I had the opportunity to spend some time with the new products after the event concluded on Apple’s campus this morning and I was impressed with what I saw.
The first thing I went for was the iPad Air 2. I use my current generation iPad Air quite a bit, so I was interested in how the new model felt in my hands. As you can see from the picture below, the iPad Air 2 (left) is thinner than its predecessor (right).
Not only is the Air 2 thinner, but it also seemed lighter to me—that’s a welcome change because I travel quite a bit with the iPad, so even a tiny bit of weight makes a big difference.
The screen on the iPad Air 2 also seemed more vibrant when looking at pictures. It wasn’t just that the pictures looked better, it’s that everything on the screen looked brighter and more inviting.
I will tell you right now, my favorite feature on the iPad is Touch ID. I place my thumb on the Home button every time I pick up the iPad—now it will finally do something.
Of course, the iPad Air got a big performance boost with the A8X today too. It’s difficult to do any testing on that in the hands-on area, but it did seem very quick. I’ll need to plug my guitar into the iPad to see how it does with real-time audio, but I don’t think it’ll have any problems at all. The iPad Air I’m using now works flawlessly with my guitar and audio apps.
I’ve been a big fan of the iPad mini since it first debuted and use the current model all the time. While the new model hasn’t been significantly updated, the finger print sensor alone is worth it for me.
The last major announcement was the iMac with Retina 5K display. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think I would be that impressed with the iMac, but wow, it was stunning. I couldn’t believe the display on this machine when flipping through some pictures. People are going to love this.
This may not have been a blockbuster event like we saw in September with the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch, but what Apple did today was significant. They updated some of their most popular products just in time for the holiday shopping season with features that its users have been asking for—it’s hard to beat that.
€/$ 100 for the fingerprint sensor on the iPad Mini 3?
Too bad they got rid of the mute/orientation lock switch on the iPad Air, for no other reason than to say that this year’s model is .06″ thinner than last year’s model. We use that switch all the time to lock our current orientation, and using control center to do it is not nearly as quick or convenient. Very disappointed with Apple’s hardware decision here. They’re stuck in some arms race against themselves to keep making things thinner & thinner, but without Steve Jobs’ common sense guiding them, they no longer know how to say enough is enough.
Why would you think that getting ride of that switch is anything to do with making things thinner? Doesn’t make any sense.
I’m massively disappointed in the near-total lack of updates to the iPad Mini. It is identical to last year’s retina model, except that they added Touch ID (which was probably only missing due to supply constraints) and you can now get it in gold.
They couldn’t at least have put an A8 (non-X) in there?
I was planning to replace my first-gen Mini with this generation, but this is hardly a new generation. They should have just said “the iPad Mini with Retina Display now has Touch ID!”
I hope they have plans to update this lame duck iPad model in less than a year. Maybe they’ll refresh the Mini in springtime, when the demand for the Air 2 slows a bit… but I doubt it.
“…and I was impressed with
what I saw.”
What a surprise.
Oddly, the price for the non-Retina iMacs have increased: 50 to 100$ for the 21.5 and 150$ for the 27 and no change in specs.
The 2nd-gen mini was a huge step up from the first, but to be honest I think the iPad Air is the best way to go now. The Air is not that much bigger than the mini (in fact, it’s now thinner and only .2lb heavier), and it’s superior hardware at every level. The mini was introduced at a time when the full-size iPad was significantly larger.
Long-term, the mini is going to be squeezed between the iPhone 6+ and the Air. Quite frankly, my plan is to get a 6+ when my contract goes up and give my mini to family. I suspect its sales will drop significantly due to cannibalization.
I suspect that the lower-margin iPad mini has sold way too well for Apple’s liking, and they are now sandbagging the iPad mini to make the more expensive flagship iPad Air more attractive by comparison.
actually, in that photo no, I can’t see that.
i NEVER used it for orientation. I used it for muting but they’ll probably move that to the quicklaunch as well so no big deal for me.
If it has a screen as good as last years iPad Air then it will be a HUGE upgrade in my eyes.
Anandtech said the screen on the Mini 3 did look better than the 2, but as always they need to verify to be sure.
while i am a big fan of the lock switch — it’s quite preposterous to invoke Steve Jobs’ ghost. don’t you remember under his watch when he tried to get rid of it by turning it into the mute switch only?
I am severely disappointed myself. I’m an iPad mini user and I just don’t get why they never update it. All three models are virtually identical to the eye, and have subjectively almost the same speed and look.
When the iPad mini debuted it was widely touted as the best iPd bar none and sold accordingly. Apple didn’t split out the numbers but there were several reports that the mini was even more popular than the regular iPad. Here we are three years later and it’s basically the EXACT same beast.
