14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is reportedly planning to discontinue the iPad mini, the 7.9-inch tablet that the Cupertino-based company first announced back in 2012. The report by BGR states that the reason behind Apple’s move is unsatisfactory sales of the iPad mini.
Apple’s iPad mini recorded low sales in the past few months, signaling the fact that the Apple-branded tablet simply isn’t popular among consumers. This shouldn’t actually be a surprise, considering that the tablet market hasn’t been doing well for quite some time now, especially since the screen size of smartphones continues to gradually increase and consumers are more and more interested in phones with a larger display.
The iPad mini has a 7.9-inch display, which makes it stand right between the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus and the 9.7-inch iPad. In its early years, the demand for a 7.9-inch iPad mini was justified, considering that there weren’t many smartphones with screens larger than 5 inches. But the situation has certainly changed in the past few years.
The price for iPad mini 4 starts at $399
In addition, Apple recently changed its iPad mini 4 offering and the Cupertino-based company is currently selling only the 128GB of internal storage model. The Wi-Fi only model sells for $399, while the Wi-Fi + LTE model has a price tag of $529. The 64GB version of the iPad mini is no longer available for purchase and it’s unclear if production of the 128GB model was also halted.
For now, it’s unclear when Apple will stop selling the iPad mini, but the company is expected to introduce a new 10.5-inch iPad Pro during WWDC keynote on June 5. If that happens, Apple’s lineup of iPad would consist of 12.9-inch, 10.5-inch and 9.7-inch iPad Pro devices, plus the 9.7-inch iPad.
Almost two months ago, Apple discontinued the iPad mini 2, which came with a 7.9-inch display and 1GB of RAM inside. The iPad mini 4 has 2GB of RAM and a 5,124mAh battery, together with Apple’s A8 chipset.