A6-powered NON-Retina mini with A6 dual-core CPU is on the way.

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
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If all the minis are truly non-Retina, that is a disappointment, although not necessarily a huge surprise.

http://9to5mac.com/2013/07/31/apple-has-a6-based-ipad-mini-without-retina-display-in-the-works/

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

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.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
48,732
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Not understanding. They can make a 10" Retina, they can make a 3.5" and 4" Retina, they can't make a 7" Retina? Are they afraid it will cannibalize the sales of the larger iPads?
 

joshhedge

Senior member
Nov 19, 2011
601
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Cost. Apple like to maintain healthily, oversized, margins.

It's not like the A6 is an underpowered chip, it's still very potent and Apple could well have played around with the clocks on the GPU and CPU.

I would still rather have an iPad Mini than the Android competitors, I feel that Android on tablets still isn't there.
 

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
11,901
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Not understanding. They can make a 10" Retina, they can make a 3.5" and 4" Retina, they can't make a 7" Retina? Are they afraid it will cannibalize the sales of the larger iPads?
Didn't Anand actually cover this question last year? A Retina mini would require a substantially larger battery, no?
 

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
23,825
1,396
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Google is the CLEAR winner this generation then.
Android won't be the CLEAR winner until they sort out the various OS issues. I still recommend the mini over the Nexus 7 for a lot of n00b types.

That said, Android was the clear winner last year for me too, but the main reason was the fact that video playback on the iPad is much more heavily locked down.
 

boomhower

Diamond Member
Sep 13, 2007
7,228
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I don't think it's that they can't do a retina mini but that they won't. I think they want another year with the iPad being the only retina model to protect sales of it. I think they fear a retina mini would further erode sales of the flagship model.

Non-retina is not bad if they drop the price a bit.

You know as well as I they won't.


As far as the Mini vs. the Nexus 7 it's not just the hardware, it's the software. I don't think they are cross shopped as much as a lot of folks think. Most folks either buy Apple or they buy Android, not many mix and match.
 

bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
6,605
3
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I don't think the use of that processor excludes a retina display.

The iPad 3 used a retina display on a standard DC A9 chip with a SGX543MP4.

The A6 is a vastly improved CPU, clock for clock, with a SGX543MP3 that's clocked faster than the 543MP2 in the iPad 2/iPad Mini/iPhone 4S.

I'd guess it probably comes pretty close to the performance of the SGX543MP4 in the third-gen iPad.

Still, I'm not holding my breath.

Non-retina is not bad if they drop the price a bit.

They'll only do that if they have retina model to take over the price slot.
 

ChAoTiCpInOy

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2006
6,442
1
81
Google is the CLEAR winner this generation then.

How so?

Another drawback: In my test, the new Nexus 7's battery life was underwhelming. Compared with the same battery test of the iPad Mini and first Nexus 7, it fell short at just six hours; the others clocked in at 10 hours and 27 minutes and 10 hours and 44 minutes, respectively. Google claims the battery life can last over nine hours, but the company tests it in Airplane mode (Internet connection off), with screen brightness set to 44% while playing video. I keep Wi-Fi on in the background and screen brightness at 75% while playing video.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323854904578637983964905800.html
 

fr

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
6,408
2
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I'm sure the majority of people that would buy an iPad mini think the non-retina resolution is fine.
 

Excelsior

Lifer
May 30, 2002
19,047
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I'm sure the majority of people that would buy an iPad mini think the non-retina resolution is fine.

I would be one of these folks. I consider myself a general computer/technology enthusiast but not power user. I understand and appreciate higher resolutions, but don't limit myself. For what I do, the mini gets the job done. I've had one for almost 6 months now and honestly, I love it. I use it so much it has easily been one of my better purchases. I did cross shop but having used iPads and being happy with them, I just went for it.

And I just recently got a Razr M yet I use a MBP, so I am not a brand sheep or anything. If the next mini had just a slightly higher pixel density and was faster with equal battery life, I'd be fine with that.
 

Tyranicus

Senior member
Aug 28, 2007
914
6
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I'm sure the majority of people that would buy an iPad mini think the non-retina resolution is fine.

I agree. I love retina screens. They look gorgeous on my laptop and my iPhone. That said, I have no issues whatsoever using my iPad mini. I would never consider switching to the larger retina iPad because I much prefer the mini's size and weight. I can hold it in one hand to read a book, which is not really something I can do with the 10" model. Would I like a retina screen? Sure, but it's not a deal breaker for me. I'm certainly not going to go running to Android.
 

Tegeril

Platinum Member
Apr 2, 2003
2,906
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Didn't Anand actually cover this question last year? A Retina mini would require a substantially larger battery, no?

Stop bringing logic into discussions about everything needing a retina display -.-

It's the exact same discussion about the MacBook Airs.
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
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Didn't Anand actually cover this question last year? A Retina mini would require a substantially larger battery, no?
Substantially larger? No. If the 290 gram Nexus 7 can offer a Retina-crushing 323ppi display and good battery life, Apple should be able to maintain their 264ppi retina-iPad standard without increasing the weight too much.

Putting an A6 in the current Mini is just lipstick on a pig.

iPad Mini
ipad-mini-640x407.jpg


Nexus 7
2013-Nexus-7.jpg
 
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Tegeril

Platinum Member
Apr 2, 2003
2,906
5
81
Substantially larger? No. If the 290 gram Nexus 7 can offer a Retina-crushing 323ppi display and good battery life, Apple should be able to maintain their 264ppi retina-iPad standard without increasing the weight too much.

Putting an A6 in the current Mini is just lipstick on a pig.

I think it's already been established that the latest Nexus's battery life is not good enough.

http://www.macrumors.com/2013/02/28...taking-ipad-sales-faster-than-apple-expected/ -- must be a pretty attractive pig.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
48,732
5,470
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Didn't Anand actually cover this question last year? A Retina mini would require a substantially larger battery, no?

I know it's hard to go backwards in design, but c'mon - an extra 2mm isn't going to kill me on a 7" device lol. Plus - the 10" iPad has Retina and is fine, the 3.5" and 4" iPhones have Retina and are fine, so I don't really see a big case for that. But I'm sure Apple doesn't want to go "thicker", so until the battery life improves, that's probably the biggest reason we don't have a Retina Mini yet.
 

JAG87

Diamond Member
Jan 3, 2006
3,921
3
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Nope, no retina, no buy.

I guess this is another gen I will go without buying an iPad. I don't want the 10" (I have a 13" rMBP for that kind of purpose), and there's no way I'm going to look at a screen like what jpeyton posted. Good, $450 that will stay in my pocket this Christmas.
 

amyklai

Senior member
Nov 11, 2008
262
8
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If Apple don't offer a retina screen, their iPad Mini sales will be eaten up by the Nexus 7.
It's that simple.