references were located inside of a hidden file that lists all supported iOS 7 devices, and the information has been corroborated with details found within the iOS 7 beta operating system itself,” Gurman reports. “According to the provided information, Apple is considering three new iPad mini models: iPad ‘2,8,’ iPad ‘2,9,’ and iPad ‘2,10.’ The respective code names for the devices are J75, J76, and J77. This points to one WiFi-only model and two cellular-compatible models (just like the current iPad minis).”
Gurman reports, “From the references, we can also infer that this potential iPad mini model will lack a Retina display.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If so, Apple will likely be crucified by the tech press (especially in comparison to other devices with higher resolution screens) unless Apple’e pricing is stunningly low.
Well thats nice, but Apple is going to miss the greatest opportunity here of market growth if it does not offer,
iPad mini with phone capabilities, blue tooth headset and retina screen.
Using your phonlet in a different way as telecommunication like FaceTime and Skype become far more common… we don’t hold our desktops or laptops up to our heads to talk, so why do Samsung users hold up their Galaxy Note and look silly.
Apple would then gain a 7.9 inch phone and make many seeking a bigger iPhone probably happy… not to mention 7.9″ would be the largest phone on the planet.
I agree that Apple should add voice phone capability to the iPads (both mini and regular) with cellular.
It wouldn’t be marketed as a “phone,” but as a tablet with extra phone features. Customers would use it with headphones (NOT hold it up to their head), or in speakerphone mode. They won’t even need to bring out the iPad, if the headphones are Bluetooth, and the phone number is in Contacts. I don’t think Apple would even need to change the overall hardware design at all. And whether the phone feature is active or not depends on the wireless package selected by the customer.
People buy Android phones that don’t fit in their pocket, so Apple might as well skip all intermediate sizes as go directly to iPad size. 🙂
Those features would truly be nice. But let’s face it, people just want a larger iPhone. Doesn’t mean the iPad mini as you describe shouldn’t exist but people just want a larger iPhone. And no, it doesn’t need to be as large as some of the Samsung phones but a realistic size. I’m guessing somewhere between 4.8 inches and 5 inches. It’s coming. And when it gets here, it’ll sell like hotcakes! Just like when I said the iPad mini would sell like hotcakes once it arrived. Just like the cheap iPhone will sell like hotcakes in a couple of months. When the larger iPhone finally arrives it will outsell the iPhone 5 S size easily. It’ll sell like hotcakes!
I would bet that they are going to release an updated iPad Mini w/o Retina Display to hit under the $300 price point, possibly even around the $229 Nexus 7 area. Then run the Retina Display version at the current price point. Idk just a guess but not a bad idea 🙂
No Retina? Is this the iPad with the IGZO display, Tim?
So what? I’ve used the mini since day one and haven’t missed the retina display at all. It is fine and works well. Retina will come eventually, but of course all the impatient little babies will continue to throw their tantrums until it does.
Bullshit. “So what.” If the iPad mini came out with a Retina display and was faced by a bevy of mini tab competitors with weak resolution screens, you fanboys would be howling about their inferior screens from the rooftops. I can hear you all now, “Yeah no wonder the Nexus 7 is so cheap with that crappy screen, Apple’s all about the highest quality you dumb Droidsters!”
There is absolutely no excuse for this.
It doesn’t matter what anybody produces. There will always be differences between the Apple devices and others and the same old arguments will keep happening about which is better.
The only thing that matters is whether a particular device is right for your specific circumstances and whether you’re happy with it once you use it.
THe bullshit baby is trondude. No doubt you miss your buggy and horsewhip.
You guys are the ones howling about it. I’m content with it, so slag off.
Come on, man. They’ve been working on this for years. How the hell is the biggest, most innovative, most powerful, most profitable tech company on the planet incapable of producing a mini tablet with a high resolution screen? I thought we had Tim “Supply Chain” Cook in charge and he can’t get this done?
