Engineering:iPad Mini 4

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Short description: Tablet computer made by Apple (2015–2019)

iPad Mini 4
IPad Mini 4 logo.svg
IPad Mini 4 Space Gray.png
DeveloperApple Inc.
ManufacturerFoxconn
Product familyiPad Mini
TypeTablet computer
Generation4th
Release dateSeptember 9, 2015
Introductory price$399 USD
£319 GBP
$569 AUD
$439 CAD
€499 EUR
DiscontinuedMarch 18, 2019
Operating systemOriginal: iOS 9.0
Template:Current iPadOS 15
System on a chipApple A8[1] with 64-bit architecture and Apple M8 motion co-processor
CPU1.5GHz dual-core 64-bit ARMv8-A "Typhoon"
Memory2 GB LPDDR3 RAM[2]
Storage16, 32, 64, 128 GB flash memory
Display7.9 inches (200 mm) 2048×1536 px (326 ppi) IPS LCD with a 4:3 aspect ratio and anti-glare coating
GraphicsPowerVR GX6450ios
InputMulti-touch screen, headset controls, M8 motion co-processor, proximity and ambient light sensors, 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, digital compass, dual microphone, Touch ID fingerprint reader, barometer
CameraFront: 1.2 MP, 720p HD, ƒ/2.2 aperture
Rear: 8.0 MP AF, iSight with Five Element Lens, Hybrid IR filter, video stabilisation, face detection, HDR, ƒ/2.4 aperture
Connectivity
Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Cellular:
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz and MIMO

Bluetooth 4.2

Wi-Fi + Cellular:
GPS & GLONASS
GSM
UMTS / HSDPA
850, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz
GSM / EDGE
850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
CDMA
CDMA/EV-DO Rev. A and B.
800, 1900 MHz
LTE
Multiple bands
A1567: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29 and TD-LTE 38, 39, 40, 41
Power3.82 V 19.32 W·h (5124 mA·h)[3]
Online servicesApp Store, iTunes Store, iBookstore, iCloud, Game Center
DimensionsHeight: 203.2 mm (8.00 in)
Width: 134.8 mm (5.31 in)
Depth: 6.1 mm (0.24 in)
MassWi-Fi: 298.8 g (0.659 lb)
Wi-Fi + Cellular: 304 g (0.670 lb)
PredecessoriPad Mini 3
SuccessoriPad Mini (5th generation)
Related articlesiPad Pro, iPad Air 2
This article is part of a series on the
iPad
List of iPad models

The iPad Mini 4 (stylized and marketed as iPad mini 4)[4] is the fourth-generation iPad Mini tablet computer designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It was announced along with the iPad Pro on September 9, 2015, and released the same day. The iPad Mini 4, which replaced the iPad Mini 3, was discontinued on March 18, 2019, when it was replaced by the fifth-generation iPad Mini. It features most of the hardware similar to the iPad Air 2 including its laminated display and design.

History

The iPad Mini 4 was announced during the "Hey Siri" Apple Special Event on September 9, 2015, alongside other new or refreshed products, including the iPad Pro, the iPhone 6s, and the Apple TV. However, there was minimal focus directly on the new device, with only a brief mention at the end of the iPad Pro portion of the keynote.

Features

Software

The iPad Mini 4 ships with the iOS 9 operating system pre-installed, and was the first device to do so. With an additional 1 GB of RAM compared to the previous generations' Mini, the iPad Mini 4 is capable of utilizing the Slide Over, Split View and Picture in Picture multitasking functions in iOS 9.

