It makes no sense to make the devices so thin and then having a fat camera. This requires a cover to equalize the size with the camera for haptic reasons. Better use this space for other stuff like larger batteries and make the device the same thickness everywhere.
The carousel 2nd image appears to have erased the camera to make it fit the marketing narrative? That's pretty bold.
It's the top image on the product page: <a href="https://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/" rel="nofollow">https://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/</a><p>I would assume, however, that they didn't "fake" it - that they instead chose a filming position and lens such that camera was obscured behind the edge of the device (the edge facing the viewer is the far side from the camera). Bit of trickery for sure though.
For anyone curious, a diagram with the camera can be found here: <a href="https://www.apple.com/v/ipad-mini/a/images/specs/buttons_connectors__bshyjvyan0aa_large.png" rel="nofollow">https://www.apple.com/v/ipad-mini/a/images/specs/buttons_con...</a><p>from this page: <a href="https://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/specs/" rel="nofollow">https://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/specs/</a>
> I would assume, however, that they didn't "fake" it - that they instead chose a filming position and lens such that camera was obscured behind the edge of the device<p>I’d suspect the same. From that angle, the camera bump is on the opposite edge; when I hold my iPad Air in the same position, the camera bump is also just about hidden.<p>That being said, I’d also suspect that Apple chose that angle deliberately.
The usual narrative is that Apple are meticulous, therefore it is only proper that we assume they did this on purpose.
Definitely an odd choice. Especially when two images later has it again
woah - that's pretty shocking to me actually. in the past they generally have just used flattering angles. This is downright deception.
This is literally just a flattering angle. Not saying it's not deceptive, but they didn't "edit" the camera bump out of the image.
I presume it is a flattering angle instead of a falsified image. The camera bump is near the one large button, which was furthest from the camera when they rotate it, so the iPad could have been angled slightly to hide the bump. Maybe someone can try to reproduce it after it comes out to see if it is a false image.
It always reminds me of the imac from 15 or so years ago when they were touting how thin the imac was.<p>In reality the back was curved, and they took pictures from an angle that only showed off the edge of the screen and not how far back it curved
> In reality the back was curved, and they took pictures from an angle that only showed off the edge of the screen and not how far back it curved<p>You only see the thickness at the back from an angle where you can't actually use the computer (and for many people, that whole angle is going to be against the wall). This is the good kind of design - making something appear beautiful without compromising the core function.<p>I'm distinctly less convinced about ever-thinner mobile devices that I immediately have to slap a case on...
The argument is most people use a case regardless, so if it were the same thickness across the device, the iPad would be considerably thicker once in a case. That and weight. I don’t use cases so it bothers me too, but it does make some sense.
It's still very strange how much work goes into the materials for the case and the ergonomics and weight of holding the devices without a case just to assume everyone will put it in a case. I'm with you on iPads, they get too heavy/thick for their primary uses once in a case. The phones I sort of get but I still think it ruins a lot of the aesthetic choices they make about the case design.
I find it annoying too, I assume it's because thin and light devices sell more (both in promo photos and when used in Apple stores).<p>My mum's Samsung S23 Ultra has a ridiculous camera bump and rocks back and forth when you use it, even with some thinner cases. You need a super thick case for it to stay stable.
I have a hard time believing the camera bump isn't the result of intensive consumer psychology experiments. Setting a bare apple device down on a flat surface feels like chair with a leg sawed off. They <i>need</i> you to buy the accessories. This is part of making the ecosystem viable.
The correct answer. The camera bump is intentional and so is building phones that aren't resilient to drops out of the box. What do you mean I can't have a phone with rubber bumpers on the corners?
> phones that aren't resilient to drops out of the box<p>What year is it, 2012?
There used to be an "Active" line of Galaxy phones that had built in umpers before they discontinued them.
I have my iPhone 13 in a $10 cover for years now. I don’t like the bump, but I don’t think it’s a scheme to buy covers.<p>Also my favorite smartphone was a motorola with a cloth back (ballistic something) and a metal frame. No cover was needed for this one.