Product differentiation… What Apple is capable of doing technically is NOT the same as what Apple chooses to do strategically.
iPad mini’s spot in the iPad lineup is to be the fun light affordable iPad. The “big” iPad’s role is to be the “serious” iPad. The Retina Display is currently the key differentiator. Other differences, such as processor type, are less obvious to most consumers.
If the iPad mini’s display was doubled for the resolution numbers, the pixels would be even smaller than on the big iPad’s Retina Display. It would be “more Retina” than the more expensive iPad, and the pixels would actually be smaller than necessary to achieve the effect of making individual pixels indistinguishable. It would be “overkill,” for the low-end product, and make the product more costly to produce than necessary.
What I think will happen is that with the next release of iOS after 7 (iOS 8), iOS achieves a greater degree of resolution independence. That means the screen resolution can be whatever it needs to be (for a given size) to achieve the Retina effect. “Native resolution” becomes irrelevant from the user’s perspective. So the current 1024×768 resolution can go to something like 1600×1200 (instead of 2x to 2048×1536). That allows iPad mini to remain the fun light affordable iPad.
At the same time, Apple can release a 12-inch iPad (to replace the current “big” size) that does not weight any more than the current 10-inch iPad. It’s resolution can be something like 2400×1800 (or whatever it needs to be for the Retina effect). THAT will provide the product differentiation needed for the iPad mini to “go Retina.”
I don’t think Apple is going to resolution independence with iOS. There are too many disadvantages with doing it and they would’ve done it by now if they were willing to live with those disadvantages.
Apple could do it right now, with iOS 7. Once the size of the pixel become too small to be individually distinguished, a “scaled” presentation is indistinguishable from a “native” presentation, to the human eye.
Have you seen the MacBook Pro with Retina Display? You can go to System Preferences Displays pane and change the resolution to something other than the native “Best” setting. If you do this on a non-Retina display, it looks OK, but there is noticeable blurring on the non-native resolution settings. If you do this with a Retina Display, it looks perfect. You can’t tell that the display is NOT native at that resolution setting, because your eyes cannot see the individual pixels.
So technically (in the same way), Apple could make the iPad mini screen resolution less than double the current resolution, maybe 1600×1200 if that equal “Retina” tininess for pixels at the 8-inch screen size, then scale the existing output to fit the screen, and it would look perfect. Just like a MacBook Pro Retina using a resolution setting that is not the native setting.
But Apple wouldn’t want to do it with iOS 7, because in order for the effort to be efficient and worthwhile, resolution independence should be implemented more fully within the OS. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time because developers would not be able to take advantage of the higher resolution when it makes a difference, such as when displaying an image or a video or a game.
Also, I said it would be a “greater degree of resolution independence.” I did not say the entire interface would be 100% completely independent of resolution, just MORE independent; enough so that Apple does not always have to go to exactly double the current resolution to be “Retina.” Because going double resolution with the iPad mini is “overkill”; the pixels do not need to become THAT tiny.
Might this be part of the same strategy found in the 5C and 5S? That is, perhaps Apple will introduce a new lower end machine along with a new higher-end machine. No rear camera, no retina, upgraded CPU, and priced at $229. The retina priced at $329 as before.
Something’s cooking…
Sounds like a plan. Obviously Apple realizes the iPad Mini doesn’t have a retina display. Yet.
That’s perfectly fine and a great idea. I’d welcome such a device with arms wide open…so long as it comes in addition to a high end iPad mini with a Retina display that launches this fall.
The problem is that there’s no evidence of that hardware atm, the only thing being tested is an iPad mini sans Retina. That jibes with recent rumors that Apple will throw us a bone with a non-Retina mini this year and then finally release a high resolution mini in spring 2014. And that’s inexcusable. Apple is in the thick of battle and needs to keep their foot on the gas, man.