The device is compatible with iOS 9.1, which was released on October 21, 2015, which adds the News app for the United Kingdom and Australia as well as additional emoji and other bug fixes.[5]

It was revealed at WWDC 2019 that the iPad Mini 4 would support iPadOS, despite rumours saying that it wouldn't. It does lack the support for some features though such as Memoji Stickers, Apple's ARKit based applications and support for Sidecar in macOS Catalina, due to it having the Apple A8 Processor. Apart from this, most of the features that were introduced in iPadOS will work with this iPad, including support for external USB drives (using the camera connection kits), the redesigned split screen and multitasking interface (with support for two apps to be open at once) and support for Haptic Touch (no haptic feedback will be felt as the iPad family don't have Taptic Engines).[6] iPadOS 14 and 15 was also supported, albeit with less features. It was revealed in WWDC 2022 that iPadOS 16 won't be supported on the Mini 4, along with the iPad Air 2.[7]

Design

The iPad Mini 4 was the first major redesign of the iPad Mini line, with a slightly taller and wider body (though with no increase in screen size) compared to the iPad Mini 2 and Mini 3. There is also a much thinner design, with the device mirroring the depth of the iPad Air 2 at 6.1 millimeters.[1] This device is also lighter than the previous generation by 33.2 grams.

Due to the redesign, this device is incompatible with cases that would otherwise work with the iPad Mini 2 or iPad Mini 3. To compensate for this, Apple released a Smart Cover and Silicone Case for the Mini 4, which can be used separately or together as a fully protective case. Unlike the iPad Air 2, there is no leather Smart Case made by Apple for the device. The mute switch was removed, as was done for the iPad Air 2.

As with the iPad Mini 3, the iPad Mini 4 is available in three colors: Space Gray, Silver, and Gold.

Hardware

While the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 were both released in October 2014, the Mini 3 carried over the Mini 2's internals including the A7 processor in place of the hardware found in the iPad Air 2. The iPad Mini 4 features upgraded hardware closer in specs to the iPad Air 2. However, the Mini 4 supports a dual-core A8 processor in place of the tri-core A8X.[1] Apple claims that this processor is "1.3x faster" at CPU tasks and "1.6x faster" at graphics tasks over the A7 processor found in previous Mini models. Along with the iPad Air 2, there are 2 GB of RAM, allowing the device to support the advanced multitasking features made available with the iOS 9 operating system.

Like the iPad Mini 3 that came before it, the iPad Mini 4 is capable of making mobile payments via Apple Pay in combination with the Touch ID sensor, although this can only be done in apps as the device lacks the NFC antenna required for payments at a merchant terminal. With iOS 10, Apple Pay is supported within the Safari app.

The device shares the same camera module as the iPad Air 2 with an 8 megapixel camera with a ƒ/2.4 aperture. The screen is the same Retina Display that has featured since the iPad Mini 2, although it is fully laminated (also like the iPad Air 2) and contains an anti-reflective coating, resulting in drastically improved picture quality compared to its predecessors. The iPad Mini 4 display features much improved color accuracy due to the increase to 101% sRGB Color Gamut compared to only ~62% on the previous models.[8]

It has a slightly smaller battery compared to the previous generations though Apple claims the runtime to be the same 10 hours as its predecessor.

There is also an updated wireless module adding support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2. As with its predecessor, the iPad Mini 4 was available with storage options of 16, 32, 64 or 128 GB, although upon the introduction of the iPad (5th generation) in March 2017, only the 128 GB variation remained available.[9]

Although the Apple Pencil was released alongside the iPad Mini 4 in September 2015, it was exclusively compatible with the iPad Pro released at the same time. Pencil support on the iPad Mini did not arrive until the 5th generation in 2019.

Reception

Reviews have generally been positive, with The Verge giving the iPad Mini 4 a 9/10, praising the display, fast performance, great camera, and multitasking but disappointed with the speakers and chamfered edges.[10]

CNET also praised the new "more vivid" display and the slimmer design as well as the new features in iOS 9 that the device can utilize. However, they also criticized it for being more expensive than other 8-inch tablets and the multitasking features not working as well on the smaller screen. There was also criticism of the iPad Mini 4's A8 processor which was a year old, regarded as a "step down" from the iPad Air 2's A8X and iPhone 6S's A9 processors. This contrasts with the iPad Mini 2 which featured the A7 processor used in the iPad Air and iPhone 5S when they were released in Fall 2013.[11]

