Apple's event on Sept. 9 has seen the arrival of the new Apple TV, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and the iPad Pro. While the company announced these products with a lot of élan, it also quietly slipped in the arrival of the next-gen iPad mini.
The iPad mini 4 was briefly mentioned by Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller at the end of the iPad Pro's presentation. Schiller did not go into the details of the device's innards but mentioned that the iPad mini 4 had the same internals as the 9.7-inch iPad Air 2.
Interestingly, Apple has discontinued the iPad mini 3 which is being replaced by the iPad Mini 4.
The 7.9-inch tablet gets an upgrade after a gap of two years and will be packing in the A8 processor, which will be a big jump from the A7 processor the iPad mini 3 and iPad mini 2 have been deploying.
The extra power will stand the iPad mini 4 in good stead and enable it to run the multi-tasking features iOS 9 will bring with ease.
The iPad mini 4 is lighter than its predecessors and weighs 0.65 pounds. Compare this to the iPad mini 3's WiFi version's 0.73-lb weight. Apple claims that the smallest tablet from the company packs in "the power and performance of the iPad Air 2."
At 0.24 inches thick, the refreshed next-gen model is also svelter than its predecessors. By comparison, the iPad mini 2 is 0.29 inch thick. The iPad mini 4 continues to sport a 7.9-inch LED-backlit Multi-Touch display with a resolution of 2048 x 1356 pixels. The device has a pixel density of 326ppi and a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating.
Unlike the iPad mini 2, the iPad mini 4 will have a fully laminated display and an anti-reflective coating. The iSight camera also sees an upgrade and is now 8MP versus the 5MP one on the iPad mini 2. The FaceTime camera remains the same at 1.2MP. The inclusion of burst mode is a new feature in this model.
The iPad mini 4 will retail in three hues: gold, silver and space gray. It will be available in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB options and start at $399. The iPad mini 2 gets a price cut with the arrival of the next-gen tablet and will now start at $269. The iPad Air and iPad Air 2 will start at $399 and $499, respectively.
