[HN Gopher] Apple introduces iPad mini built for Apple Intelligence
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Apple introduces iPad mini built for Apple Intelligence
Author : diwank
Score : 136 points
Date : 2024-10-15 14:35 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.apple.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.apple.com)
| 234120987654 wrote:
| A17 Pro huh, that's a first for putting a pro chip in a non pro
| iPad, isn't it? I guess it's, as they advertise, to handle Apple
| Intelligence although I don't understand why they are doubling
| down on this _now_ while nothing from the newly announced AI
| stuff is available as of today...
| mcintyre1994 wrote:
| I'm guessing the delays to Apple Intelligence came late in the
| process and it was supposed to release with the new iPhones?
| And then they just left hardware plans as-is when the software
| got delayed.
| bobbylarrybobby wrote:
| I'm guessing they were aiming for iOS 18 but caved to what
| they perceived was the popular demand at the time
| jsheard wrote:
| It makes sense, the iPad Pros graduated to using full blown M
| series chips so the A Pro chips they used to use can filter
| down the stack.
|
| edit: oops I mixed up A Pro and A X
| JonathonW wrote:
| The A17 Pro (originally in the iPhone 15 Pro; now also in the
| iPad Mini) and A18 Pro (currently only in the iPhone 16 Pro)
| are the only chips Apple has produced with a "Pro" suffix.
|
| Apple used to use the X suffix for bigger versions of their
| phone processors that went into iPads (starting with the
| A5X); that went away when the M-series was introduced.
|
| And the "Pro" suffix itself doesn't seem to denote anything
| in particular-- there was never a non-Pro A17, and the "A17
| Pro" going into the iPad Mini is itself a cut-down version of
| the chip that went into the iPhone 15 Pro (it has one GPU
| core disabled).
| jerojero wrote:
| I wish they had improved the screen a little bit as well.
|
| It makes sense to update the model with apple intelligence but
| that might not be enough for a lot of people to upgrade.
|
| Perhaps we're looking at a device that simply will be out of
| lineup soon (next few years).
|
| I do like this form factor a lot though, well, eventually we'll
| get foldable phones to become mainstream I hope.
| lovethevoid wrote:
| The alleged roadmap leak indicates they're aiming for 2026/2027
| foldable screens (no word on whether it's horizontal or
| vertical) so if all goes according to plan, you would be right
| that this is the last update for the "iPad mini" device.
| sgerenser wrote:
| There was some chatter on Macrumors that they flipped the
| orientation of the controller board so that the Jelly scrolling
| will be gone when used in portrait mode. That was the #1
| display complaint on the outgoing model, so if its true then
| I'd count that as a win on improving the screen.
| seunosewa wrote:
| Wouldn't that cause jelly scrolling in landscape mode?
| bananapub wrote:
| > It makes sense to update the model with apple intelligence
| but that might not be enough for a lot of people to upgrade.
|
| that's fine? it's a very mature segment - medium-price small
| screen tablet. it hasn't even really been updated since 2021,
| and that was basically new case+usb-c.
| volemo wrote:
| I thought the case and USB-C were in iPad mini already?
| rgreekguy wrote:
| Mature segment? Is there any other tablet with a square
| aspect ratio that is smaller than 10"? Two years ago I was on
| the market, I only remember Microsoft's Surfaces, which are
| all 10", no other square tablets.
| Gigachad wrote:
| The iPads are basically appliances. They release a new model
| of fridge every year but I've never once considered
| "Upgrading" my existing one.
|
| My 2014 ipad air 2 is only just starting to feel old.
| tiffanyh wrote:
| > I wish they had improved the screen a little bit as well.
|
| What do you mean, the iPad mini has a higher ppi (326) vs iPad
| Air (264).
|
| I think the issue is that, iPad OS is scaling the display to a
| weird resolution.
|
| https://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/specs/
|
| https://www.apple.com/ipad-air/specs/
| fckgw wrote:
| Probably a 120hz screen like the Pro has
| michpoch wrote:
| Then it'd also get the IPad Pro price?
| jsheard wrote:
| 120hz panels are dirt cheap at this point, look beyond
| the Apple ecosystem and they're everywhere at nearly
| every price point. Even barebones office monitors meant
| for doing spreadsheets are often ~100hz now, there's no
| reason to make them 60hz when faster panels are just as
| cheap.
| heraldgeezer wrote:
| >120hz panels are dirt cheap at this point
|
| So is storage and RAM but every OEM has their added
| vendor tax and so does Apple.
|
| 2TB Samsung pro nvme SSD is 170$, how much is 2TB Apple
| storage...
|
| Same with screens.
| tommica wrote:
| Looks really nice, wish could afford it, but Apple products are
| so expensive... Commodity products for premium price
| skadamat wrote:
| I usually like to buy these 1-2 years old off Craigslist /
| Marketplace and that's been a sweet spot for price and quality.
|
| Apple has always been about premium price and quality but I
| agree that it's not for everyone and their needs.
| mezeek wrote:
| It's ok, lotsa people have the money for it.
| auc wrote:
| Apple products are not commodity, because there is very little
| fungibility due to network effects.
|
| Maybe their hardware is commodity (arguable), but the product +
| integrations are not.
| meroes wrote:
| Many of these devices aren't actually fungible commodities
| though.I tried to buy a phone in the $200 range and Android
| phones were so much worse than used iPhones. I they would drop
| calls and freeze on the dial pad during long calls where I was
| on hold. Tried two different models and had the same issues. I
| could have tried a used $200 Android but I was not wanting to
| try for a third Android. All I wanted/needed was to make
| important calls.
|
| So I guess I don't see them as commodities which implies
| fungibility.
| II2II wrote:
| I realize that there are bad Androids out there and the
| abundance of choice makes it difficult to sift through the
| good and the bad, but there are good Android phones out there
| in the $200-$300 USD range. My current phone is a bit over
| three years old and it is still very usable.