Timeline

<timeline> DateFormat=mm/dd/yyyy Define $now = 12/04/2024 Define $later = 03/04/2026 Period = from:04/01/2010 till:$later Define $skip = at:end # Force a blank line Define $dayunknown = 15 # what day to use if it's actually not known ImageSize= width:950 height:auto barincrement:30 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:1 left:1 bottom:30 top:1

Colors = 

    id:bg            value:white
    id:lightline     value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9)
    id:lighttext     value:rgb(0.5,0.5,0.5)
    id:server        value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.9)
    id:pad1          value:rgb(0.9,0.7,0.9)   Legend:iPad_(1st)
    id:pad2          value:rgb(0.9,0.7,0.8)   Legend:iPad_(2nd)
    id:pad3          value:rgb(0.9,0.7,0.7)   Legend:iPad_(3rd)
    id:pad4          value:rgb(0.9,0.7,0.6)      Legend:iPad_(4th)
    id:pad5          value:rgb(0.9,0.7,0.5)   Legend:iPad_(2017)
    id:pad6          value:rgb(0.9,0.6,0.5)   Legend:iPad_(2018)
    id:pad7          value:rgb(0.9,0.5,0.5)   Legend:iPad_(2019)
    id:pada          value:rgb(0.6,0.7,1  )      Legend:iPad_Air
    id:pada2         value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.9)       Legend:iPad_Air_2
    id:pada3         value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8)       Legend:iPad_Air_(2019)
    id:padm          value:rgb(1  ,0.6,0.8)    Legend:iPad_Mini_(1st)
    id:padm2         value:rgb(0.9,0.6,0.8)    Legend:iPad_Mini_2
    id:padm3         value:rgb(0.8,0.6,0.8)    Legend:iPad_Mini_3
    id:padm4         value:rgb(0.7,0.6,0.8)    Legend:iPad_Mini_4
    id:padm5         value:rgb(0.6,0.6,0.8)    Legend:iPad_Mini_(2019)
    id:padpro        value:rgb(0.5,0.7,0.5)    Legend:iPad_Pro
    id:padpro2       value:rgb(0.5,0.7,0.6)     Legend:iPad_Pro_(2nd)
    id:padpro3       value:rgb(0.5,0.7,0.7)     Legend:iPad_Pro_(3rd)
    id:padpro4       value:rgb(0.5,0.7,0.8)     Legend:iPad_Pro_(4th)
    id:current       value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9)     Legend:Still_produced

BackgroundColors = canvas:bg ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lighttext unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/2011 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightline unit:month increment:1 start:04/01/2010


BarData = 

 barset:pad12
 barset:pad3+
 barset:pada
 barset:pada2+
 barset:padm12
 barset:padm3+
 barset:padpro

