It’s been nearly four years since Apple refreshed its iPad mini range. In fact, you can still buy that model directly from the Apple Store at the slightly optimistic price of £399.
Why you would is another matter. It packs the same A8 processor found in the iPhone 6, meaning it hardly sets the world alight with apps and multitasking in 2019.
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Well, Macotakara has good news and bad news for you iPad mini fans out there. The good news is an iPad mini 5 is indeed on the way. The bad news is that it doesn’t look like Apple is thinking hugely outside the box on this one.
This information comes from accessory manufacturers, which say that the product looks pretty much identical to the previous generation, with the same ports and dimensions too.
That means it’ll maintain the 7.9-inch display, along with thickish bezels, a lightning port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It’ll also keep the home button, which suggests Touch ID will be the order of the day, with no fancy Face ID on display here.
In fact, the only thing proving this isn’t a whole new batch of iPad mini 4 accessories is the location of the microphone, which moves to the centre, like on the 9.7-inch iPad.
Of course, many people will be fine with this. The iPad mini was a super little tablet back in the day – it’s just too long in the tooth to be a sensible choice in 2019. If that describes your feelings, then it’s worth keeping an eye on the iPad mini 5, as the source reckons it’ll have some form of Apple’s A10 chip running the show.
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Which form, of course, matters a great deal. It could be the A10 Fusion chip that powers the iPhone 7 and 2018 iPad or the A10X processor found in the 10.5-inch iPad Pro. As you can see from the benchmarks in the respective reviews, that makes quite a difference to performance, which could matter quite a great deal if Apple decides to leave it another four years before updating again.
But either way, it’s good to know that Apple hasn’t completely forgotten its fans that favour a smaller form factor. Hopefully, that’ll be some comfort to people holding out for an iPhone SE 2.
Would you buy a refresh of the iPad mini or has its time passed? Let us know on Twitter: @TrustedReviews.