| dsissitka wrote:
| Especially with companies like Motorola. The 2022 Edge cost
| $400 on release. A bit over a year later it was on sale for
| $140.
| lucb1e wrote:
| > All I wanted/needed was to make important calls.
|
| Can I recommend you a 40EUR _phone_? They 've been making
| models that can do calls for a while now and they needn't
| cost as much as an Apple-branded device to do just that
|
| > they would drop calls and freeze on the dial pad during
| long calls
|
| Never heard that happen to anyone with any phone model. If
| you've ruled out some software-specific issue like a call
| recorder you've installed or so, that sounds borderline
| implausible. Then again, given the number of issues I
| experience with software (of any kind)...
| JumpCrisscross wrote:
| What's with the sour grapes? I can't afford a Pagani. Doesn't
| mean I can't appreciate the engineering.
| tommica wrote:
| Not sure why you're calling me "sour grapes"? I only lamented
| the fact that I could not afford the thing
| macintux wrote:
| "Commodity products for premium price" definitely sounds
| like sour grapes.
|
| If the products are actually commodity, just buy something
| else.
| geodel wrote:
| Its commodity you can buy from dozens of other vendors for much
| cheaper price.
| skywhopper wrote:
| Uh, where can I buy a cheaper iPad?
| lucb1e wrote:
| And while we're at it, can someone finally tell me where
| people find cheap ferraris? I really want a car but they're
| just too expensive!
| dmitrygr wrote:
| Then buy it there instead of complaining?
| skywhopper wrote:
| They are hardly commodities. The build quality and lifetime of
| iPads is incredible compared to any other tablet I've ever used
| (typing this on a six year old iPad Pro that's still going
| strong).
| macintux wrote:
| I recently traded in my 5-year-old iPad Pro because it was
| badly banged up, and they still offered me ~$400 in trade-in
| value. Great iPads.
| insane_dreamer wrote:
| True, but they last long enough that you can get them second
| hand, whereas used products from other vendors tend to be junk
| not worth spending money on even at a cheaper price point.
| lucb1e wrote:
| Also when buying second hand, you pay for that premium brand
| Findecanor wrote:
| There is a definite lack of worthy competitors to the iPad Mini
| in the market. Most other tablets are 10" or larger. The only
| other contemporary tablets I've found in that size have had
| very low-end specs in comparison.
| tommica wrote:
| True - long time ago I had the "new ipad", and it was really,
| really nice - lasted me for years, until I could no longer
| update it.
| hbn wrote:
| The iPad lineup starts at $350, and that's brand new, look used
| or refurbished and it becomes even cheaper. If that's too much
| for you, you'll be pressed to afford any computer.
| bonaldi wrote:
| The mini is the absolute sweet spot for me - enough portability
| that I don't mind the many restrictions of iPad OS. But the
| A-line chips and low-quality screen are problems, and not being
| able to properly dock it at a monitor is a real hinderance. None
| of those are addressed here, unfortunately.
| gjsman-1000 wrote:
| Considering the bestselling laptops at Walmart for $400-500
| still sometimes have Twisted Nematic displays, I think the
| screen is fine.
|
| I also don't get the complaint about the A-series chip. What
| does an M1 unlock in iPadOS that the A17 doesn't?
| skydhash wrote:
| I think stage manager? And the A1 can get hot sometimes (PDFs
| and Procreate).
| gjsman-1000 wrote:
| I can't find any mention of Stage Manager being supported
| on this device - so either it doesn't, or the help pages
| haven't been updated yet.
|
| I will say though the criticism of the A-series getting hot
| doesn't make sense. If the A-series gets hot, the M-series
| is going to be boiling in that tiny chassis.
| 0x457 wrote:
| > I will say though the criticism of the A-series getting
| hot doesn't make sense. If the A-series gets hot, the
| M-series is going to be boiling in that tiny chassis.
|
| Depends on a particular A and M chip, tho.
| rgreekguy wrote:
| The screen has the same pixel density as the iPhones'. Which
| is better than any other iPad model's.
| enragedcacti wrote:
| If were picking random stuff to compare it against, for $250
| Motorola will sell you a phone with a 6.7", 395ppi, 120hz
| OLED screen. It also comes with a stylus and has 256GB
| storage standard.
|
| Obviously these aren't directly comparable products but
| neither are iPads and budget laptops, and Apple asks $750 for
| a model with equivalent storage and a cellular modem. For a
| lot of people the screen probably is perfectly adequate but I
| can also see why some potential buyers would be pretty
| disappointed given the price point, especially since unlike
| the air apple doesn't even offer an upgrade path at this
| size.
| labcomputer wrote:
| > and not being able to properly dock it at a monitor is a real
| hinderance
|
| Can you expand on that? It seems to support DisplayPort over
| USB-C, and there are a number of 1st and 3rd party adapters
| that have DP out, power in, and a USB2.0 plug for your other
| devices. What does "properly" docking it look like?
| bonaldi wrote:
| The A-series chips only support screen mirroring; with the
| M-class iPads you can have stage manager and multiple windows
| across two displays; and the main display runs at native
| resolution. It's a far better (though still flawed)
| experience.
| jchulce wrote:
| There are a bunch of UX differences between an iPad and a
| laptop while connected to a docking station that make using
| an iPad in that manner not quite satisfactory. For example,
| the iPad's screen always has to be on - while you can choose
| to either mirror or extend your desktop environment, you
| can't use only the external monitors and shut your case like
| you can with a laptop.
| whiteboardr wrote:
| Was patiently waiting for the mini getting an update - i don't
| care as much for the screen, CPU etc. but not moving the front
| facing camera to the side, hence landscape friendly position is
| beyond me.