Yes, if Apple doesn’t produce a retina iPad Mini this fall then they are truly behind the curve. That’s clear for everyone to see. But it’s still summer. So we’ll know in a few months. And it is difficult even for Apple to keep new or updated products secret. But perhaps somehow they have kept this under wraps so far? I have the third generation iPad and love it. Don’t think I could ever use anything non-retina. And the iPad mini isn’t something that I’m that interested in presently. But when the retina version of the iPad Mini arrives I’ll certainly take a hard look at it. It just needs to arrive soon. And I remember all those people here who kept telling me that the iPad mini would not be built. They don’t seem to have much to say anymore. One person in particular.
Impatience is NOT a virtue.
If Apple doesn’t release a retina iPad mini, it is probably because of the low yields of Sharp’s IGZO panels. Didn’t Apple give Sharp a huge infusion of money to get their supply lines going? I want to know why Sharp is unable to produce IGZO panels at the volumes that Apple requires.
I do not know how anyone can deduce from a code in a “beta” of IOS7 and then LEAP to the conclusion that it may or may not have a retina display… I think that’s a real LEAP of logic.
“The internal nomenclature for these iPads follows the current iPad minis, which are iPad “2,5,” iPad “2,6,” and iPad “2,7.”
“As for what these new iPad minis will feature, the references state that the devices include the “s5l8950x” processor. This is the same A6 system-on-a-chip inside of Apple’s iPhone 5, and this would offer significant speed improvements for the iPad mini compared to the current A5-based model.”
“From the references, we can also infer that this potential iPad mini model will lack a Retina display. The versions of these references for Apple’s Retina display devices, such as the iPhone 5 and fourth-generation iPad, include hooks to images at a “@2x” mode. “@2x” is how developers reference app artwork that is built for a Retina display device. However, these new iPad minis lack the “@2x” hook, including only references to non-Retina images.”
Obviously Apple can do whatever it wants but I know I’m not alone in saying that I have an iPad, and will buy an iPad mini when it has a crisp Retina screen. I love the iPad mini form factor, but going from the iPad’s amazing screen to the mini’s big pixels is painful.
I’d pay more for an iPad mini than I would for a full-sized iPad, and I’d use it more. I hope Apple doesn’t think the mini needs to be a cheaper device with sub-par specs.
If I’m iCal’d anywhere, I’ve said since the iPad mini was first introduced that I don’t expect the next iPad mini to be retina.
People are forgetting that for the next iPad mini to be retina, Apple either has to release a whole new resolution, or massively jump in PPI, for which there weren’t displays available yet (not to mention cost, power, processor, etc…).
The massive jump in resolution that Apple had to take was resulting in estimates from screen manufacturers of “not until end of 2013 at the earliest and sometime in 2014 in volume”.
Ya, press will be negative on the next mini. But, I for one will likely upgrade and be totally happy. Give it a next-gen processor, more RAM and a 128GB storage option, and I’m all over it.
I had an iPad 3 and frankly the retina was ahead of its time. The iPad 4 caught up a bit, but while I appreciate the retina in my iPad 4, I’m not sure it’s worth the cost (weight, power, price). And these factors would be that much more amplified with the mini.
Do you remember when Apple emphasised all the reas they led in, weight, screen resolution, capabilities, thinness. Bit difficult to now claim such things as no longer important. MDN is or react in its assessment this does not sound like the brave new world just more of the same that’s losing them market leadership, certainly in perception. Yet can’t really see it being cheap either. Lets hope this is incorrect but not holding my breath.
The iPad mini already has a high resolution screen. Adding a Retina screen will make it thicker and heavier, not a mini anymore is it?
Sorry, but I don’t need a power hungry Retina display. It doesn’t improve my output, longer battery life does.
For once I agree with MDN’s take. The Nexus 7 reboot has set a bar for mini-tablets & the ipad mini shouldn’t go under it
But in have hers that the iPad mini display is not bad. Since it is so small it packs the pixels tighter so it is not like the iPhones without retina.
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