Half the time their mid-year fresh is just a new color, with a huge marketing push. If everyone has a case, colors become a moot point.<p>I also don’t think I’ve ever seen an Apple exec use a case, as it would imply the phones are durable and a case is needed, which they don’t want to convey. (Bumpers for antenna-gate aside)
Since basically everybody uses a case anyways, the important factors are weight and width with the case on. This design makes both of those significantly smaller than your suggestion.
Even stupider for iPads because who even is using the back camera? Just get rid of it entirely and the device will be exactly as functional.
I use it quite often for scanning QR codes.
A surprising amount of people use the back camera for document scanning.
To be fair, the iPad mini is a way better form-factor for camera use than any of the big iPads. I think the only time I've ever used the rear camera on the 12" iPad was to scan a document...
I've seen asshats at concerts holding their iPads up to record. Bad enough when people hold their phones up, but this was next level.
WAT. Just because <i>you</i> do not does not mean <i>you</i> get to dictate how others can use it. I know lots of people that use the rear camera on iPads. I'm one of them.
If they levelled it out you could surely fit a far larger battery in it too. I'd far rather have a device 1.5mm thicker with a battery lifespan twice as long and no silly bump on it.
Tangentially related: this is the funniest rant about this "devices with a fat camera bump that don't lay flat" rant that exists: "Why?" - Lazy Posy: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP7lYuyGTmg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP7lYuyGTmg</a>
> This requires a cover to equalize the size with the camera for haptic reasons.<p>Not really! The cover just follows the seam. And larger batteries will increase the weight as well, which Apple definitely doesn't want.
Aren't most people using their device with a case anyways?
Not sure about the iPad Mini, but I've really only seen the bigger iPads with a case. There's just so much screen to damage, and you do really want some kind of way to prop up the bigger iPads. I very rarely remove my iPad Pro from its keyboard case.
> larger batteries and make the device the same thickness everywhere<p>thermals.
This is why I believe the Pixel 10a is the best designed phone to date.
The iPad Mini has never had a camera bump.
More battery means more weight, and no one wants these to be heavier.
What about weight?
Yeah it's infuriating. I love how even Apple are embarrassed by it, since in the first two animations of people holding and rotating the device they've left off the camera bump, making it look smooth flat.
Isn’t the bump already used to pack components that don’t fit in the rest of the device body? I don’t believe it’s only used for the camera.<p>Though I do hate that bump. I just tried a duo and the bump makes it awkward to hold as a tablet
It makes sense for the manufacturer, they save a LOT of materials.
But don't you just need a big camera on your giant tablet? How will you ever manage if you don't have a nice camera on both sides of all your handheld devices? /s<p>If they put the tiny "front-facing" camera pointed out the back it would be enough for the vast majority of people I imagine.
That's the thing - I genuinely don't understand the user or usage Venn diagram : when and who will 1. Have an expensive ipad with them and require a good big camera, but 2. <i>Not</i> have an equivalently competent phone with them?<p>Don't get me wrong, I understand it <i>happens</i> - back when I did wedding photography, one of my massive pet peeves were the uncles and grandparents who stepped into the aisle with their massive tablets just as bride is starting her walk... But I do not <i>understand</i> it at all :-/.<p>I'd absolutely happily completely kill the rear facing tablet camera. I've had at least a dozen android and ipad tablets and I genuinely don't think I took a single photo with them - it'd feel weird and awkward and so ostentious.<p>(As always as a consumer, clearly I'm in minority here :-})
When I use the rear camera, it's part of a feature of some other app that clearly makes sense to use as a tablet. You're bogged down as it being used as a primary camera as a photographer. There are other needs for cameras other than portraits. Using the rear camera in an AR mode is quite handy in apps.
