The Apple iPad Mini 4 Review
by Brandon Chester on October 28, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Apple
- Mobile
- iPad Mini 4
Camera
When it was unveiled, Apple described the iPad Mini 4 as a small iPad Air 2. Although that isn't quite true for the performance, we've seen over the course of the review that it has held true for every other aspect of the device. The camera also follows this trend, as it's the exact same camera sensor and lens arrangement as the iPad Air 2. It's an 8MP 4:3 sensor with 1.1 micron pixels, an F/2.4 aperture, and a 3.3mm focal length. Josh previously took a look at this camera in his review of the Air 2, so I won't be doing a lengthy of commentary as it would be mostly redundant. However, since I end up doing the majority of tablet reviews for AnandTech I felt it was still worth putting it through my standard photo tests so it could be compared to other tablets available on the market that have come out since the iPad Air 2 launched last year.
I do have to apologize up front for having to use both fall and summer comparison shots. Many tablet OEMs don't allow us to keep samples indefinitely which means photos can't be updated as the seasons change. The only other option is to simply remove several devices from the comparison, which isn't a great solution either. As winter rolls around I'll be redoing my comparisons with the best phones and tablets I have on hand.
Ignoring the differences in the photo like the color of the leaves, the level of detail, sharpness, noise reduction, and other processing is essentially the same as what you'll get on the iPad Air 2. This isn't unexpected, as both the ISPs and the camera systems are literally identical in both tablets. The iPad Air 2 still has one of the best tablet cameras around too, so if you do like to use tablets for photography I don't think the Mini 4 will let you down in the daytime.
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Night time photo quality on the Mini 4 is also unchanged from the iPad Air 2. In fact, if you look at this photo and the iPad Air 2 one side by side you might think they were taken at different angles on the same device. Only the leaves on the ground give away the fact that the photos were taken at different times, and even then they still look like they could have been taken with the same camera. While I would hardly recommend that you take photos at night with your tablet, if there is ever a case where you need to do that the iPad Mini 4 definitely offers best in class image quality for low light tablet photos.
As for the video quality, it would be quite good if it wasn't for a literally glaring issue. For whatever reason, the Mini 4 has a high degree of lens flare whenever the sun or another light source is aimed at it. As you can see in the video above, any moment where I wasn't in the shade was one where there the video was basically impossible to watch due to the lens flare. It's worth noting that I took this video immediately after the one I took on the Tab S2 for its review, and the Tab S2 had almost no lens flare at all so it's not an issue that occurs on every device with those environmental conditions. Like I've said before, I'm not a tablet photographer, but it's still disappointing that this sort of issue could end up shipping. If you do need to take videos with your iPad Mini 4 just be sure to point it away from the sun.
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Speedfriend - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Any idea why this uses the 8 and not the A8X? Does that imply the chassis is not capable of dissipating the higher TDP of the A8X?michael2k - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
I imagine they would have needed a bigger battery to offset the performance cost of the faster GPU and additional CPU core. Throw in a bigger battery and you have to make the iPad a fractional bit thicker, maybe 0.7mm, and another 14g heavier.And throw those three changes (more expensive CPU, more expensive battery, heavier iPad) and you need to bump the cost up just slightly, reducing margins just slightly, on top of the changes in the display that already increase the cost, and it makes sense why they sacrificed performance slightly. This is especially true when the A8 is already and still class leading a year later.
ThomasS31 - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
This has nothing to do with cost... its just a decision to keep everything as thin and light as possible to appeal to the fans and consumers.Ivy said not long ago, they could make a thicker iphone to last longer (battery), but they do not want as it will not appeal as much to the consumers as the current thin phones.