The only change this year is the TouchID, but I have to buy a new iPad to get it, so I have to pay $700 just to get that ONE feature. It’s just not worth it. It’s not even close to worth it. I’m borderline offended that they even gave it a new name.
Since literally the only difference is the TouchID, they should have just said: “We aren’t updating the mini, but any new ones we sell after today have touchID for the same price.”
I’m very close to throwing all my Macs out the window after being an avid user since Mac Classic days. It’s just infuriating.
It’s only that if you are buying for the first time. If you are upgrading, you have to pay the full price of a new iPad to get the feature, so in Canada and for me that’s $700.
Yes, for some dumbass reason Apple has been trying to get rid of it from the beginning. I’m not sure what their problem is. Personally, on the mini I find myself using it all day every day, many dozens and dozens of times a day. I basically keep it locked until I want to turn the thing and then unlock it just for that and lock it back again.
Most of the folks I support and train with iPads do the same thing.
The iPad mini especially due to it’s size, is almost useless without a rotation lock. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I simply cannot use an iPad without it. Without throwing the iPad at the wall every few minutes anyway.
If they remove it from the mini when they decide to update it (next year?), then I will be struggling with the mess that is Android in future I suppose. I don’t like Android, but Apple is literally driving me away.
As a user of both, I disagree that the 2nd generation mini was a “huge step up from the first.” Perhaps on paper it was, but in use and in reality, it’s almost identical to the first gen. The retina screen looks a bit snappier for the first few minutes, but then you don’t notice it.
The speed (subjectively of course) seems identical to me. The multi-tasking seemed a tad faster at first also, but it’s very easy to pick up a 1st gen and think it’s a 2nd gen and vice versa. In fact I did that so often I gave away my 1st gen just to solve that problem.
All three iPad minis are basically the exact same deal.
It’s just Apple being Apple. They don’t want people to have it, so they just removed it without asking. Same as the transparency on the top bar in Yosemite and other similar things.
The fact that they didn’t mention it’s removal either in the event itself, or on the iPad description in the store is very telling. They are removing it and waiting to see if anyone kicks up a fuss. If not, it will never be seen again.
Many thousands of folks will be inconvenienced of course, but they will have their “perfection” at any cost. They know that eventually people will stop talking about it no matter how angry they are, because we haven’t actually got any choices here.
People keep saying this on tech sites all over the web today, but we have no idea what Apple’s margins are or were, and no idea whether they were higher or lower on the iPad mini. It’s just random speculation pulled out of someone’s rear.
All we know for sure is that the iPad mini is one of Apples most popular and best selling devices, but for some unknown stupid reason, they have let it languish since the day it was first released.
I love your rhetoric.
I totally disagree, as someone who owns a 2nd gen and whose mom uses the 1st gen. If you think the screen looks identical, you have different screen requirements, and to me the performance difference is immediately noticeable.
I use a Mini quite regularly, and I can’t imagine what would make life so difficult that you need to lock the orientation so frequently. Do use it to update spreadsheets while on a roller coaster? “Almost useless” without a physical orientation lock switch? I use mine for mute.
I’m not saying I’m a big fan of removing the switch, or even further limiting its functionality, but I just don’t understand what’s so terrible here.
The iPad Mini fits in my back jeans pocket (no, I don’t sit down while it’s back there). At work, when I go to a meeting or another team’s area, I stuff it in my pocket even if I don’t think I’ll need a computer with me. It’s there when I need it.
A full sized iPad, even the vastly improved Air (as compared to the previous full-size iPads), is going to have to stay in my hand the whole time. It takes up more mental space, and has to be accounted for when I decide what to carry. With an iPad Air and a cup of coffee, I’m going to have to fumble for a doorknob or look for someplace to set one of the two down.
Just using it, I prefer the small screen. I didn’t even want an iPad until the Mini came out.
If Apple made a Mini with Air specs, just in the smaller screen size, I’d gladly pay full iPad Air pricing for it.
I have to disagree. The Retina Mini (iPad Mini 2, as it’s now called) is years ahead of the first gen Mini in performance and screen quality. It’s just been left behind this year.
This annoys me, because this is the generation I planned to upgrade into, but the Mini has been held back a grade.
I miss you, downvote function.
True. Is Disqus afraid to hurt peoples feelings?
Nice overview.
BUT, but, gosh, get a better camera/photographer.
Do we know what processor the Mini 3 got? I’m guessing they kept the A7 since nothing was mentioned about it. It’s a shame too – I love my Mini 2 and was excited last year when they made their specs equal.
The inconvenience comes from your getting used to it. Now you can access Control Center on the lock screen it just didn’t save that much time. Beside, getting used to Control Center might save you much more time in the future when you discover you can turning many things on/off there or even access stopwatch and timer very easily.
