iPad mini 7 announced

cowman

cowman

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www.apple.com

iPad mini

iPad mini. Featuring the 8.5-inch Super Retina XDR display with OLED, A20 Pro chip, Apple Intelligence and Siri AI. Supports Apple Pencil.
www.apple.com

Looks like the same mini, incremental upgrade to an A17 cpu, base storage 128GB. I'm getting it since I'm out of storage on my 5.
 
Surprising that none of the other specs are improved (no face id, same camera resolution as ipad mini 6) - also incompatible with 2nd gen pencil (which works with ipad mini 6)
 
Dang, just last week my wife ordered a new iPad Mini (6) for me. One version back (as of now) won't hurt anything - should be good for a few years. I plan to use it for ForeFlight only. I have/use an Amazon Fire Table for just about everything else.
 
Excellent. This will make its predecessors cheaper on the used market when (if?) my iPad Air 2 finally ceases to run Foreflight.
 
I have an older iPad with 128GB, I have foreflight downloading everything so it’s using a good amount of space but it’s still good. The only thing I don’t like is the size, it’s something like 11.5” and it doesn’t fit well when I use the yoke mount, so this 8.3” I think will fit better on my yoke. And I’m guessing I should get 256GB storage so it lasts longer as file sizes start to grow, I’m not a huge fan at adding an extra $200 to get the 512GB on top of the $100 to get 256GB for something I don’t use much, mind you my phone has 1TB but that’s something I use regularly.

But in reality I just use my iPhone Foreflight for pre-flight and in flight. Would I use the iPad in flight, I’m not sure yet. I do have a Garmin GPS that I yoke mount but that thing has been spotty, I contacted Garmin and after some back in forth, they will be replacing me with a brand new one (at first they wanted $750).

The Garmin seems a bit easier to use in flight with the larger buttons whereas foreflight requires more precision with the fingers which is difficult while flying in turbulence or IMC.
 
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I could care less about a17 ai 22 blah blah blah, if the battery life on the mini 7 is improved over my mini 6, i'm in.
love my mini 6 but it's battery is just horrible and it's difficult to charge
 
Finally - i've been waiting for the mini. Apple can take my money... .... my pro doesn't fit in very many cockpits.
 
asicer said:
The mini 6 ran on the A15. 2 generations is slightly more than an increment.
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I'm not sure you would notice much difference in FF ... maybe if you were doing a lot of image manipulation or something where you need the processing power.
 
Beachy said:
Dang, just last week my wife ordered a new iPad Mini (6) for me. One version back (as of now) won't hurt anything - should be good for a few years. I plan to use it for ForeFlight only. I have/use an Amazon Fire Table for just about everything else.
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Doesn’t Apple have a 2 week return policy?
 
kaiser said:
Finally - i've been waiting for the mini. Apple can take my money... .... my pro doesn't fit in very many cockpits.
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The pro is pretty big, one of my friends has a yoke mount and it seems to fit everywhere he flies. I didn’t want to spend $100 on the yoke mount. I guess I’m saving money by not buying the pro. The mini is ordered and shall be delivered next week Wednesday.
 
Beachy said:
Dang, just last week my wife ordered a new iPad Mini (6) for me. One version back (as of now) won't hurt anything - should be good for a few years. I plan to use it for ForeFlight only. I have/use an Amazon Fire Table for just about everything else.
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If you ordered thru Apple, I think you have 14-? days to return for full refund, then order the 7. I did that with my MacBook Air. Right after I ordered it, I realized I needed more memory, called Apple and no problem. Even if you've already received it, shouldn't be a problem.
 
My Mini 5 is going strong and every app I use runs well. Same with my iPhone 12. I upgrade when either the battery won’t hold a charge or it’s out of memory or speed for current apps.
 
I have an iPad mini 6 and recently the battery life just too a nose dive. I was considering replacing the battery and continuing on, but it looks like I can get a $240 trade in so I might be upgrading.
 
StraightnLevel said:
Aside from increased price and energy consumption, what change in functionality would this provide? (I got a Mini 6 about 6 weeks ago....)
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This would provide a couple more years of ForeFlight compatibility.

