rare comment

Nice article - small objection. "Apple has gobbled up the profits in personal audio headphones in less than four years of trying" isn't really fair. Beats spent time building its market share and so its tenure seems fair to add to the time frame for Apple's leadtime to dominance. And, in any event, Apple did try for a lot longer than 4 years - remember the "in-ear headphones" from 2008? https://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-in-ear-headphones-with-remote-and-mic-white/5784047.p?skuId=5784047

I have a mini 4 and it is by far my favorite Apple device (out of an X, HomePod, AppleTV, 8, AirPod and iPad Pro).  I like it so much that I was planning on buying a second mini 4 as a backup immediately upon any confirmation of the death of the mini line.  If this is true (that the mini is refreshed), that would be great news.  Even though it is old (it runs an A8!), the mini 4 still runs super fast, it weighs nothing, battery life is amazing, etc.  It's just a great blend of lots of things. Or, put otherwise, every device (even an XS) is a compromise in some dimension - the mini 4 feels like it balances qualities in a way to deliver the fewest possible compromises.

It took me years before I saw the parallel: "App.. Store" & "Apple Store"

zimmie said:

fasterquieter said:

I would love for new iPads to have A12X chips, but suspect A11Xs are more likely. I don't recall Apple ever releasing iPads with brand new generation chips. They usually have whatever the iPhone had last. Presumably because yields aren't high enough for lower-margin products.

The A4 was in the original iPad first, then it was used in iPhone 4 when it was launched a few months later. The A5 hit iPad 2 first, then iPhone 4S a few months later. iPads started getting X variants with the A5X (third-generation iPad) and lagging behind the A# base variant with the A6 (A6 in iPhone 5 in 2012-09, A6X in iPad 4 in 2012-10).

And I think the A9 and A9x were announced together.

fasterquieter said:

I would love for new iPads to have A12X chips, but suspect A11Xs are more likely. I don't recall Apple ever releasing iPads with brand new generation chips. They usually have whatever the iPhone had last. Presumably because yields aren't high enough for lower-margin products.

A4 was the first Apple chip. And it debuted in iPad.