Once seen as the future of the iPad, the iPad mini is now a lower-priority device, losing ground to oversized smartphones on one side, and bigger tablets that double as PCs on the other. Too bad, then, that the best iPad mini by far is launching to an increasingly indifferent public.
The first question is: do you still want or need an iPad mini?The iPad mini 4 is lighter, thinner and faster than its predecessors, with a higher-quality (though the same resolution) display. If you still have a need for an iPad mini, and you don't mind paying US$399 or more when mini-tablets can now be had for under $100, then this is absolutely the one to get.
When the original model launched nearly three years ago, Apple's biggest smartphone had a 4-inch display, and Android phones were still just creeping into 5 inches and larger territory. The Phablet Invasion was already underway, but not nearly at full force.
Just as the stage was set perfectly for the iPad mini in 2012, there have been a few scenery changes since then that have pushed it out of the spotlight.
Today the iPad mini is a somewhat niche device for people who either still use small-ish phones, or are content with a tablet that doesn't offer a radically different experience from phablets. We also can't forget children – who may find the mini's smaller build to be the perfect size for digging into the App Store's gaming library.
The phablet comparison isn't completely fair, mind you, as the iPad mini's 7.9-inch display is still 129 percent bigger than the iPhone 6 Plus 5.5-incher – that's still a big difference. But on an experience level, phablets get just close enough to mini-tablet territory to make the latter feel a bit unnecessary. It's a bit like buying a minivan when you already own an SUV.
If you are one of the dwindling few who's still in the market for an iPad mini, then you get a great tablet in this fourth version. This is the one we were dreaming of after the first model launched in 2012.
The iPad mini 4 is even more comfortable in hand than that first model, and has a better display and faster performance than all three previous models. In many ways it's a smaller iPad Air 2, and even though that means it's rocking a year-old system-on-a-chip, it still makes for a pretty damn powerful machine.
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