Yes that stupid camera bump ... I hope those designers lose their jobs to AI. Then again, perhaps they already did :)
The original iPad had a 9.7" screen; it was later bumped to 10.2", and today the smallest iPad/iPad Air screen is 11".<p>The iPad Mini started with a 7.9" screen, bumped today to 8.5".<p>The iPhone Duo inner display is 7.6", there are already rumors saying a gen 2 or gen 3 might be 7.9".<p>It's interesting how smooth the iPhone/iPad continuum is becoming.
Unlike the iPhone getting bigger, the iPad with the 9.7/10.2/11" screen is still basically the same size though. It's just the bezels getting smaller.<p>Quick look at the Mini dimensions also seems like it barely got bigger overall since 1st gen.
Still waiting for a 13 Mini refresh :(
The outer dimensions are largely the same, it's mostly a reducing the bezel size to increase the display size.
There's an obvious gap where the iPhone mini used to be. Please fill that gap Apple!
What isn't smooth is the separation between the iPad and iPhone teams. I'm pretty sure new things being visited on the Duo such as the split keyboard interface have already been tried on the iPad side.
This iPad mini is actually slightly smaller than the previous gen; it's just the bezels that got smaller; the device footprint didn't grow.
I love this dude's "reviews" <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTiiZTi3aC8" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTiiZTi3aC8</a><p>when he goes "iphone small (big)" "iphone big (bigger)" and so on. He has a bunch of them.
I am so glad that I bought so much new tech before 2025 that I can make do without them for a while now.<p>These prices are insane and there is no sign of things slowing down.
The Apple TV really threw me, $299 new but last gen started at $129
It's especially bad if you're non-American with multiple TVs.<p>e.g. I've got three screens in my house (office TV, living room TV, basement projector) in Canada — upgrading to the latest Apple TV on each of them would cost me $1,287.
I have two televisions - living room TV with an AppleTV and bedroom TV with some Roku device. I'm going to buy the new AppleTV and put it in the living room, then move that AppleTV to the bedroom, then recycle the Roku (finally, I hate that thing).<p>It should be less expensive but I rely on it (cancelled cable TV and just have streaming now) and so I'm just happy they are still working on it.
In Europe, it’s closer to $400, which is downright insulting for what is essentially a cheap smartphone without a screen or battery.
I would happily give up on the entire AI industry in exchange for more affordable hardware. No hesitation. The worldwide inflation resulting from the AI rollout is shameful to say it politely
I've thought a lot about that actually. I have a number of hardware purchases I'd like to make but I'm delaying due to the insane prices. That said, would I give up LLMs for the prior prices? No. Prices will come down eventually once more factories come online (it's just slow to bring up a new factory/fab, especially for RAM) and LLMs are such an awesome tool that I'll take the short-term pain of higher hardware.
That’s if you’re considering your personal situation. The increase in hardware is impacting every single institution that needs computers. Smaller hardware companies with low margins cannot operate in the current situation. That means less consumer choices, new projects delayed or cancelled. The impact on less developed countries is of course exacerbated. Hospitals, schools, government agencies are getting less for the same level of spending. And of course that results in worst services, worst infrastructure, more expensive services and goods
Maybe institutions and companies are gonna have to get smarter at making use of stuff that they have instead of just churning thru hardware. It's hard to see it being sustainable anyway to be constantly turning over hardware every few years if not yearly. In a way, this chilling of consumerism is kinda neat.
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Hopefully as Apple's own N-series Wifi chips mature and get rolled into more products, they will include GPS/GNSS capabilities into the chips, as right now if you want that functionality you have to purchase the "Wi-Fi + Cellular" variant:<p>* <a href="https://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/specs/" rel="nofollow">https://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/specs/</a> § Location<p>Edit: to perhaps make it more clear, I meant still sell a +Cellular variant with the C-series chips (or whatever), but move the GNSS functionality into the N-series chips. So you'd have a non-cellular and a cellular, but <i>both</i> would have GNSS.
Last iPad Mini I bought in 2015 was 32gb for $379CAD, one today 11 years later is $949CAD for 128gb, 2.5x over 10 years, I know there is different tech, inflation and times are different but I always though the mini as the budget option, now with this recent releases Apple is just going for: it's expensive because that's the only way we can keep growing....
