We’ve gotten our first look at the guts of the latest Apple hardware thanks to an iPad Mini 4 teardown that’s appeared online, and the new tablet from the Cupertino company is looking really familiar. But we don’t mean that in a bad way.
Repair-advise site iFixit has sacrificed one of the devices in the name of science and education, and its findings reveal that at its heart, the iPad Mini 4 is a smaller version of the upper-tier iPad Air 2. Here’s what the carnage revealed.
The speakers have gotten a similar redesign
Photo: iFixit
iFixit discovered that the dual rows of speaker holes in the Mini 3 are gone, and an Air 2-esque single row of larger outputs replaces them in the Mini 4. This is likely to make up for the newer model’s 18 percent reduction in thickness over the older one, and it just looks cleaner, anyway.
It has a fully laminated screen
The iPad Mini 4 teardown discovered that this new hardware shares the screen construction of the larger Air 2. It’s fully laminated, which means that the screen itself is fully attached to the surrounding glass. This makes it (slightly) less reflective and thinner, but as iFixit says, “it’s also more expensive to fix when you drop it.” That’s because you can’t just replace the glass; the display has to come out, too.
The cables for Touch ID and the display are integrated
Photo: iFixit
We’re not sure what this means for functionality, but it’s another thing that the Air 2 has and the Mini 3 doesn’t. Putting these two cables together is likely a space-saving measure, however.
The battery is smaller, thinner, and single-cell
The Air 2 sports a double-cell battery, and so does the Mini 3, but the Mini 4 stands alone with its single-cell, 19.1 watt-hour, lithium-polymer battery. The Mini 3’s battery has a 24.3 watt-hour capacity, and the Air 2’s boasts 27.2. But Apple claims that the new tablet will have the same 10-hour battery life as its predecessors.
It has antennae coming out of all sides
iFixit’s teardown mentions that the Mini 4’s antennae are all over the place. Their placements are split evenly between the top (like an Air) and the bottom (like a Mini). “This is probably a space-saving measure, but maybe this Mini is secretly a flounder,” iFixit says.
It has its older sibling’s eyes
Photo: iFixit
The Mini 4 has a better rear camera (8 megapixel) than its predecessor’s 5 MP model, but it has exactly the same number of megapixels available as the Air 2. They all have the 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera, however, and that’s probably all the resolution you’ll need to do Facetime.
Oh, what’s that, iPhone 6s? You have a 5 MP front camera? Well, that’s cool, I guess.
The super-technical stuff also lines up.
iFixit got deep into the Mini 4’s guts and pulled out the following details about the chips and processors running it:
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• Apple A8 Processor
• 2 GB LPDDR3 SDRAM
• SK Hynix H2JTDG8UD1BMR 16 GB flash
• NXP Semiconductors 65V10 near-field communication controller
• NXP Semiconductors LPC18B1UK (Apple M8 motion co-processor)
• Apple 338S1213 audio codec
• Universal Scientific Industrial 339S00045 Wi-Fi module.
• Broadcom BCM5976C1KUB6G touchscreen controller
• Texas Instruments 343S0583
And that’s a hell of a lot of numbers and tech-speak, but here’s what it means: The innards of the iPad Mini 4 are effectively the same as the ones inside the Air 2.
Long story short, if you’re looking to save $100, and you don’t mind a smaller screen, you’re going to get just as much power out of the Mini 4 as the Air 2. And you won’t even be missing out on the cool new features in iOS 9 like Multitasking, Picture in Picture, and Split View; Apple says it can handle those just fine.
Evan Killham is a freelance writer who lives in Nebraska and isn’t interested in football, so he has plenty of time to play and think about video games. He has written for Bitmob and GamesBeat and sometimes, he even goes outside. But not too often because he’s heard there are bees out there. Occasionally, companies send free units for review. Evan subscribes to Cult of Mac’s Reviews Policy and also does not keep the items he receives for possible coverage.
11 responses to “iPad Mini 4 teardown reveals a miniaturized Air 2”
Doesn’t Air 2 have A8X processor, with much better graphical performance than standard A8, and 2GB RAM?
That would make Air 2 a lot better, wouldn’t it?
Am I right? And if so, you should modify the article stating the differences, otherwise it would look sloppy and you would lose some credibility.
Respectfully, Denis G
The mini4 does have 2GB of RAM according to the teardown, but indeed the article is sloppy when it says “you’re going to get just as much power out of the Mini 4 as the Air 2” because of the weaker A8 processor vs. the A8X of the Air2. But I don’t expect the difference to be very noticeable.
Apple over-clocked the A8. I believe the graphics processor is the same as the Air 2 though.
I’d like to see some actual benchmarks as I’ve had mixed reports regarding performance of the iPad Mini 4. Personally, I want a device that I’ll be able to enjoy as long as possible. I got an original Mini for dirt cheap and after iOS 7 I’ve hated it. It might be due to RAM, but whatever it is, it’s barely usable at this stage…
You are correct – the original mini was quite peppy on iOS 6, but dragged on 7 and 8.
I just recieved my Mini 4 this morning and it has MUCH more pep than the Mini 2. Don’t get me wrong, the mini 2 is still a nice machine, but performance on the mini 4 is sooooo very smooth.
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Shouldn’t this article just be titled “the keynote didn’t lie” as that was basically verbatim what was said: “the mini 4 will be all the same components as an air 2 in the smaller form factor”
But its not the same components. The SOC in the Air 2 is MUCH more powerful.
“iPad Mini 4 teardown reveals a miniaturized Air 2”
Nice! But I hope they addressed the issue of the speaker vibration (and I bet they did). I love my Air 2, but it—and every Air 2 I’ve tried in several Apple Stores—makes the whole case vibrate when listening to audio. If you’re a fan of listening to music while, say, surfing, the Air 2’s thinness (or contact with the speakers, or whatever), makes it most annoying. If you wish to use the on-screen keyboard while listening to audio, you’re finger buzzes with every tap. And if you try to hold the Air 2 in your hand while showing someone a Youtube video, you’ll soon be looking for a way to put it down quickly. By comparison, my 1st Gen Mini has no vibration at all, and the sound is quite good.
I’ve heard all the arguments for using a Bluetooth speaker with an iPad, and that’s fine in many situations. But one should not •have• to use an external speaker to avoid vibration.
Here’s to the possibility of a problem solved with the new Mini.
“if you’re looking to save $100, and you don’t mind a smaller screen, you’re going to get just as much power out of the Mini 4 as the Air 2” – Evan Killham
Evan clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about and shame on CultofMac for not correcting him. The iPad Mini 4 is NOT as powerful as the iPad Air 2. Watch DetroitBorg’s video on yotube where he shows you the benchmark numbers.
I’m not saying benchmarks are the end all be all, but you still need to tell the truth in articles people will be reading before they purchase a product.
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