Apple halts new iPad mini 2 sales, raising entry price barrier on iPads
As a part of its iPad refresh on Tuesday, Apple also halted new sales of the iPad mini 2, a move that raises the price of entering the iPad ecosystem by $60.
The iPad mini 2 originally launched in Nov. 2013 for $399, featuring an A7 processor and the first Retina display on a 7.9-inch tablet. In fact, Apple began by labeling it the "iPad mini with Retina Display," only switching to "iPad mini 2" when the third-generation model arrived a year later.
In keeping the tablet around that year, Apple ensured a low-cost alternative to the 9.7-inch iPad Air line. The company in fact kept the product around through 2015 and 2016, despite it lacking Touch ID and performing increasingly slow relative to newer hardware.
With the iPad mini 4 debut in 2015, the second-generaiton model's price fell to $269 for a 32-gigabyte Wi-Fi model. That made it an ideal first iPad for children, or simply people who wanted a barebones iPad for things like reading, movies, music, or home automation.
Since the iPad mini 4 now starts at $399 for a 128-gigabyte model, the cheapest new iPad is Apple's budget 9.7-inch model, available for $329.
There are still refurbished iPad mini 2 units on Apple's online store, priced as low as $209 for 16-gigabyte Wi-Fi models -- 32, 64, and 128-gigabyte configurations are also available, as are cellular versions. Stocks, however, will likely run out later this year.
Apple authorized resellers B&H and Adorama also have limited quantities of iPad mini 2 configurations in stock (new in box) with free shipping and no tax collected outside NY and NJ.
The iPad mini 2 originally launched in Nov. 2013 for $399, featuring an A7 processor and the first Retina display on a 7.9-inch tablet. In fact, Apple began by labeling it the "iPad mini with Retina Display," only switching to "iPad mini 2" when the third-generation model arrived a year later.
In keeping the tablet around that year, Apple ensured a low-cost alternative to the 9.7-inch iPad Air line. The company in fact kept the product around through 2015 and 2016, despite it lacking Touch ID and performing increasingly slow relative to newer hardware.
With the iPad mini 4 debut in 2015, the second-generaiton model's price fell to $269 for a 32-gigabyte Wi-Fi model. That made it an ideal first iPad for children, or simply people who wanted a barebones iPad for things like reading, movies, music, or home automation.
Since the iPad mini 4 now starts at $399 for a 128-gigabyte model, the cheapest new iPad is Apple's budget 9.7-inch model, available for $329.
There are still refurbished iPad mini 2 units on Apple's online store, priced as low as $209 for 16-gigabyte Wi-Fi models -- 32, 64, and 128-gigabyte configurations are also available, as are cellular versions. Stocks, however, will likely run out later this year.
Apple authorized resellers B&H and Adorama also have limited quantities of iPad mini 2 configurations in stock (new in box) with free shipping and no tax collected outside NY and NJ.
Comments
iOS is lacking in many areas and Apple is stupid with simple things like bluetooth file transfer but the pros far outweigh the cons on this machine.
Look on it as a humanitarian gesture to revive or goose sales of android tablets by re-creating a market gap the mini originally choked off, or less charitably, a push to higher margin full size iPads.
The iPad is at the point of saturation. Anyone who really needs a new one will buy the new one for $329. The older ones are going to be pretty slow with current apps that are now 64 bit. The $329 model has an A9 chip, so you will have some longevity in the device rather than buying a device with a processor that's over 3 years old.
In a device it's important to look at your usage and decide if you need something that needs to be peppy or just enough to get you by for a couple years.
Cheapest iPad was iPad mini 32GB for 299€.
Cheapest iPad is now iPad 32GB for 409€.
That is a 110€/36% increase :-(
But, it must be noted that the A7 processor in the Mini 2 is hopelessly outdated. It is time for Apple to move on.
But too: it raises an interesting point because: the Mini 2 functioned pretty darned well even with that supposedly slow, outdated processor! I think that poses a dilemma for Apple going forward -- not just for IPads but for all mobile products. That is: technology has come along so far that the latest and greatest and fastest aren't that much different from prior years' models in the user's hands. The actual experience is pretty similar.
Curiously though, Apple goosed the minimum storage in the Mini 4 to 128K which raises its price to $399... Now THERE is a gap! The IPad Mini was originally the low-cost option. But why would you make the only option a high level of storage when Apple has always clung desperately to 16Gb models in its mobile lines and only recently started upgrading its base models to 32Gb?
I think there is more to come on this story... I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
#2 The Mini proved to serve a valuable market -- kids. Kids whose hands are too small for a full sized tablet. And too, sorry, but Apple will not survive serving only the high end customers... While their infrastructure prohibits them from competing at the low-end, that still leaves the mid and high end tiers where they excel...