The mini is not the budget option, at least not anymore. The base 11" iPad starts at $450 in the US (and can often be found on sale for less). It is the cost-down with lower-spec components, and is probably a more compelling product for the consumer looking for the cheapest iPad option than a cost-down mini would be.
Exchange rate is also a factor.<p>The iPad mini hasn’t been the budget iPad for quite a few years now. It is more like a small iPad Air now.
It is a very rare event what is going on right now. The prices are mostly up due to memory shortage.
I wish this was somehow listed as a separate line item with the price, assuming prices will normalize at some point. I don’t want these prices to be considered the new normal, even after memory prices come down. I think transparency in the pricing would help with that.
> I always though the mini as the budget option<p>Keeping up appearances:<p><i>Lease from $14.99/mo. per month for 36 mo.months with Apple Upgrade Footnote ※</i>
8.7% annual inflation is pretty high but most luxury goods have kept up with that<p>Check Porsche 911 / Boxster pricing in Canada over those years or Chanel bags<p>Luxury inflation > normal inflation
Their budget iPad I think got 70% increased in price a couple of months ago. I was planning to upgrade my iPad mini to the normal 11inch iPad and when I checked the price it was nowhere near the price I remembered I last saw it.
Apple: Just fix the software. I have an iPad Mini (6?) and it's clearly just such an orphaned product. They're not even TRYING to make it usable. The on-screen keyboard takes up the majority of the screen when in landscape mode. In portrait mode, the "drawer" on the left side of the screen takes up so much space in apps like Maps/Flighty that it <i>covers the location you're currently at</i>.<p>They've clearly given almost no thought into how the (already marginal) iPadOS renders on a smaller screen.
Ctrl+F "ProMotion" 0 results<p>non-starter
60hz is the reason i sold mine. Otherwise I loved that little ipad
Seriously, what’s the point if it doesn’t have ProMotion? 60hz feels so sluggish.
I really dont understand the hardon for refresh rates.<p>This isn't even a "people dont see that fast".<p>It just, it seems more like a perceptual addiction to a trivial feature. A penis measuring contest more than a useful advancement of technology.
There is an entire field of study dedicated to this sort of thing called Psychophysics. It’s hardly trivial. Perception isn’t an absolute measure of sensory input as it’s influenced by context, comparison, as well as prior experience. Improvements in one experience can change the standards by which we judge subsequent ones. These principles have had profound implications across entire industries. A good primer is the book Priceless: the hidden psychology of value by Poundstone.
It's not a trivial feature. The Class A surface on an iPad is the screen.<p>If you plan to look at moving things, like scrolling, which is a central part of using the device, 120fps makes the scrolling less blurry and therefore more pleasant to look at.<p>This is like asking why people have a hardon for cars with nicer materials for seats and interiors if a normal cheap plastic interior could pass all the same crash tests.
I don't know about for phones/tablets.<p>The only genuine performance increase I could see is if you're using it for drawing/notes because the Apple Pencil samples at 240/s so you would see a difference in drawing smoothness between 60/120/240hz screens. This would mirror the use case in fast-paced and high action games - more info for your eyes sooner allowing better reaction times.<p>Also, isn't ProMotion just branded VRR? Allowing for lower battery use in static/low change applications?
It's not just the maximum refresh rate, the variable refresh rate allows for power saving.
I agree. I have an iPhone 18 Pro. I don’t notice the difference between it and my older, non-ProMotion iPad that I use side by side.<p>It’s a penis measuring contest for display enthusiasts, much like gold connectors are for audio enthusiasts.
It's probably very subjective, but I actually feel dizzy using my phone in 60 Hz mode.