| rgreekguy wrote:
| The whole chassis is weak, old... One camera still? Lame...
| The thermals are mediocre, at best. And the iPhone 15 Pro I
| just got makes me look forward to the winter. I expect
| similar experiences with this. When you write/draw _on_ it,
| it does get hot. Same battery life is not bad, but it could
| use some more when you use the Pencil. Touch ID is another
| very _very_ weird thing to keep. I wonder what sort of market
| buys that and they don 't want to upgrade anything... It
| feels so weird...
|
| If you check Apple's comparison, at least on that overview,
| it seems they changed only the processor, networking, that
| HDR thingy on the camera, and... that's all. Everything else
| is the same.
| duskwuff wrote:
| > One camera still? Lame...
|
| It's a tablet, not a phone. No number of cameras is going
| to make it into a good device for taking photos.
| smileybarry wrote:
| Speaking of screens, I wonder if they fixed the jelly scroll.
| It doesn't bother me _that_ much on my mini, but it would be
| ridiculous to keep that flaw as-is in the newer gen.
| NotYourLawyer wrote:
| The what?
| loopdoend wrote:
| They are referring to the screen lagging/tearing while
| scrolling
| formerly_proven wrote:
| I'm guessing Apple is using an IPS panel meant for
| landscape orientation (i.e. the image scans from the
| top/bottom) in a device mostly used in portrait
| orientation. This causes rolling shutter distortion when
| scrolling contents.
| accrual wrote:
| It's basically screen tearing, apparently because the top
| and bottom of the display (or left and right in other
| orientations) refresh at different rates. iFixit suggests
| its a controller issue.
|
| > Update, 9/28/2021: In response to our inquiry, Apple has
| told us that the "jelly scroll" issue on the 6th-generation
| iPad mini is normal behavior for LCD screens.
|
| > Update, 9/30/2021: An iFixit teardown suggests that the
| iPad mini's more noticeable scrolling issue is a byproduct
| of how the display controller is mounted.
|
| https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/09/2021-ipad-mini-
| suffe...
|
| FWIW, my 5th Gen Mini doesn't have this issue.
| jsheard wrote:
| The real fix would be for them to stop being so stingy with
| 120hz panels, as long as they keep using 60hz ones they're
| going to be prone to jelly scrolling in one orientation or
| the other. With 60hz the best you can hope for is that the
| orientation you use the most often is the good one this time.
| dartos wrote:
| > enough portability that I don't mind the many restrictions of
| iPad OS.
|
| Would it be a sweeter spot without those restrictions?
|
| I hate that I can't code on my iPad Pro.
| rcarmo wrote:
| Get a-Shell, iSH, etc.
| kmeisthax wrote:
| If you meant "not having Stage Manager", I'm genuinely
| surprised the A18 Pro wasn't considered powerful enough to run
| it, given that it outperforms the M1 that was. The only thing I
| could think of is that Apple thinks the smaller screen is too
| small for Stage Manager.
|
| I still think they should support it anyway, even if only for
| three apps at a time on the primary display. iPadOS is weirdly
| bifurcated into two different window management strategies
| (Split View vs. Stage Manager) based on what device you bought,
| which is confusing. They should be expanding Stage Manager to
| as many devices as possible.
| ivanjermakov wrote:
| It's sad that "ultraportable iPad" marketing works, but
| "ultraportable iPhone" does not make sense for most people.
|
| iPhone 13 mini was the last flagship smartphone with such
| dimensions.
| Mistletoe wrote:
| How long do we have on the 13 mini before it becomes so slow I
| have to get a new phone? I don't know what I'll do at that
| point. On the 12 mini now and can never go to a big phone.
| SllX wrote:
| Probably a couple of more years provided you can keep
| replacing your battery. I'm on a 13 Pro Max which has the
| same SoC as a 13 Mini and while I might want a battery
| replacement within the next year, the phone itself has no
| performance issues. I think the iPhone 12 model line is
| essentially in the same boat, just a little bit older and
| with worse batteries.
| thejsa wrote:
| The battery was the main reason I moved from my 12 mini to
| a 15 (save for USB-C) -- just wasn't holding up, even after
| a replacement. I still hold out for a 17 mini, though.
| zie wrote:
| A few years still. The XR is still supported with iOS 18.
| robin_reala wrote:
| Nothing wrong with continuing to use the iPhone 13 Mini today:
| Apple CPU has been so far ahead of the competition that apart
| from on-device generative AI there's nothing that hugely pushes
| it. For data, search for "single-core" and "multi-core" in
| https://infrequently.org/2024/01/performance-inequality-gap-...
| roughly wrote:
| The typical iPhone Mini product cycle:
|
| Make iPhone Mini -> Mini only accounts for 10% of sales ->
| Cancel iPhone Mini -> Notice that 10% of iPhone customers
| haven't updated for 3 or 4 cycles -> Make iPhone Mini -> Suffer
| crippling corporate amnesia -> <...>
|
| I'm expecting the brain worms to reach step 4 of the corporate
| consciousness cycle around the next generation or so.
| saagarjha wrote:
| One can hope.
| giancarlostoro wrote:
| I wonder if that was their attempt to make the iPhone SE have
| a legitimate place with the other iPhones? Not sure, but it
| is interesting that no matter what, they always sell the SE.
| pazimzadeh wrote:
| only the 12 and 13 had mini sizes, so not really. unless you
| are counting the SE1 as mini
| sroussey wrote:
| A17 Pro and WiFi 6E like the iPhone 15 Pro, not like the iPhone
| 16 series.
| jessekv wrote:
| The lineup sizes are filling in, a bit like A-series paper.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_size
| throwaway48476 wrote:
| It is interesting that one of their examples is a "community
| repair fair", they want to market a sheen of social
| responsibility without actually taking part themselves.