PlotData = 

 width:17 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

 barset:pad12
   color:pad1 from:04/03/2010 till:03/02/2011 text:"iPad (1st)"
 barset:break
   color:pad2    from:03/11/2011 till:03/18/2014 text:"iPad 2"
 barset:pad3+
   color:pad3    from:03/16/2012 till:10/23/2012 text:"iPad (3rd)"
 barset:break
   color:pad4    from:11/02/2012 till:10/22/2013 text:"iPad (4th)"
 barset:break
   color:pad4    from:03/18/2014 till:10/16/2014 text:"iPad (4th)"
 barset:break
 barset:break
   color:pad5     from:03/24/2017 till:03/27/2018 text:"iPad (2017)"
 barset:break
   color:pad6     from:03/27/2018 till:09/24/2019 text:"iPad (2018)"
 barset:break
   color:pad7     from:09/24/2019 till:$now text:"iPad (2019)"
 barset:break
   color:current from:$now till:end
 barset:pada
   color:pada    from:11/01/2013 till:03/21/2016 text:"iPad Air"
 barset:break
 barset:pada2+
   color:pada2    from:10/24/2014 till:03/21/2017 text:"iPad Air 2"
 barset:break
 barset:break
   color:pada3    from:03/18/2019 till:$now text:"iPad Air (2019)"
 barset:break
   color:current from:$now till:end
 barset:padm12
   color:padm    from:11/02/2012 till:06/19/2015 text:"iPad Mini (1st)"
 barset:break
   $skip
   color:padm2    from:11/12/2013 till:03/21/2017 text:"iPad Mini 2"
 barset:padm3+
   color:padm3    from:10/24/2014 till:09/09/2015 text:"iPad Mini 3"
 barset:break
   color:padm4    from:09/09/2015 till:03/17/2019 text:"iPad Mini 4"
 barset:break
   color:padm5    from:03/18/2019 till:$now text:"iPad Mini (2019)"
 barset:break
   color:current from:$now till:end
 barset:padpro
   color:padpro    from:11/11/2015 till:06/05/2017 text:"iPad Pro 12.9"""
   color:padpro    from:03/31/2016 till:06/05/2017 text:"iPad Pro 9.7"""
 barset:break
   color:padpro2   from:06/05/2017 till:10/30/2018 text:"iPad Pro (2nd) 12.9"""
   color:padpro2   from:06/05/2017 till:10/30/2018 text:"iPad Pro (2nd) 10.5"""
 barset:break
   color:padpro3   from:10/30/2018 till:03/25/2020 text:"iPad Pro (3rd) 12.9"""
   color:padpro3   from:10/30/2018 till:03/25/2020 text:"iPad Pro (3rd) 11"""
 barset:break
   color:padpro4   from:03/25/2020 till:$now text:"iPad Pro (4th) 12.9"""
   color:padpro4   from:03/25/2020 till:$now text:"iPad Pro (4th) 11"""
 barset:break
   color:current from:$now till:end
   color:current from:$now till:end
</timeline>

Source: Apple Newsroom Archive.[12] This timeline: view · talk · edit

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "iPad mini 4 – specs". Apple Inc.. https://www.apple.com/ipad-mini-4/specs/. 
  2. ↑ Cunningham, Andrew (September 16, 2015). "iPad mini 4 performance preview: A 1.5GHz Apple A8 with 2 GB of RAM". Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/09/ipad-mini-4-performance-preview-a-1-5ghz-apple-a8-with-2gb-of-ram/. 
  3. ↑ iPad mini 4 Teardown – iFixit
  4. ↑ "iPad mini 4". https://www.apple.com/ipad-mini-4/. 
  5. ↑ Clover, Juli (October 21, 2015). "Apple Releases iOS 9.1 With New Emoji, Live Photos Improvements". http://www.macrumors.com/2015/10/21/apple-releases-ios-9-1/. 
  6. ↑ (in en) iPad Air 2 + iPadOS | IN-DEPTH Test – Budget iPad Pro? (2019), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDsM9kwkG8E, retrieved 2019-09-12 
  7. ↑ Siegal, Jacob (2022-06-07). "Every iPhone and iPad that iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 will no longer support" (in en-US). https://bgr.com/tech/every-iphone-and-ipad-that-ios-16-and-ipados-16-will-no-longer-support/. 
  8. ↑ http://www.displaymate.com/news.html#iPad_mini_4 Retrieved 31.Mar.2016
  9. ↑ "Apple doubles the storage of the iPhone SE and iPad Mini 4". https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/21/iphone-se-ipad-mini-4-storage/. 
  10. ↑ Apple iPad Mini 4 review The Verge September 28, 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  11. ↑ Stein, Scott (5 November 2015). "Apple iPad Mini 4 review". CNET. http://www.cnet.com/products/apple-ipad-mini-4/. 
  12. ↑ Apple Inc. (2010–2011). iPad News - Newsroom Archive. Retrieved June 7, 2018.

External links

Preceded by
iPad Mini 3 		iPad Mini 4
2015 		Succeeded by
iPad Mini (5th generation)



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