> The oddity is why is it as thick as the previous generation and where did the laminated screen go? Is that no longer needed or cost cutting?
Yes, it's cost cutting. They just made a 9.7" tablet available for just over $300, right in the iPad Mini's price segment.
Honestly, Apple is probably feeling some pressure from the Android market - lots of vendors have "good enough" tablets available in this price segment (Amazon, in particular) and I've been seeing the app selection slowly getting better over the past couple years. By putting the iPad with a full-size retina display just $55 above the 32GB Fire HD 10 they can likely get a decent chunk of people looking for a cheaper "big" tablet to justify the cost difference and go with the Apple device.
> Did notice the Mini is a 128g device where the larger iPad is a 32g. The iPad market is just to fragmented.
Either Apple wants to kill the Mini with this change or make it a premium-ish product where you pay more to get the smaller form factor. Either way, it's likely to be less popular now that there's a 9.7" device right in its price point so simplifying the device down to one SKU makes supply chain management a lot cleaner.
Yes, it's cost cutting. They just made a 9.7" tablet available for just over $300, right in the iPad Mini's price segment.
Honestly, Apple is probably feeling some pressure from the Android market - lots of vendors have "good enough" tablets available in this price segment (Amazon, in particular) and I've been seeing the app selection slowly getting better over the past couple years. By putting the iPad with a full-size retina display just $55 above the 32GB Fire HD 10 they can likely get a decent chunk of people looking for a cheaper "big" tablet to justify the cost difference and go with the Apple device.
> Did notice the Mini is a 128g device where the larger iPad is a 32g. The iPad market is just to fragmented.
Either Apple wants to kill the Mini with this change or make it a premium-ish product where you pay more to get the smaller form factor. Either way, it's likely to be less popular now that there's a 9.7" device right in its price point so simplifying the device down to one SKU makes supply chain management a lot cleaner.