| ranunez64 wrote:
| It is interesting that one of their examples is a "Mahjong
| Club", they want to market a sheen of board game enthusiasm
| without actually taking part themselves.
| giancarlostoro wrote:
| Lowkey wish their laptops would be as they used to be. Being
| able to swap RAM or hard drives is so basic but so useful.
| talldayo wrote:
| Drives in particular. Let them solder the memory if they
| absolutely have to, but exposing even an empty NVMe slot
| should be standard for laptops. Unfortunately, Apple makes a
| pretty penny off the storage surcharge so I wouldn't really
| anticipate that anytime soon.
| loopdoend wrote:
| I will accept the trade off for the performance boost tbh.
| lucb1e wrote:
| What performance boost? As in, same software running for
| comparison on the hardware of interest, one soldered and
| the other not. I never heard that soldering your SSD on
| makes it faster...
| jsheard wrote:
| It doesn't, Apples SSD performance is fine but
| unremarkable. An M3 Max MBP with 1TB will do ~6GB/sec
| read and ~5GB/sec write, which isn't even at the limit of
| socketed PCIe4 NVMe drives, nevermind the newer PCIe5
| drives which can do up to ~14GB/sec read and ~12GB/sec
| write.
|
| Soldering the RAM has legitimate performance benefits,
| but soldering the SSD is just to save space and upsell
| overpriced upgrades.
| franciscop wrote:
| They no longer even have a "memory" chip anymore, it's all
| part of the same SOC AFAIK, so they cannot "solder" it.
| AlexandrB wrote:
| Even when Apple laptops had removable solid state storage,
| it used a non-standard connector[1]. Very consumer and
| repair hostile. While OWC still made thirds party drives
| for these[2], few (no?) other companies did.
|
| [1] https://beetstech.com/blog/apple-proprietary-ssd-
| ultimate-gu...
|
| [2] https://www.owc.com/solutions/aura-n2
| adolph wrote:
| Hot air rework is more accessible than ever. This video is
| kinda over-the-top breathless, but removing components and
| reballing new ones isn't rocket science.
|
| https://youtu.be/apEKAY11NQs?t=328
| wasabinator wrote:
| It is and will always be rocket science to most people, and
| orders of magnitude more difficult than swapping a drive or
| ram sticks.
| aucisson_masque wrote:
| I have a mac, absolutely love it, hate windows and yet my
| next laptop will be windows because of that.
|
| You don't realize how much it matters until it does, and then
| it changes everything. Always having to carry an external
| drive just because my email takes 150gb of the 256gb MacBook
| storage is even more annoying than windows puting candy crush
| saga on the start menu.
| bschwindHN wrote:
| > just because my email takes 150gb
|
| You have a very different email life than me. Is that like,
| all emails received in your life, or just huge attachments?
| duskwuff wrote:
| It's a bit of filler text in a demo. You might be reading a
| little too much into it.
| kokada wrote:
| Would be nice if Apple also introduced a new base iPad with at
| least support for a decent Apple Pencil. I want to buy my wife an
| iPad, but she wants to draw and the Apple Pencil USB-C doesn't
| support presure levels, so it is either a base iPad with an old
| Apple Pencil 1st Gen (that still is lightining) or paying extra
| for the iPad Air and Apple Pencil 2nd Gen/Pro. The fact that
| Apple Pencil USB-C doesn't support presure levels at ALL is
| infuriating too.
| ToucanLoucan wrote:
| If she's looking to sketch or just doesn't mind not having
| color, I can't recommend the Kindle Scribe enough. I bought it
| for reading but it's become my combination work
| notes/presentation board/drawing tablet, and I absolutely love
| it. The premium pencil honestly smokes the Apple pencil and it
| feels so nice to use. I just wish it did color too.
| 1123581321 wrote:
| The Air is a significantly better drawing display.
| kokada wrote:
| She basically wants to draw notes and do some doodling, so it
| is not like it would make much difference and the price delta
| is huge between the base iPad and the iPad Air.
| alpaca128 wrote:
| The older generations are still available and cheaper, they
| just don't support the newest Pencil Pro.
| dangus wrote:
| The Wikipedia article for the Apple Pencil has a
| compatiblity matrix that is very helpful in this regard,
| since it's so damn confusing.
|
| I think if I was in the market for a drawing device on a
| budget I'd go with an iPad Air that supports the Apple
| Pencil 2nd generation. Something like the iPad Air 5th or
| 4th would do well.
| 1123581321 wrote:
| It depends on her storage needs. If she's making files
| she'll probably not want the 64GB version. So you'd be
| looking at the 256GB base for $500 or the 128GB 11" Air for
| $600. That's not that big a jump for the added utility.
|
| I agree with the other poster; maybe look at refurb and a
| 2nd gen pencil.
|
| Or just don't get one. But it sounds like this is on the
| short list to buy for you two.
| kokada wrote:
| She lived with an iPhone 64GB up until last week and I
| expect that her tablet storage needs to be even smaller
| (e.g.: no photos). So yes, 64GB is fine.
|
| > Or just don't get one.
|
| This is actually what I am going to do: wait until there
| is a better base iPad version. Unless I can get an older
| iPad Pro for a cheap price, but it is unlikely here in
| EU.
| dangus wrote:
| I would suggest the iPad Air 5th or 4th generation. They
| should be pretty close in price to a base iPad, probably
| less for the 4th generation.
| rvnx wrote:
| Is there somewhere where this Apple Intelligence can be used ?
| zie wrote:
| Some of it is available in the beta's, but no, it's not
| released to stable yet.
| dumbo-octopus wrote:
| Which boggles the mind... did nobody tell the software team
| that a release was coming?
| fshbbdssbbgdd wrote:
| Apple doesn't have a reputation for letting engineers
| slack. I have to guess they are working like dogs to meet
| some standard before they are willing to release.
