Let us feel for them — the sad , devoted lovers of the iPad mini . In the wake of every Apple iPad event since 2015 , you could find them frowning in the crowds or , by and by , rushing to Reddit to cry in collective wretchedness at the absence of their beloved gimmick ’s Fifth Coming .
But I say there ’s no cause for all that melodrama . I say Apple has already given us the late iPad mini : It ’s just calling it the iPhone XS Max .
Extra padding
This would have been a sapless arguing as of late as a twelvemonth ago , when Apple ’s big speech sound remained saddled with chunky bezels . Now , we ’re see a reversal of the sometime parliamentary procedure . In 2010 it was democratic to jest that the iPad was little more than a massive iPhone , but with the arrival of the iPhone XS Max , it ’s increasingly more accurate to say the iPhone is a tiny iPad .
After all , Apple stilldescribesthe iPad mini as a equipment that delivers “ uncompromising performance and potential in your hand . ” It gives you “ power that ’s anything but mini . ” It ’s unclouded ! It ’s thin ! Frankly , that voice more like a verbal description of Apple ’s stone hotshot iPhone than the sluggish , three - class - former pill with an A8 central processing unit that Apple still dare to trade for $ 399 .
The iPad mini still has sizing in its party favor , as the iPhone XS Max has a aslant display length of 6.5 inches while the iPad mini 4 has a diagonal length of 7.9 in . The iPad miniskirt 4 still wins by more than an inch , but I ’m not convince that deviation is big enough to adjudge the iPad the clear success .
And such comparisons grow more complicated with the full dimensions , as iPad mini apologists readily assert . The iPhone XS Max ’s full show measures 6.20 x 3.05 column inch , while the iPad mini 4 ’s display measures 6.3 x 4.7 inches . That take a shit the iPad mini 4 ’s full display almost double the area of the one on the iPhone XS Max — darn close to the display size of an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite .
It ’s almost a square .
Let ’s keep that comparability in mind : Amazon design the Kindle Paperwhite for expenditure , not for work . And so it largely blend in for the iPhone XS Max and iPad mini 4 . The onscreen keyboards on both devices are too small for retentive - term typewriting , and their halter property would admonish lengthy scribbling with the Apple Pencil if support were ever tally . As we all know from Apple ’s “ What ’s a computer ” ad , the Cupertino troupe now wants us to associate its tablets with these activity . The iPad mini simply is n’t up to par .
For media wasting disease , though , the iPhone XS Max does fine as a substitute for the iPad miniskirt . I do n’t believe it ’s a stretch to take it eliminates the need to grease one’s palms two dissimilar machine .
I ’m well-to-do using it when I wager complex strategy games likeCivilization VI . I used it to watch three episodes of Netflix’sDaredevilon the sofa last dark and never feel a small tablet would have improved the experience . Even the Kindle comparison breaks down . withstand my iPhone XS Max horizontally , I bump I enjoy reading books with it far more than I do with an actual Kindle . With the XS Max ’s lovely OLED exhibit , the sieve ’s pellucidity comes near to mimicking what I ’d expect from a physical page .
And , of trend , the iPhone XS Max issomuch faster than the iPad miniskirt 4 , but I trust that ’s an unjust comparison owe to the iPad mini ’s geezerhood .
When Apple calls aid to the iPad mini 4 ’s camera , the twist almostlookslike an iPhone .
When I do need to work , though , I find the iPhone XS Max does about as good of a job as I can expect from an iPad mini . In fact , I ’ve start using my iPhone for workplace more often than my iPad . Last November , Ghost ’s John O’Nolanlamented on Twitterthat he ’d been repress to using a Bluetooth keyboard with his iPhone following the death of his MacBook Pro , but that ’s on the dot how I ’m publish the drawing for this story . And I ’m doing so by alternative . disregarding of where I am , I can simply hook up Apple ’s thin Magic Keyboard 2 or my beloved Logitech K810 and I ’m ready to go .
The only thing I really miss when I shape like this is an iPad ’s Split - View multitasking , which greatly simplifies writing drafts and outlines while reading sources on another Thomas Nelson Page . If Apple managed to fetch that to the iPhone — even when only used with a Bluetooth keyboard — I’d be tempted to skip iPads altogether . It ’d be nifty if Apple Pencil support eventually made it to the iPhone as somesketchy rumorslast August intimate , but I do n’t lack it much on my iPhone .
A price that can’t entice
Apple has always struggled to fit the iPad mini in its lineup , and it does n’t surprise me that we have n’t seen it for three twelvemonth . As early as 2013 we reported that it was a “ drain on Apple ’s profits , ” and that was when Apple was still sell them for a simple $ 329 .
That ’s a significant sum , as it ’s precisely the retail price of Apple ’s new 9.7 - inch iPad ( which we often find on sale for as little as $ 280 ) . Apple in all likelihood is n’t going to go much cheaper than this for a Modern iPad , and that ’s important , as the monetary value was always one of the master appeal of the iPad mini . These days , though , the iPad miniskirt 4 price $ 399 , and it come up short in almost every way at that Mary Leontyne Price .
The new 9.7 - in iPad is a larger gimmick , but it ’s not huge . I ’m tempted to say it ’s unadulterated . It ’s about as tight as a first - coevals iPad Pro . typewrite on it is well-situated , whether with the onscreen keyboard or an attached keyboard case . For that matter , it leaves plenty of room for panoptic strokes with the Apple Pencil , make it ideal for students who need to interpret and take line . In contrast to the iPad mini , the display sizing is large enough to justify purchase one in accession to an iPhone .
As Dan Moren suppose in aMacworld columnlast year , “ the iPad mini has never been a winner on margins for Apple , and now that the company has make the 9.7 - column inch iPad down to a better price , it makes the mini a much hard sell . ”
The wait goes on
I have little doubt that plenty of people would grease one’s palms an iPad mini if it come back . And return it may , as celebrated analyst Ming - Chi Kuo suggested last October that we might see a Modern iPad miniskirt soon . And when the scrappy tablet betray to make an appearance onstage on October 30 , its devotees , undeterred , resumed their doleful vigil .
But why ? With a gigantic iPhone that ’s almost a match for the iPad mini in distance if not width , with an low-cost iPad that ’s aimed at artists and professional rather than mere media consumer , the iPad mini now feel now more redundant than revolutionary . It ’s too pocket-sized to satisfy Apple ’s imagination for the iPad , and it ’s overly large for task we can well perform with an iPhone XS Max .
We ’re finally at the pointedness where Apple is figuring out the roles of each of its complicated product lines , and now , more than ever , the iPad mini feels like a lowly redundant .
