It’s so tempting but the price is getting crazy.
I have always had a fondness for the iPad Mini. I remember when the first one launched in 2012, it was one the first devices I instantly bought even though at the time $329 still seemed like a lot of money.
The great thing about the 1st iPad mini that I remember is that it was literally the same as the current iPad Air at the time just smaller. Same overall specs you just got it in a more compact and smaller package.
Since then the iPad mini has always felt like the best “iPad”. It wasn’t being pressured to do more than what many wanted an iPad Pro to do, be a Mac ugh, and it was so light and slim you could take it everywhere with you.
Overtime the iPad mini has gotten better features and more expensive. It didn’t update as often and was no longer just a smaller version of another iPad available but came with its own specs and features. Some of them were similar, yes, but because it didn’t have the same cadence of releases like other iPads it usually stood on its own.
This couldn’t be more true today with the announcement of the new iPad mini with an OLED display and nano-texture option which is currently only available on the iPad Pro models. It also has a new under-the-display speaker system that no other iPad has.
Look, the tandem OLED display on my iPad Pro is amazing and an extra $100 (extra $200 if you include the $100 jump Apple recently did to the previous model) is worth it to have on the iPad mini. But $699 for a miniature iPad just seems crazy to me, especially with only 128 GB of storage.
Not only that but if you want that awesome nano-texture, you are looking at another $200 price bump since you have to pay the $100 for that option plus it’s only available if you got up to 256 GB. Apple has to charge for these additional features I get that, but if you wanted a nano-texture iPad mini you are looking at a minimum $899 for it.
$900! That’s almost $1000 if you include tax for an iPad mini with 256 GB of storage. It looks like a fantastic device don’t get me wrong. But I remember when the 11-inch iPad Pro used to sell for $799.
I understand this isn’t all Apple’s, or the innocent like mini iPads, fault. The industry for these parts are crazy right now and I get that Apple has to make money on these devices but my sudden disappointment after being super excited about the new iPad mini was tough.
I don’t need an iPad mini, my nano-texture iPad Pro is great. And spending the enormous amount of money on the iPad Pro could probably be argued pretty similarly to what I have been arguing against with the iPad mini. The difference is that my iPad Pro is my everything computer, the iPad mini I would argue is more of a secondary device for me, or consumption device for many.
My main disappointment is that we are now entering into a world where everything is so expensive. What used to be a reasonably priced option for a smaller version of something is now ridiculously expensive and it really sucks.