Also, this is an LCD screen. The substrate is rigid. An OLED, like on the iPhone is on a flexible substrate and can be bent at the edges to connect to the circuit board. That lets you put the screen closer to the edge.
There are no LCD panels in recent phones that use COG packaging (chip-on-glass) for the display driver and run into the limitation you mentioned. Almost all current LCD phones will utitlize COF (chip-on-film) where the TFT array is attached to a flex-pcb which also contains the display driver.
You can achieve bezels just as thin or thinner using this technique, and Apple has used the technique you mention only once, COF is used even on flexible OLED panels.
If you've ever used a device with edge-to-edge, you know you have to hold it like a diva with 10-inch nails—it is neither comfortable nor effective.
In my opinion, the industry's trend towards smaller-and-smaller bezels has made it MORE difficult to interact with them than the advances gained by having a few millimeters larger screens.
Leave the bezels alone, bud
- opening some app that recently used location services
Or worse
- making whatever app I'm in jump to the top of its page with no way to get back to where I was short of doing a load of scrolling
The only complaint I have with it is that it only supports one profile but I think that applies to all ipads
My single use case is reading research papers. I also do that on pc but the ipad mini is great to take a paper and read it entirely without distractions and with the ability to take handwritten notes. That was a nice combo with the lab couch when I was in PhD. Also the fact it can be held in one hand, especially nice when presenting or walking.
Best tablet I’ve owned. Genshin Impact uses a huge amount of space, though.
Bigger is not always better, but it’s almost always costlier and less convenient.
I really wanted something that'more Kindle-sized, which the iPad mini seems to be, which is the perfect form factor for one handed usability.
without jobs it's just a matter of time they go back to being "just an expensive dell" like before
Currently they have Tim Cook at the helm whi is good at continuing Job's vision as the two worked very close for a long time, so the big question is what happens after Cook leaves.
Google has only been around for 26 years, Gmail for 20. I agree they have reached the villain arc but I disagree with the timeline.
That very behavior was troublesome for Apple in the past, twice.
Two times Steve Jobs swooped in and saved Apple from Dell-ifying themselves. Twice.
Since Job's demise, Apple has relentlessly marched toward Dellification once more. The immediate revenue is tantalizing, it's the dilution of ones own market that ends up killing the golden goose, and the eggs they lay.
The one overarching success of the Tim Cook era is ruthlessly pursuing consumer lock in at all costs.
I mean please just look at their product pages on apple.com.
So you have somewhere to actually hold the bloody thing.
Bezelless gadgets look great in photos but are impractical as fuck to handle.
In reality this may be to (1) to keep costs down and (2) to distance the iPad mini from the more premium iPhone Pro Max.
All in all, this device leaves me wondering who this is for? iPads are mostly used for media consumption, no matter how Apple wants to position them. Not sure why this necessitates AI hardware, but perhaps people really start using iPads for productivity/creativity workloads that can make use of “Apple Intelligence” (the silliest moniker since “Spatial Computing” and “Retina Display”).
The comparatively small difference in screen real estate between an iPhone Pro Max and the iPad mini makes the latter rather pointless. Perhaps they are targeting people with a smaller iPhone who want another device to watch YouTube. What could have made a difference is a folding display. I think the iPad mini would have been the ideal candidate for that.
Hi, it me.
I have an iPhone 13 Mini that will have to be pried from my cold dead hands because it's about as big a phone as I'm willing to carry (I'd still rather have the 5s form factor.)
I also have an iPad Mini that supplements it perfectly.
Really don't want anything larger, because I like to handle it with one hand while walking or I'm propping it up in a tight space like when I'm watching a how-to video while doing a home-improvement project or working on my car.
There is absolutely no way I'd buy a phone as gigantic as a Max.
Honestly not sure how people walk around with those things.
It's not gigantic for everyone to be fair. I'm 6′1″ with largish hands I suppose and the Max is a single hand device for me. Small devices look comical in my hands. I was one of those very well served by Apple starting to make larger devices, and it's when I shifted over from Android full time to iOS devices. (I was very fond of the early generation Galaxy Note devices prior to that.)
> Honestly not sure how people walk around with those things.
The same way as I do anything of that size. It goes in my pocket or i'm holding it?
I get where you are coming from those because my partner has a much smaller 13 line device and we've done some basic testing and like you, shifting to a Max sized device...well, its just not very likely. My phone looks absolutely jumbo once you put it in her teeny hands.
I think preference probably plays a bigger role than size. I see a lot of tiny people manhandling pros and maxes too.
At the time, many Apple users claimed no one wanted larger phones and that Apple’s size was perfect. I disagreed and voted with my wallet. For me, there are no downsides to a larger device—I can still use it one-handed, it fits in my pockets, and going smaller wouldn’t make it any more portable or usable.
For others, it’s the opposite. A smaller phone may be easier to handle or fit better in pockets or everyday carry. So I agree there should be different sizes to meet different needs, including smaller options if the market supports them. Among my circle, smaller phones tend to be the preference for those who primarily use their device for calls and texts. Anything beyond that, like browsing, moves to a tablet. These people are generally in their mid-30s to mid-40s.
Interestingly, the ‘non-techy’ people I know with larger phones say it’s because they use a popsocket or view their phone more as a computer than a phone. They’re willing to trade off size for a bigger screen. Many of them don’t own another personal computing device, aside from maybe a tablet. They’re typically in their 20s to 30s.
