Have you wondered recently how Apple is progressing in terms of technical advancements? When Steve Jobs released the first version of iPhone and iPad, and other legendary products like iPod, I have never had any doubt about the technical supremacy of Apple. It’s capability to compete with other products in the niche has been tremendous.
However, now I believe Apple is riding on that respect and repute created during Jobs’ reign, because all that they are doing is creating not-so-appealing products or doing absurd innovation. Why else would they release a lesser iPad with a big price tag? Apple iPad Mini was released with average features at an absurdly big price tag of 329 dollars (starting).
Here are the technical specifications of this new iPad.
The starting price is 329 dollars, for higher storage, 32 GB for $429 and 64 GB for 529 dollars. The other version, Wi-Fi+Cellular (just like iPad 3) will start from 459 dollars. My question is “Are you ******* kidding me?”
At around 200 dollars you can get a lot of other mini tablets that are perfectly well equipped, from Samsung, Sony, Asus (Google), and Amazon. Spend a little more and you will get wonderful hardware, bigger screens, and a lot more. Kindle Fire HD is an amazing choice for a mini tablet or a big tablet with amazing features. In a tear-down done by iSuppli, we come to see the manufacturing cost of iPad Mini is only 198 dollars, which makes it more profitable than the regular iPad.
iPad Mini doesn’t even have the trademarked ‘Retina Display’. I don’t know why Apple believes there is a market for mini tablets and would jump into it with a mini (of course it is) tablet at a regular (or higher than that) price tag. I don’t even understand what the whole reason behind this move. It’s just that Apple has seen a niche for mini tablets and as always, wants to monopolize that realm as well. I think the company has gone way too confident of itself. They probably believe their customers will stand by the brand despite such insane price tags
I say Apple products are great, including the latest iPhone and the iPad (not Mini). But I sincerely would advise against this iPad Mini. Also, it waits to be seen whether iPhone 5S is going to cut it or not.
[Update: ]
Here is a table comparing the performance of iPad Mini and competing tablets, the table has been prepared with data from Geekbench.
As you can see, iPad Mini is at the very bottom of benchmark charts. It includes the yesteryear processor that used to ship with iPad 2, and the latest iPad 4 and other Android tablets are way ahead of Mini in performance.
However, now I believe Apple is riding on that respect and repute created during Jobs’ reign, because all that they are doing is creating not-so-appealing products or doing absurd innovation. Why else would they release a lesser iPad with a big price tag? Apple iPad Mini was released with average features at an absurdly big price tag of 329 dollars (starting).
The Tech Specs
Here are the technical specifications of this new iPad.
| Display | 7.9 inch LED IPS, 1024x768 (163ppi) |
| Processor | 1 GHz ARM-Cortex A9, Apple A5 chip |
| Camera | 5MP |
| Memory | 512 MB RAM |
| Storage | 16/32/64 GB |
| Battery | 16.3 Wh, up to 10 hours of use |
| Dimensions | 7.87x5.3x0.28 inches; 308g |
The starting price is 329 dollars, for higher storage, 32 GB for $429 and 64 GB for 529 dollars. The other version, Wi-Fi+Cellular (just like iPad 3) will start from 459 dollars. My question is “Are you ******* kidding me?”
At around 200 dollars you can get a lot of other mini tablets that are perfectly well equipped, from Samsung, Sony, Asus (Google), and Amazon. Spend a little more and you will get wonderful hardware, bigger screens, and a lot more. Kindle Fire HD is an amazing choice for a mini tablet or a big tablet with amazing features. In a tear-down done by iSuppli, we come to see the manufacturing cost of iPad Mini is only 198 dollars, which makes it more profitable than the regular iPad.
iPad Mini doesn’t even have the trademarked ‘Retina Display’. I don’t know why Apple believes there is a market for mini tablets and would jump into it with a mini (of course it is) tablet at a regular (or higher than that) price tag. I don’t even understand what the whole reason behind this move. It’s just that Apple has seen a niche for mini tablets and as always, wants to monopolize that realm as well. I think the company has gone way too confident of itself. They probably believe their customers will stand by the brand despite such insane price tags
I say Apple products are great, including the latest iPhone and the iPad (not Mini). But I sincerely would advise against this iPad Mini. Also, it waits to be seen whether iPhone 5S is going to cut it or not.
[Update: ]
Here is a table comparing the performance of iPad Mini and competing tablets, the table has been prepared with data from Geekbench.
| Tablet (Processor & technology used) | Geekbench Score |
|---|---|
| Samsung’s Google Nexus 10 (Exynos 5250 1.7 GHz, ARM Cortex-A15) | 2433 |
| Apple iPad (4th gen (Apple A6X dual-core 1.4 GHz, based on custom microarchitecture, Swift) | 1776 |
| Samsung Galaxy Note II and upcoming Galaxy Note 8.0 (Exnynos 4412, 1.6 GHz quad-core) | 1936 |
| Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (Exynos 4412, 1.4 GHz quad-core) | 1702 |
| Asus Nexus 7 (NVidia Tegra 3, quad-core 1.3 GHz | 1481 |
| Apple iPhone 5 (Apple A6, dual-core 1.3 GHz) | 1587 |
| Apple iPad 3 (Apple A5X dual-core 1 GHz) | 848 |
| Apple iPad 2 (Apple A5 dual-core 1 GHz) | 782 |
| Apple iPad Mini (Apple A5 dual-core 1 GHz) | 755 |
As you can see, iPad Mini is at the very bottom of benchmark charts. It includes the yesteryear processor that used to ship with iPad 2, and the latest iPad 4 and other Android tablets are way ahead of Mini in performance.