Apple iPad Mini 4 vs iPad Mini 3 vs iPad Mini 2: What's The Difference?

By Vijaykumar Meti

| Updated: Monday, September 21, 2015, 17:52 [IST]

After much speculations and rumors, Apple finally announced the fourth generation mini variant of iPad alongside the biggest ever iPad - the iPad Pro featuring 12.9 inch display, earlier this month.

During the unveiling of iPad mini 4, Apple did talk about its specifications and features. The iPad ‘mini' series comfortably sits between the iPhones, and the iPad Air. The compact iPad, however, promises powerful specs and beautiful design, to cater to those who want a rather handy iPad variant.

The new iPad Mini 4 comes with a better camera and a slightly improved hardware. To give a better perspective on the newly launched iPad Mini 4 we have compared it with the iPad Mini 3 and iPad Mini 2. Take a look at the slider below to know the difference.

Design

The iPad Mini 4 retains the same design of older iPad Mini. The newer iPad Mini is now 18 percent of thinner and 10 percent lighter than the iPad Mini 2. It can be said that iPad Mini 4 looks a shrunken down version of iPad Air 2 and is arguably thinner at 6.1mm compared to 7.5 thickness of iPad Mini 2.

Display

The iPad Mini 4 is the first of its kind to sport a laminated display and matches the size and native resolution of its predecessors. The laminated display brings some improvements to color reproduction as well as brightness levels.

Performance

The iPad Mini 4 is powered by Apple A8 chip with 64-bit architecture and M8 motion processor paired with 2GB or RAM. This is the same chipset that is powering the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. The company claims that iPad Mini 4 is 1.3 times faster CPU and 1.7 times faster GPU than its predecessor.

Camera

Apple has made major changes in the camera department. The iPad Mini 4 features the same camera optics of the iPad Air 2. It comes with an 8 megapixel iSight camera with back illuminated sensor and autofocus as well as a Facetime camera on the front. Apple claims that the new iSigth camera is capable of shooing in burst mode. While, the iPad Mini 2 features a 5 megapixel iSight rear camera and a 1.2 Fcetime front camera.

Battery Life

It is no surprise that, iPad Mini 4 offers exactly the same battery life as the iPad Mini 3 and iPad Mini 2. It offers up to 10 hours of battery life surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching videos, or listening to music. While, on cellular data network it offers up to 9 hours of surfing the web.

Surprisingly, Apple has maintained to provide the same battery life while reducing the capacity of the battery. The iPad Mini 4 packs a 5124mAh battery, but the iPad Mini 3 and Mini 2 were packed with bigger 6471mAh battery.

Touch ID

Apple brings in the Touch ID to iPad Mini 3, but Apple discontinued the Mini 3. Now, the iPad Mini 4 also features the same Touch ID.

Split Screen

The iPad Mini 4 is the only tablet of its kind to support split screen and picture in picture mode, that is introduced in iOS 9.

Verdict

Apple came up with the range of update to its iPad Mini 4 over its predecessor and gave an excellent portable tablet. Well, the iPad Mini 4 is a positive step forward for the Mini lineup.