I feel like I’m part of a shrinking group that still uses both a laptop and a desktop as my primary computing environments.
and so I've been a little disappointed with how these devices keep getting bigger and bigger. I was pretty happy with the size of the Pixel 3
I think I like to be able to access the whole screen comfortably with one hand, not fumbling it about. easy to manipulate, easy to pocket. the Pixel 8 shrunk a bit over its predecessors so I nabbed that, and it's probably at or just over the limit for me, size wise
Why do I need to carry around a huge screen to text, make phone calls and take pictures?
Everything you said about large hands rings true for small hands and the mini form factor, but instead of just looking silly it's a hinderance.
We need both form factors. What I don't think we need is the weird middle size (current regular iPhone size), but I'm sure that's probably the one most people actually want if they could only pick one.
Due to the aspect ratios, there are significant differences in viewable area. It is not a "small" difference at all. Once you add in the ability to deal with specific aspect ratio content, the difference becomes even larger.
https://displaywars.com/6,9-inch-d%7B19,5x9%7D-vs-8,3-inch-d...
> All in all, this device leaves me wondering who this is for?
Not for everyone I would suggest. But I have people in my circle who will be very pleased. As they use a Mini as their phone/portable machine out of the house. They have little keyboard cases and use VOIP services for communication.
> but perhaps people really start using iPads for productivity/creativity workloads
Part of the appeal for most people is the seamless usage of features and functionalities across their sweet of products. People expect to be able to pick up where they left of, and have access to the same functionality as they largely do on the rest of the devices.
It's nice even if something is not your primary productivity device, to be able to execute or perform things on them if that's what happens to be in front of you at the time.
While the linear diagonal size of the screens are not so much different, the area of the iPad Mini is significantly larger. I ran the numbers a month or so on it when someone was making the same claim of equivalence. I don’t recall the specifics now but I think the iPad screen had at least 60% more area. That is significant.
“ Not sure why this necessitates AI hardware”
It would be hard for Apple to put in a chipset now that didn’t support AI. All of their SOCs for the past 10 years have had neural processors. This A17 Pro has 8GB of RAM. All of their recent SOCs have the 8GB of RAM needed to run AI. Why not?
Who is any iPad for? They’re nice screens attached to good processors.
I bring mine to work to either read or watch videos over my lunch break. Don’t want the full size of a regular iPad. Don’t want to use my work laptop with my personal service accounts like YouTube, Netflix, kindle, etc.
And while the Mini is small, it’s still a substantial screen size increase over using my regular sized iPhone for that purpose.
Edit: For the non-pilots reading this, it's also worth noting that the most popular flying app by far for general aviation at least, ForeFlight, is iOS only. So your choices are generally small iPad or big iPad, and a lot of people don't like big iPad in a small airplane cockpit.
I know children who study with their iPad minis and prefer them over notebooks. This isn’t necessarily a pro-Apple statement, but rather a reflection on how different user groups may engage with devices in ways that are cognitively distinct from what we discuss here on HN.
There are also comments here about specific use cases, like pilots using tools such as ForeFlight. While this kind of usage may not drive overall demand, it highlights how certain groups find unique value in the iPad mini for their specialized needs.
You know, you could just read all the other comments on this post talking about why they like the mini.
New Siri and iOS notification summaries seem like it should be enough of a reason for apple to want to ship an iPad with ai hardware.
You mean the dedicated neural chip they've been gushing over for half a decade saying how it's an amazing dedicated chip for exactly this kind of work?
Regardless of how justified that decision is, or how truthful the marketing about their old chip was, they need an iPad mini that fits their stated requirements.
I dunno, every Boomer guy I know with disposable income seems to have settled into Big iPad, iPad mini and iPhone as their compute stack.
I think for them it's like desk/table computer (Big iPad), sofa computer (iPad mini), out&about computer (iPhone).
I know guys like this who haven't even really owned a computer-computer (MacBook or otherwise) for 5+ years.
It's $499 USD. And if it's like the previous gen it will be on sale for $399 in a year or so.
Give me somewhere to hold the thing!
It's probably just that though. If the bezels were smaller, the device would be too close to an iPhone size and cannibalize sales.
How else were they supposed to make room for the extra 4GB of RAM required to support Apple Intelligence?
While manufacturers can theoretically produce custom-sized LCD panels, it's more economical and efficient to stick to standard sizes that align with their production lines. Producing custom-sized panels can involve retooling. Choosing a standard size also ensures greater availability.
For a low cost product, I don't see why Apple would mess around with LCD sizes.
Still, this is just a guess. Only Apple knows for sure.
I don’t know why we put up with this regression in technology.
Is it a cost saving measure / sneaky margin increaser, or what might be the motivation?
Edit:
Touch interference is a good idea. Still, from the picture, it looks like the bezel could be half as thick and work well. Sorry to be such a stickler, I am genuinely curious if Apple is chasing better margins, the best feasible UX, or something else.
Could it be that since this device is only $650 USD, it isn't expensive enough to warrant a premium display? (Like the iPhone SE https://www.apple.com/iphone-se/)
If so, I wish there was a fancier "Pro" model with premium components. IIRC, I paid $1000 for my first iPad, it was the first super high-resolution one back in 2012. Perhaps there aren't enough customers who are sensitive to wasted screen real estate on an 8-inch device.. and FWIW I have noticed a constant stream of toddlers pacified by iPad Minis whenever I'm at Costco.