It is a real thing. If you experienced the shift from CRT to the first generation of LCD screens and the CRT bros are not moving to the new technology because it gives them headaches and the majority of people are OK with the refresh rates. The 60fps to 120fps perception is hard to explain.
you don't need promotion if you're going to use it for movies, but OLED is a huge improvement in this regard.<p>the price is a bit high, but that's all apple products.<p>i do think this means a lot of android tablets on this form factor are going to start coming out with OLED screens as well though, which is good, as they will be much cheaper.
I think the Mini's primary use case that benefits a 120hz screen is art apps, but the artists I know would prefer OLED over 120hz. For entertainment, video is video, and games on tablets often lock to 30 by default to preserve battery life.<p>For the iPad Air (especially the 13" model!) I agree 100%.
Apple likes to slow roll features out. It's kind of a necessity when Wall Street expects you to put out a desirable hardware version every few years. Gotta protect that runway!
I was hoping the next mini would. Guess I’ll keep my 6th gen around.
I'm shocked Apple haven't acquired Procreate yet. It's nearly always in iPad marketing material. Personally I know so many artists who've bought iPads, and the only app they have installed is Procreate.
It’s possible they simply don’t want to sell. ProCreate parent company is extremely successful on its own, it’s possible being part of Apple wouldn’t bring anything to the table for them. Looking at some apps Apple acquired it’s not clear that being part of a mega corporation benefits creative tools.
Seems like they made their decision when they acquired Pixelmator.
I don't understand why the color gamut is only P3.
With an OLED display, I assume it's quite easy to push gamut > P3, no?
I saw a lot of people say the homeview is stupid, they can get an iPad and a dock<p>The homeview at $299 is the great value Apple product by far, compared to the price of new iPads<p>The 512 nano texture iPad mini with a case and pencil and Apple care and tax and tip in Canada is well over $2000!!!
The homeview is DOA, I'm sorry. Who is the target for this?<p>There is no app store. I mean maybe they will add one later, but still until that happens I really dont see any use case besides setting some kitchen timers.<p>Yes, smart home is a thing, but tons of people need apps like Hue or Shelly to control their setup.
I don’t see homeview being worth it unless they allow app installs. $300 for a display that shows photos and smart home controls is kinda pointless. You can’t even put up your home assistant dashboard on it.
I think there will be be app integration, but hopefully no App Store. We know that apps can work on HomeView using CarPlay. Not sure that is sufficient long term, perhaps just to jump start things. They may need to enhance that library to allow more kinds of apps to work with HomeView.<p>Right now, I think they are bringing out an MVP and waiting to see how people react to it and what kinds of things turn out to be useful. When they launched the Watch, no one was sure what kinds of things we would want to do on it. It took a while to see what was useful. I think a model where apps on your phone provide HomeView widgets like the Watch might be better than writing apps specifically for such a device.
You tip for purchases from a shop in Canada? Or is that a joke that's gone over my head?
$700? Dang. Prices are climbing so fast.
That plus an iPhone cost less than a Duo. But yeah that's expensive.
No need to involve dang in this. He's had nothing to do with these price hikes.
Yes, those AI subscription prices have a hidden cost ...
Costs as much as the full-size one did until recently.
It's year 2026 and still no use-case for the iPad in sight...
Media viewer wherever you want it. Planes, trains, treadmill, whatever. I don’t have one but it’s an obvious (nice to have, not needed) use case?
Tech pundits should just talk to me. I bought AirPods the week before the new ones came out, and I bought a new iPad 48 hours ago!<p>Luckily I didn’t buy a iPad Mini, but I really like the form factor.
How would an OLED screen be an improvement over an ipad 8th generation? I'm debating on what to upgrade to but I mainly use my ipad for reading comics nowadays. Movies/TV are for the big screen.
They have better blacks and no light bleed. The colors are more vivid and spectral too. That's cool for watching movies in the dark<p>However, whether you really notice a difference reading on the thing I kinda doubt.