I think they should stop going thinner. There’s “thin enough” and I hope they find that mark one year. 🙂
I interested in seeing that front facing camera on the Air 2 though. Any improvements will help our biz but I’m hoping it’s considerably improved.
“I’ve been a big fan of the iPad mini since it first debuted and use the current model all the time. While the new model hasn’t been significantly updated, the finger print sensor alone is worth it for me.”
What?
They were probably waiting to see the success of the Plus before deciding to kill it. I have a feeling that based on the resounding success of the 6 Plus, this will be the last generation of iPad Minis.
So, remove the iMac from that screen and I will buy one for my new Mac Pro!
One more event befor the end of 2014 for pros please? Or might we have to wait for NAB next April? Nooooooooo!
Hard decision on Air or Mini. But I’m in.
Yeah, that doesn’t sound like the kind of thing you’d hear from someone paying retail prices, at least.
Precisely. As someone who works refurbishing and reselling phones and tablets, I can tell you the fewer mechanical parts the better on these things. I never used the switch for muting, and the rotation lock is in the control center. If I did use it for mute, the sound controls are in control center also. Unlike when they changed the switch from rotation lock to mute and didn’t have another option, this time there is an option and a fairly elegant one at that.
Every social media site is. Downvoting isn’t possible on a ton of places now. God forbid people get notified they are being flibbertygibbets or get to cry indignantly that they are being downvote bullied.
Not that Bob is a flibbertygibbet. He’s probably too busy working on a new album to be bothered posting something more than snark on a web forum.
What I find odd is that there’s no retina Thunderbolt Display. If Apple was able to get a retina iMac out, with that reasonable a price, then what is stopping them from shipping one without a computer behind it for less?
There are a lot of people with retina MacBooks who would love just as nice a display on their desks. There are a lot of people who dug deep for Mac Pros that would kill for such a display, and who have the horsepower to make is sing. Why leave that money for the competition?
Snuh?
Can you throw those Macs to a local school or some other deserving folk instead of out the window? I’m certain they’ll appreciate them without the need to go hyperbolic. Well, some might complain they are Macs instead of Windows or Linux systems. There’s no pleasing some people. I’ll locate some good charities for you if you need them.
Nope. The iPad Mini does not sell to the same people who would buy an iPhone 6 plus. The iPad is cheaper and solves different problems. There is some cannibalization, to be sure. But then, the iPad mini cannibalized some iPad sales and the iPad cannibalized some MacBook sales.
Thank you for using the word “flibbertigibbet.”
while i will miss the lock switch — why on earth would you switch to android over it? which of their devices have a rotation lock switch? if none, then what are you talking about?
if you treat the ipad like a magazine and move around lot, whether on the sofa or shifting positions on the can, then youll see it rotate. it’s annoying…which is why they invented it w/ the rotation lock first, in ipad 1.
it is very odd — Jim is a VIP with access to their events and gear, and this blurry, mis-aligned photo is the best and only thing he has to offer for his coverge? the hell…
… iPads have a subsidy/contract in Canada?
My one little gripe about my last-year’s Mini is that the orientation lock/mute switch is … a little flaky.
Sometimes it flickers on or off (I keep it locked from preference) if I move/hold the device “just right”.
Better absent than flaky, and I agree that having it in the Control Center obviates most of the need.
(Useful on a phone to have a pure-physical mute you can check by feel, but far less so on a tablet.
And on the parent post, remember that every improvement Apple ever makes inconveniences “thousands of people” who were used to whatever came before; people hate change, even change that they call “awesome!” a year later.)
Perhaps on paper it was, but in use and in reality, it’s almost
identical to the first gen. The retina screen looks a bit snappier for
the first few minutes, but then you don’t notice it.
…
“Identical to you”, well… good for you.
Everyone else on Earth who went from a first-gen Mini [or in my case a same-spec-except-screen iPad 2] to the second gen thought it was way faster, way sharper.
Oh, and 128 gigs of storage. Exactly the same deal, you know.
It turned red when I clicked it to test, as if it was working.
(I turned it off because, well, it’s snarky and a little lame, but not quite that bad by my lights.)
Hey, they can run Windows or Linux, if you want, even natively…
Here’s a news flash, Professor – they do not expect you to buy a new iPad just to get TouchID.
It’s not worth even replying to “EXACT same beast”, because plainly your criteria are not those of mere human beings who use computing devices, if you hold that thesis.
Might be supply constrained?
Yeah, disqus left people with the feeling of downvoting, without any actual tallying or consequences.
There’s no single-cable solution to drive a display this large. DisplayPort 1.3 will support it, but that’s about a year out from Intel hardware support. We probably won’t see a standalone 5k monitor from Mac until that exists.
I think the advantage of the thinner and lighter Ipad is that you can utilize the camera and video capabilities of this machine. It’s easier to use and carry on the go. https://vid.me/Pvo