Nothing to do with cost or price... just a decision, some of us like, and some of us not. :)
michael2k - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
None of the outward justification is cost, of course, but they have to hew to a budget like everything else in the world. They increased the cost of the SoC, the memory, the cameras, and the screen, as is. Throwing in the more expensive A8X, the battery for said A8X, and the thicker shell to support both means they would have, as you said, lose the design goal of thinner and lighter. So there would be three reasons to stick to the A8:1) Thinner
2) Lighter
3) Cheaper
GC2:CS - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Considering how energy efficient the Apple chips are, het deffinitelly isn't a problem.You has A8, even if a bit underclocked in an 6,1mm iPod touch. There it can almost perfectly sustain it's peak 1,1 Ghz CPU clock and GPU performance. iPad mini is just a much bigger device, there is more than enough room to dissipate heat, even if it would mean an A8X has to throotle a bit more aggressively than in Air 2.
A8X is a three billion transistor monster, it's big, it's pricey and since it's an X there is no stacked memory on it. That might be the reason - all iPad minis used PoP to save space and so I think that a possibility of an X chip in any iPad mini is quite small.
Also it uses a quite lot of power. If you look at that Gfx bench battery life test above, maybe Apple wanted to match them in terms of battery life under load.
And then while mini might be cappable of dissipating enough heat, Apple possibly didn't wanted the temperatures to go that high. iPad mini 4 is found to be rather cool running even under load.
But I doo agree that an A9 would be much better match. Even though it doesn't have 128-bit memory interface (What has it by the way ?) it bassically matches the performance of A8X, while being much smaller and lower powered, much more efficient than even A8.
Apple said that it's an shrunken down iPad Air 2. In terms of battery life, features, design, cameras display yes.
But with smaller size (and less matter to built a tablet from) there has to be compromise somewhere. Apple didn't matched the performance of Air 2, because it would require more advenced tech (A9) to do so in smaller device. But that would make it more advanced than an shrunken down Air 2 in terms of used tech. Bassically they built the best small tablet possible with let's say the same genertion of technology as iPad Air 2.
iPad mini 2 got smaller color gamut, iPad mini 4 got lower performance. And unless Apple invents a way to make those devices bigger from the inside, they can't defy physics.
Pneumothorax - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Here's the thing, the A9 would've been an easy drop in the Mini 4 and would've matched/exceeded the Air 2 in most benchmarks along with giving better battery life and much less heat. Apple is just being Apple - milking the cow for all it's worth.NetMage - Saturday, October 31, 2015 - link
The mini's considerable price drop versus the Air or phone means giving up something.Drumsticks - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
Thanks for the review. I always enjoy reading Anandtech reviews of Apple products. While I'm an Android/Microsoft guy (any hints on when to expect your 6P review? I'm sure it's a ways off but I'd love a hint!), I have a lot of respect for Apple's hardware engineering and SoC design teams. They do really, really great work, and it almost disappoints me that I dislike iOS (and to an extent, Apple. This is an opinion that is fully subjective and not looking to start a fight! There's plenty of reasons to like Apple).Apple has, for the last several years been a major driver of innovation in the whole industry, which is great. It's awesome to see (in my opinion) both Microsoft AND Google doing the same nowadays. All three of the big guys are driving the industry forward, and it's good for us all :D
amdwilliam1985 - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Same here, I recommend Apple products to others(my parents and my brother all use iPhones), but when it comes to personal device, I'll go with Android/Nexus, will be picking up a Nexus 6P soon, when it's available in Hong Kong.ps: Personally, I want to support Google/Alphabet, don't want to give my money to Apple and then have it sit in their bank doing nothing(besides earning interests ;). It's just a personal believe, I believe with great power comes great responsibilities(Apple should be doing more to help the [tech] world). Luckily, there are always companies like Google who pushes on with crazy projects like Project Loon, Project Fi, Project Soli, Project Jacquard and etc...
I watch Apple WWDC and Google IO live every year, Google's event is just so much more exciting and inspiring to the tech geek in me. Apple's show is more about how they are the best and if you can't join them, then you're a loser kind of show, lol.
Knowing my money helps Google to help improving the world/tech helps me sleep better at night, lol.
lucam - Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - link
The A8 is still a good decent Soc from what I can see and I have a suspicion that in the Apple TV for not having similar thermal constrains and no battery it can go even faster...