And furthermore Apple’s OLED screens tend to have more color reproduction issues. I don’t have an iPad any more but gather a group of people using OLED iPhones. Use light mode and open the Settings app at the same time. You will see that different OLED screens render the same white menu items differently. Some will have a yellowish tint, others an unpleasant green tint. This happens regardless of whether one turns on or off TrueTone. This has been going on since the very first OLED iPhones. The old LCD iPhones never had this problem. It is highly subjective but it bothers me way more than a 60Hz refresh rate.<p>In general display technologies are highly subjective. Besides LCD versus OLED, there are people who love nano texture and there are people who hate them. There are people who absolutely need 120Hz and there are people who can’t tell the difference between 60Hz and 120Hz. It’s a shame that we can’t customize the display technology exactly as we want.
I own no iPads but all my screens are OLED and I would never buy anything else. The true black is an absolute killer feature. It makes the device just a glowing wonder at night, magical feeling, no way to overstate it.<p>OLED + dark mode after sundown are awesome. On Android we also get the extra dim mode which makes it perfect for lights-out.
OLED is really good for media consumption, and IMO, this form factor is one of the best for carrying around in trips and watching movies on the car/plane/train/etc.<p>But the price is a bit high, that's the history of Apple though. On the other hand, I think this particular screen is probably going to be sourced by cheaper small android tablets at a much more competitive price, and if you're using it for media consumption, there's no difference between an Apple and an Android tablet.<p>So I'm happy to see OLED on this model.
iPad still don't support multi-user profiles, which makes it really uncomfortable sharing my iPad with my kids (Tailscale, Bitwarden etc).<p>It would be great if it can use fingerprint to unlock different profiles.
Lack of 120hz display on a $700 device is non-negotiable.
Boneless iPhone Duo
dang this is a dupe of <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50243061">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50243061</a>
interesting this would come out so close to the iPhone Duo release.
749 € starting price WTF ?<p>I want to upgrade my old Mini 5 with Lightning since I want one with USB-C, and the OS is getting slower and slower, but at these prices?<p>All I do is read websites and watch Youtube on it anyway, so maybe I'll just get an Android Tablet for 300 €.<p>This is getting ridiculous!
Do there exist any good small Android tablets at a reasonable price?<p>There were none available in Canada with cellular when I looked a few years ago so I ended up buying an African-region Galaxy Tab A9 for $170. It's functional, but by God is it slow, and that's after adb-removing about 50 pieces of Samsung bloat.
Samsung Galaxy Tab A11 X130 with 8GB of RAM costs around 220 EUR, I haven't tested that one though.<p>Another alternative is the Lenovo Legion Tab TB321FU, 12GB RAM, 256GB, but this one costs 500 EUR.<p>But you are right, there are not a lot of alternatives with 8GB RAM out there. Most Android Tablets with a screen size of 8-9" have 4GB, which would make them slow.
No <i>Face ID</i>, still <i>Touch ID</i>. Are they serious?<p>I was considering buying one, but will skip until the older model becomes unsupported or when Apple adds Face ID.
The second image in the carousel (well, video, really) hides the camera bump. This seems highly disingenuous of Apple.
Blog post: <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/10/apple-gives-ipad-mini-its-biggest-update-ever/" rel="nofollow">https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/10/apple-gives-ipad-mini...</a><p>Some more discussion: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50243061">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50243061</a>
$700 bucks entry level model in this economy?
As I understand the model with cellular still can't make calls without iPhone?
With Apple ads there is always something uncanny with the hands, like the fingers get unnaturally longer behind the device.
$1,099 CAD for 256GB. Yeah, no.
Delivering iPad mini but no iPhone mini is double disappointing.
> 60 Hz screen<p>lol, no, thanks
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This is a disappointment. Apple has so much potential with iPad minis, but they consistently hold back simply because they don’t want to cannibalize their pro models.
That's the whole iPad line. No multi-user because they don't want families to buy only one iPad, no support for running apps outside of the app store, etc.
Isn’t all that potential shown off in the duo?
Ok, how is this a disappointment - what does it not have that the pro does that you're seeking? To me, this just looks like a large phone without cellular. Not sure I'd want this, as I already have a large phone - good enough.