| zie wrote:
| It clearly wasn't ready. My guess: the powers that be
| decided they had to make a public showing of being an AI
| company, hence the giant marketing push ahead of release.
|
| It's unknown how useful any of this will be in day to day
| use-cases.
| hbn wrote:
| I don't think Apple can simply delay an iPhone. There's
| entire industries relying on there being a new iPhone out
| every September.
| nicbou wrote:
| And it's not coming to the European Union.
| bradgessler wrote:
| You can get it in the public betas, but it's very underwhelming
| and not useful. I'm surprised they're talking this up so much
| to be honest.
| marmaduke wrote:
| lol as if teachers have money to buy this to make their lessons
| plans.
| All4All wrote:
| You might be surprised as to how many are willing to make the
| splurge. Anecdotal, but I'm married to a high school teacher.
| She and several of her coworkers have been willing to eat the
| cost personally just to avoid using dated district-provided
| assets, which are often clucky and make the job worse.
| criddell wrote:
| This is the salary schedule for teacher in the district my kids
| were in:
|
| https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BN_Q51d_wUFMs7ajdwI07ESmnmS...
|
| Teachers get $55k-$72k depending on their qualifications. Not
| great, but not poverty levels either. If they want an iPad,
| they can probably get one.
| wslh wrote:
| I love iPad minis, but a keyboard folio for this size would be
| great. I've used this form factor with the iPad Air for writing,
| and it's perfect for carrying in a small bag. I know this is an
| expensive toy, though.
|
| [*] For reference, the iPad Air with the Magic Keyboard is about
| as heavy as a 13" MacBook Air.
| criddell wrote:
| I bought and returned a 13" iPad Pro M4 because I couldn't get
| a Smart Keyboard Folio for it. Only the Magic Keyboard is
| available. I'm still using my 2018 iPad Pro.
| zer0zzz wrote:
| All I want to know is can it do windowed multi tasking with stage
| manager?
| protoman3000 wrote:
| The size of the mini is really the best, but the external monitor
| support is very disappointing. Do jailbreaks etc. allow for
| native monitor resolutions or are we limited to the iPads screen
| resolution by hardware?
| preaching5271 wrote:
| So it's useless in Europe
| tomovo wrote:
| Or: more free space and lower CPU usage in the EU.
| poszlem wrote:
| I still remember the Steve Jobs era when people would praise
| Apple for having a simple lineup of devices, in contrast to
| Android, which had some crazy amount of variants of every device.
| How times have changed.
| wslh wrote:
| Regarding variants, it continue to be more complex to buy a
| Microsoft Windows notebook.
| alpaca128 wrote:
| What other large brand has a simpler lineup? Samsung released
| 22 phones just in 2024 with memorable names like C55 and M05.
|
| Although I wouldn't mind if they got rid of one or two iPhone
| variants, or at least gave them more meaningful names. I have
| no idea what the difference between Plus, Pro and Max is. I
| only know that Pro doesn't mean pro, and that doesn't make it
| any easier.
|
| Edit: also Steve Jobs was still alive when you could choose
| between four different iPod variants.
| hbn wrote:
| It's mainly just the iPad lineup that's a mess, but it's
| optimized for there always being an iPad available for
| increasing budgets in $100 jumps, give or take. It's confusing
| to try and keep track of them all, but that's not really the
| point. What they have is anyone can walk into a store and say
| "give me an iPad, I'll pay $600" and they'll get a good device.
| scarface_74 wrote:
| When Jobs did that Apple was close to bankruptcy. When the
| first iPhone was introduced in 2007, was less than $25 billion.
| It's now $385 billion.
| insane_dreamer wrote:
| Nice choice, always been my favorite size.
|
| Surprised though that they don't have an option with cellular so
| you can have always-on data access (i.e., with a data-only plan).
|
| Updated: my bad, it does come with cellular -- it's just not
| advertised on the main product page
| wiredfool wrote:
| I'm seeing it on the Ireland store, for 170 eur.
| dce wrote:
| Same in US, $150.
| giancarlostoro wrote:
| Most carriers offer iPads as far back as I remember? You have
| to get it through their stores though.
| throwaway48476 wrote:
| Do you still need to buy the cellular version to get a GPS
| chip?
| hnburnsy wrote:
| Ugh, that bezel.
|
| Will full coverage screens with a software driven, virtual bezel
| every be a thing?
| gjsman-1000 wrote:
| Ugh, my batteries need recharging.
|
| Will nuclear powered phones with built-in fusion reactors that
| never need recharging ever be a thing?
| ClassyJacket wrote:
| An edge to edge screen is entirely technically feasible tho.
| The iPhone has it.
| alpaca128 wrote:
| I don't get why some people get so worked up about bezels. I
| like being able to hold my devices without accidental inputs,
| and to me they look better anyway.
|
| I wouldn't mind 3cm wide bezels and accordingly larger
| batteries.
| hnburnsy wrote:
| Virtual bezels and let the user choosing.
| cut3 wrote:
| Dynamically get larger as battery life decreases
| alpaca128 wrote:
| And pay for a screen size I won't use? No, thanks.
| hnburnsy wrote:
| Could be dynamic, example, watching a movie, no bezels.
| Remove the bezels from the top and/or bottom, that
| changes on the device orientation. Placed in a stand
| remove the bezels, add them back when picked up.
| lucb1e wrote:
| That sounds awesome actually. Makes me wonder how hard it
| would be on a rooted phone to just have it tell the
| software the screen is a few pixels smaller so you can
| touch chose sides safely, and remove the restriction
| again when you're in movie mode
|
| Never heard of anyone making that but this would honestly
| sound like the first innovation in several years, not
| incremental like "GPS now finds a solution 2 seconds
| faster" and "the mobile data now uses 7% less energy" but
| something that is now possible that wasn't a feature
| before
| fckgw wrote:
| iPads need to have some sort of bezel, else how are you going
| to hold the thing? iPhones you can grip the sides, iPads not so
| much.