For example, ForeFlight just announced that they will only support iPadOS 17 or later. iPadOS 17 requires the A12 chip or later. Next year might be iPadOS18/A13, the year after that iPadOS19/A14, etc. Apple does skip years from time to time (e.g. iPadOS18 will run on an A12 with limited support), but over the long term it could be on some sort of cadence like that. Interpolating and projecting, the latest ForeFlight might cease to run on the Mini 6 some time around 4 years from now and the Mini 7 some time around 6 years from now.

So supposing you bought the Mini 6 for $400, you're paying roughly $100 per year for the privilege of staying on the latest ForeFlight. If you bought a Mini 7 for $500, you're paying roughly $83 per year to run the latest ForeFlight.

pilotsofamerica.com

ForeFlight - Minimum IOS required

It looks like my perfectly fine I Pad Pro is on the list of models that can’t be updated. Getting old isn’t easy at times.
pilotsofamerica.com pilotsofamerica.com
 
iPad mini 5 will run iOS 17, as per Apple.
 
murphey said:
iPad mini 5 will run iOS 17, as per Apple.
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It has the A12 chip, so it also has limited support for iPadOS18. Figure it won't run iPadOS19, so 2 more years before it's dropped from ForeFlight.
 
Apples are a perishable product, buy them at their freshest and they'll keep longer.


GaryM said:
Never mind the other specs, I just want to know if they’ve finally made one less prone to overheating!
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The best way I've found to avoid that is to use as thin of a case as you can and keep it out of direct sunlight.
 
I've been dragging my feet on replacing my Mini 4. I only use it for foreflight and maybe isolated reading. I had been debating between a Mini 6 or a full size iPad, but knew a Mini 7 was in the works.
 
Pinecone said:
Not enough difference for me to retire my Mini 6. I will wait for Mini 8.
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The only issue is that the Mini is not updated regularly. There was a long wait from the mini 4 (2015) to the mini 5 (2019), and then another 2.5 years to the Mini 6. I didn't upgrade my Mini 2 to a Mini 3 because there was VERY little change (just added Touch ID, no other changes), and then the Mini 4 was kind of disappointing compared to the rest so I didn't buy one of those... And then I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and the Mini 2 was very long in the tooth before they finally came out with the Mini 5.

After that, I bought the Mini 6 right away when it came out. Not sure yet what I'm going to do this time.
GaryM said:
Never mind the other specs, I just want to know if they’ve finally made one less prone to overheating!
Click to expand...
All you have to do is keep it out of direct sunlight. If you're using ForeFlight and it's getting hot, ForeFlight will warn you BEFORE the iPad overheats so you can put it in the shade or point a vent at it or take other action to prevent it from overheating and shutting down.
 
I'm trading in my mini5 (used only for FF) and will move the mini6 to the airplane and use the mini7 as my day-to-day widget. The mini5 is 256 gb, the mini 6 is 64 gb, and I'm using less than 55 gb on each, so I think the 128gb will suffice.
 
I’m using an I pad 4th gen for foreflight and stratus. I’m more comfortable with the bigger screen.
 
Brad Z said:
I have an iPad mini 6 and recently the battery life just too a nose dive. I was considering replacing the battery and continuing on, but it looks like I can get a $240 trade in so I might be upgrading.
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If you have Apple Care+, battery replacement is free.

If not, their web site says $119 to replace battery.

Most towns have a shop or two that will do it for less.

You can also buy the battery for about $50 and replace it yourself.
 
Pinecone said:
If you have Apple Care+, battery replacement is free.
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AppleCare+ has saved my bacon before. That's an excellent option.
Pinecone said:
If not, their web site says $119 to replace battery.

Most towns have a shop or two that will do it for less.

You can also buy the battery for about $50 and replace it yourself.
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Most iDevice repairs are not for amateurs... And the pros do it very well.

One time I needed a new screen on my iPhone. Looked into the repair, realized it was the kind of thing I was probably going to not have the level of success I wanted on the first try, so I took it to the store. I asked how quickly they could get it done if I had them do it, and the guy said "Seven minutes."

He actually completed it in FOUR MINUTES. :o :o :o

And it was perfect. Worth the $.
 
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