Will Apple pull the plug on iPad mini?

“This year, consumers and investors are expecting Apple to launch a larger screen iPad, which many believe will help turn around sales of the struggling tablet line,” Bill Maurer writes for Seeking Alpha. “Also, there are rumors out there about the company testing six-inch screens for iPhones, which could come out in 2016.”

“I think it’s likely in the next year or two that Apple does go to a display of six inches or more for the iPhone. That will have substantially narrowed the screen size disparity between the iPhone and the iPad mini since the tablet has a 7.9-inch display,” Maurer writes. “Many have speculated that the popularity of the larger screen iPhone 6 is a main reason for the fall in iPad sales. An even larger screen for the smartphone would seem to speed up that iPad mini sales decline.”

“By eliminating the iPad mini, Apple can boost average selling prices for the iPad line and most likely increase overall margins,” Maurer writes. “With a six-inch smartphone out, Apple could theoretically push mini users to a large iPhone, as phone margins are reportedly much higher… A major concern for investors would be the sales drop-off of millions of iPad mini units. With fiscal 2016 revenues only expected to increase by about 5%, this would likely kill all of Apple’s revenue growth in the period. For this reason, I don’t think the company will eliminate the iPad mini this year… Last year’s mini refresh was poor, and I think this year’s model could end up being the last one we ever see.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: iPad mini always seemed to be a product searching a bit for a raison d’être and whatever reasons buyers had for choosing it have diminished with iPhone 6 Plus. A 6-inch iPhone wouldn’t help iPad mini in the “Why?” department.

As our poll shows (left column) very few (2.29%) give a rat’s ass about an iPad mini 4.

What do you think? Should the 7.9-inch iPad mini 4 that many expect to appear later this year be Apple’s last iPad mini?