| michpoch wrote:
| iPhone 16 pro max is almost there with the screen size, also
| a two-hands device
| lucb1e wrote:
| This. Phones are already a real trade-off between usability
| and screen size. I've reached (or perhaps slightly gone over)
| the minimum amount of grabbing space I want on a phone and
| mine isn't quite the sleekest model
| ClassyJacket wrote:
| I was just thinking the same thing. Why couldn't they give it a
| tiny bezel, with a software option to put a virtual bezel if
| you want to hold it in a way it matters.
|
| They could even give it only the virtual bezel on the left and
| right sides, in whichever orientation you're holding it, since
| you don't really hold it on the top or bottom.
| pcurve wrote:
| 120hz would've been nice... since they likely won't make pro
| modal in this size.
| volemo wrote:
| I luckily don't care for higher refresh rate, but I'm
| disappointed this model doesn't come with OLED.
| All4All wrote:
| Does anyone here have insight as to the differences between the
| various versions of Apple's "Smart HDR" feature? Interesting to
| see it took the leap from Smart HDR3 (previous model) to Smart
| HDR 4 (new model), and yet the latest iPhones released last month
| apparently use Smart HDR 5.
| turnsout wrote:
| The version is tied to the Image Signal Processor (ISP) of the
| A-series chip. So the A17 has Smart HDR 4, while the A18 has
| Smart HDR 5.
|
| Smart HDR uses neural image segmentation for tone mapping and
| other processing. In my opinion it goes way too far; trying to
| grab a faintly blue sky and make it as blue as possible,
| identifying a face and lightening any hint of a shadow, etc.
|
| When people complain about iPhone photos looking over
| processed, this is why.
| formerly_proven wrote:
| Smart HDR 5 but Auto WB is still stuck in kindergarten.
| Priorities I guess.
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| [dupe]
|
| More discussion on official post:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41848298
| dang wrote:
| We'll merge those comments hither.
| zer0zzz wrote:
| Pretty sure theres no stage manager, hard pass. Sticking to my 6.
| rgreekguy wrote:
| Well, they call it stage manager, but in iOS 18 (too) it only
| offers split screen and one window overlaid to the side. There
| is an example in the page somewhere.
| dang wrote:
| We changed the URL from https://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/ but
| readers may want to check out both.
| urda wrote:
| thanks dang
| ChuckMcM wrote:
| In many ways (no pun intended :-)) I would relate to having an
| iPad mini and a much much dumber phone which was just text/chat
| and voice. I have gotten there because I'm constantly in this
| weird tension between wanting a bigger screen on my phone because
| the app I'm using and wanting a smaller phone so that it is
| easier to pocket and carry around. A friend of mine did the
| folding screen phone thing and that has its advantages but I
| really like a small phone (and ideally with a long battery life
| so no 1000 nit screens on it). Definitely first world/21st
| century problems :-). I do find engineering tradeoffs in product
| design an interesting thing though.
| osrec wrote:
| What was the pun? Many/mini?
| ChuckMcM wrote:
| Yes.
| imjonse wrote:
| You can safely put 'no pun intended' after actually having no
| puns in the text. It can be disorienting but such is truth
| sometimes.
| johnmaguire wrote:
| Pun intended?
| kibwen wrote:
| typeof(x) y = (typeof(x))x; // no pun intended
| zoeysmithe wrote:
| For me its a very nice bedside ebook reader, reddit machine,
| and video device. Its a perfect size for all those things,
| perhaps a bit too small for video but good enough. It can fit
| into a large coat pocket or a medium sized purse too.
|
| I keep trying to get into my kindle but just can't for some
| reason. E-ink is nice but being able to get a nice glowing
| black background with white text is really nice and the page
| changes are so much more fluid than e-ink.
| amelius wrote:
| Way more distractions on an iPad, though.
| Syonyk wrote:
| Most of the modern "dumbphones" (or "feature phones") would do
| this just fine for you.
|
| If you want one that can survive anything life will throw at
| it, look at the Sonim devices - the XP3+ (flip) or XP5+
| (candybar). They're Android Go, have exceptionally good (week
| and a half, easily) battery life, hotspot just fine, and handle
| actual use a lot better than the KaiOS toys out there. Maybe
| 3.x is better, but KaiOS 2.x couldn't handle actual use for
| more than a few weeks without starting to lag, requiring you to
| remove texts from it so the interface wasn't glacial, and mine
| eventually just stopped bothering to notify me about incoming
| calls and texts, which is your one job... The Android Go stuff
| seems to actually hold up to sustained moderate use.
| bradfa wrote:
| Do any of these Android Go phones have semi decent cameras?
| That's a big holdup for many people.
| adastra22 wrote:
| In the context of this thread, that's what the iPad mini is
| for.
| 0x38B wrote:
| I used a KaiOS device for about 6 months. My expectations
| weren't high, but texting and T9 input were a mess:
|
| A) I had to manually enter captital I, apostrophe, and 'm'
| every time I wanted to write "I'm".
|
| B) New words (like brand and place names) displace common
| words in the built-in wordlist - that is, T9 gets worse the
| more you use it.
|
| It was still an OK digital minimalist/detox device - the
| GMaps web app with voice search was good enough.
|
| The Android Go devices you mentioned sound far better - I'm
| never touching KaiOS again.
| jeffbee wrote:
| I was just pitching this yesterday to my friend. My Pixel 8 Pro
| is a great phone, but in many situations I only want a phone
| that can show me my messages and answer my phone calls, and
| it's OK if its interface is my smartwatch and/or earbuds. I
| want it to be able to take over my mobile number on-demand, and
| relinquish it to my Pixel afterward.
| mulderc wrote:
| I am moving away from my phone to just using my Apple
| Watch/AirPods then pulling out the mini when I need something
| it can't cover.
| herpdyderp wrote:
| I wish I could do this but I have yet to find a good Apple
| Watch replacement for owning and syncing music (rather than
| streaming it)
| reaperducer wrote:
| _I wish I could do this but I have yet to find a good Apple
| Watch replacement for owning and syncing music (rather than
| streaming it)_
|
| Is it not possible to sync MP3s to Apple Watches anymore? I
| have a really really old model, and I selected a few
| playlists on my iPhone, and when they change, the songs
| automatically sync to my Apple Watch.
| rogerkirkness wrote:
| Apparently Steve's posthumous roadmap focused on the idea
| that personal computers get 'smaller and closer to you' as
| time goes on. So the idea that an Apple Watch and AirPods
| could be all you need when travelling, etc. follows that
| premise.
| jay_kyburz wrote:
| I find it incredible that I can't make calls on my iPad. I
| would just carry an iPad in my back pack if people could call
| me on it.
| doublepg23 wrote:
| If I was approaching the dumb phone thing I'd try something
| similar to this video - "dumbify" Home Screen app for iOS,
| setting as gray scale, screen time limits, etc.
| https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7jVb1lLniEw
| xattt wrote:
| Apple keeps a lot of owners addicted to their phones by making
| Watch support exclusive to iPhone.
|
| I'd love to go dumbphone and a Watch synced to an iPad at home,
| but this is not an option.
| thorncorona wrote:
| What keeps them addicted to their watch?
|
| I've never found a compelling use case where I'd willingly
| buy another Apple watch.
| eightysixfour wrote:
| Keeps them addicted to their phone by not allowing them to
| just go watch only.
| Aeolun wrote:
| My best use case for the apple watch is I can keep it on
| _everywhere_. If I constantly have to think of the thing
| it'll get annoying enough I want to get rid of it.
| gxs wrote:
| You can probably get fairly close to do this by using an
| apple watch with a sim card
|
| I used to leave the house with just my watch and it was great
| - I could read and send text messages, email, even take calls
| on my watch and have everything synced up to my phone at
| home. You can even download music to it and pair it to your
| airpods.
|
| The missing piece here is just having a dumb phone - somehow
| I think that with some ingenuity you might be able to
| something that serves 80% of your needs here or something
| like that.
| bamboozled wrote:
| You want an Apple Watch imo, I often leave my phone behind now,
| I'm contactable without distractions.
| mouse_ wrote:
| Back in the day when Android was KitKat and full of
| possibilities, I ran a Nexus 7 2nd gen and a cheap phone from
| my carrier. I'm not sure if it was enlightenment but it was
| closer to it than today, where I carry around a smartphone
| that's too big to use comfortably but still too small to use
| frequently for media.
| vjulian wrote:
| I have an older (but not old) Mini, and I find it almost
| unusable, as screen elements don't scale up. For example, Safari
| browser buttons are stupidly small. Is that still an issue with
| the Mini?
| rgreekguy wrote:
| I am not sure I understand what you mean by the scaling issues,
| so, I guess, no? I have the 6th generation. The problem I have
| (and I do not see getting improved, somehow) is that
| applications do not care for it. Many times I have to turn it
| to landscape for some more room to fit everything. Most
| applications feel better on landscape, but then you lose
| vertical space. Affinity Photo 1 is very guilty of that, having
| buttons overlay each other on the left.
| vjulian wrote:
| Elements such as buttons and scroll bars are too small for my
| big fingers and relative to the size of the device.
| dialup_sounds wrote:
| The mini display is 326 PPI vs 264 PPI for larger iPads, but
| the same scale factor so things will always be smaller.
| (iPhones with even higher PPI use a 3x scale.)
|
| That said, you can embiggen things like Safari browser buttons
| under Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Larger
| Text.
| glhaynes wrote:
| I'd also suggest playing with the setting here if you just
| want everything to be scaled up a bit: Settings > Display &
| Brightness > Display Zoom > Larger Text.
| vjulian wrote:
| Thank you. Larger text does just that and in some cases makes
| buttons even more difficult to use. My eyes are fine, and my
| fingers are big...unfortunately rendering the Mini mainly
| useless for me.
| mlajtos wrote:
| iPad mini 2024 with Pencil Pro and Math Notes is going to
| revolutionize math education.
| p00dles wrote:
| What is math notes?
| stephanerangaya wrote:
| Math Notes calculator allows users to type or write out
| mathematical expressions and see them solved in their own
| handwriting
|
| https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/16/24194423/math-notes-
| ipad-...
| hggigg wrote:
| Mathematician here. No it's really not. Having used it
| extensively it craps out all the time, fails to parse things
| properly, doesn't understand anything other than a very narrow
| undefined subset of anything that needs to be done and
| generally makes things harder.
|
| It sure _looks_ like it would though.
|
| Noteful and a competent calculator with CAS functionality on
| the other hand might be a different outcome.
| bbor wrote:
| To be fair, "math education" usually refers to the millions
| that learn arithmetic, algebra, and geometry every year, not
| the (tens of?) thousands that take part graduate level
| courses in "real" mathematics. Although I'm curious; do you
| think it would handle basic calculus (aka as taught in Calc
| survey courses up through multivariate)? In other words: does
| it know how to evaluate integrals and derivatives? Because
| I'd guess more people take those classes than all their
| descendants combined.
|
| Either way, and on a more fundamental note: I'm a little
| dubious that "completing equations" is a net benefit for math
| education. It really seems like a small nice-to-have-
| available affordance tacked on to the real game changer: a
| computer that can adaptively challenge a student and
| competently answer clarifying questions without making it too
| easy. Y'know, just AGI stuff lol
|
| As we've all seen from ChatGPT's impact on English courses
| already, this all will require a fundamental rethink of how
| we teach children and adolescents. Homework is a bandaid over
| capitalist failings, and it's beginning to peel...
| hggigg wrote:
| It has no idea about calculus at all. Not only that it's a
| numeric not a symbolic calculator. So taking it even
| further back to basics, if you do sqrt(12) it should really
| crap out 2+sqrt(3) [as a surd] but it just dumps the
| evaluation out. My PS10 Casio can handle that better.
|
| As for education, you don't really need a calculator. We
| don't really use them that much. Pen, paper, ears.
|
| As for computers, programmed randomised questions with
| deterministic answers and documented steps to solve the
| problems are the right way. LLMs can't do that even if they
| look like they can. _some_ universities actually have tools
| which generate those. Those are truly enlightening as you
| can see the reasoning properly.
| rty32 wrote:
| I don't know which bubble you are in, but $499 + $129 for
| devices at MSRP is not going to revolutionize anything,
| especially just for maths.
|
| A $200 Chromebook can do 10x. Guess what, that's exactly why
| schools buy Chromebooks.
| insane_dreamer wrote:
| > revolutionize math education
|
| math education is not likely going to be "revolutionized" with
| technology or that would have already happened
| wasabinator wrote:
| Ironic how one demonstrates a questionable grasp on maths if
| they think an expensive iDevice will revolutionise maths
| education for the masses.
| kccqzy wrote:
| That's like saying giving students a better calculator
| revolutionizes math education.
|
| Even giving students full access to Mathematica (which I think
| is worthwhile BTW) won't revolutionize it.
| zitterbewegung wrote:
| Bump up from 64 GB default to 128 GB is nice.
| lucb1e wrote:
| It certainly was, like eight years ago when I got the bigger SD
| card for my phone
|
| At this point, the only word that can be applied to it is
| "overdue" for anything who uses it beyond a thin client for
| server-side storage or a streaming service
| Gigachad wrote:
| Uh, I'd be willing to bet that almost all ipad mini users use
| cloud storage and streaming services. That's an extremely
| common use case.
| RIMR wrote:
| All of this looks good, but if they want to retain trust with
| artists, the last thing they should be doing is integrating
| generative AI tools into their art programs.
|
| Creatives are getting more and more frustrated with the AI tools
| showing up in places like Windows or in Photoshop. For the first
| time ever I am meeting career artists and designers who are
| actively looking to add non-AI alternatives to their usual
| toolchains because they feel betrayed by the addition of
| generative AI.
|
| Apple is asking to lose the trust of a major market segment by
| charging forward with this stuff. You would think that the
| backlash to their "Crush!" commercial would have been an eye-
| opening moment for them about what Artists actually expect from
| them...
| amelius wrote:
| From the company bringing you non-general purpose computing.
| metadat wrote:
| Why is the bezel so thick? A 1-2cm bezel around the entire "mini"
| device seems a bit odd, given that the iPad Mini is a relatively
| tiny device and phones these days come with a 1-2mm bezel (10x
| less useless border).
|
| Is it a cost saving measure or what might be the motivation?
|
| _Edit:_
|
| Touch interference is a good idea. Still, from the picture, it
| looks like the bezel could be half as thick and still work well.
| Sorry to be such a stickler, I am genuinely curious if Apple is
| chasing better margins, the best feasible UX, or something else.
|
| Could it be that since this device is _only $650 USD_ , it isn't
| expensive enough to warrant a premium display? (Like the iPhone
| SE https://www.apple.com/iphone-se/)
|
| If so, I wish there was a fancier "Pro" model with premium
| components. IIRC, I paid $1000 for my first iPad, it was the
| first super high-resolution one back in 2012. Perhaps there
| aren't enough customers who are sensitive to wasted screen real
| estate on an 8-inch device. I do constantly see toddlers pacified
| by iPad Minis whenever I'm at Costco.
| spython wrote:
| I think it's so that the fingers holding the device don't
| obstruct the view/ don't get counted as touch event.
| MichaelZuo wrote:
| I'd be surprised if thumb rejection/palm rejection isn't
| close to perfect by iPadOS 18.
| Tempest1981 wrote:
| Doesn't work well for me. Thumb gets too close to bottom,
| and now scrolling becomes zooming. All the time.
| browningstreet wrote:
| I'm forever triggering the camera app, while locking the
| device, on my iPhone 15 pro max. Every day, regularly.
| caconym_ wrote:
| somewhere to grab it without putting your fingers on the
| screen?
| arcanemachiner wrote:
| > Why is the bezel so thick?
|
| How else were they supposed to make room for the extra 4GB of
| RAM required to support Apple Intelligence?
| nicbou wrote:
| Since Apple Intelligence won't be available in the EU, this is a
| very underwhelming refresh.
|
| I do love my iPad Mini to bits though. I use mine purely to read,
| sketch and take notes. It does not receive any notifications. I
| carry it almost everywhere I go.
| jdswain wrote:
| I got an 8" Android tablet instead of an iPad mini. What I
| wanted, was to have something really compact that I could use
| emacs on, mainly for org-roam, notes and writing in general, not
| for writing code. It works well with termux, I don't think there
| is a good way to have a local version of emacs on iOS.
|
| The keyboard is the most important part really (although I did
| want a good screen too). I'm on my second keyboard, they are only
| about $30 each, which is better than iPad prices. The first one
| wasn't so convenient to unfold quickly, the new one is working
| really well.
| Aeolun wrote:
| Can I just get a a flagship iPhone sized like an iPhone SE
| please?
| russellbeattie wrote:
| [delayed]
| hankman86 wrote:
| One would think that they avoid the embarrassment of releasing
| another device before their AI features are even available. But
| no.
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