Apple iPad Mini 4 review

Last year's iPad Mini 3 wasn’t a bad tablet by any means, but it seemed expensive given that the only thing extra you got over the iPad Mini 2 was the TouchID sensor. This year Apple’s back on track with the iPad Mini 4, which improves on the previous generation small tablets in practically every way, delivering (largely) iPad Air 2 specs in a smaller body. 

Build quality

The one area that Apple can’t really make massive improvements in is build quality, as all previous products were so well designed and put together. This time it’s more of the same, with the iPad Mini 4 retaining its crown as the best-made mini tablet. Its aluminium body (available in gold, space grey and silver) looks fantastic, but gives that ruggedly reassuring feel that you just don’t get from the best plastic tablets.

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Apple has made a few little changes along the way. As with the iPad Air 2, the iPad Mini 4 no longer has the switch on the side, which could be set to toggle the screen rotation lock or silent mode. Given that rotation lock is in the swipe-up Control Centre menu in iOS and you can make the iPad silent by holding the volume down button, I don’t feel as though it’s a switch that I’ll particularly miss; in fact, I don’t miss it on the iPad Air 2.

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Apple has also redesigned the volume buttons on the side so that they sit inside a little hollow, rather than protruding from the tablet’s surface. This is, again, very similar to the button design on the iPad Air 2.

Moving from the iPad Mini 2/3, the iPad Mini 4 also has slightly different speaker grills at the bottom (one row of holes at the bottom, rather than stacked rows), and the size is now very slightly different: at 203x134x6.1mm the iPad Mini 4 is slightly taller and thinner than the iPad Mini 3 (200x135x7.5mm). In the hand, I have to say that there’s very little difference between the new model and the older models: it’s extremely comfortable to hold and use one-handed.

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Display

In use, there was nothing particularly wrong with the iPad Mini 2/3’s screen: it was bright and clear. But, put the older iPads next to a tablet with a better display, such as the iPad Air 2 and the differences became more obvious, with the iPad Mini losing out on colour accuracy and detail in images. The Expert Reviews colour calibration tests proved this, measuring that the iPad Mini 3 was only capable of displaying 67.1% of the sRGB colour gamut. This time around, Apple has used a brand-new IPS panel for its iPad Mini 4 and the results are brilliant. I found that the new display was considerably better, with the colour calibrator registering that the iPad Mini 4 was capable of producing 94.8% of the sRGB colour gamut. In real terms, it means more detail in photos and more accurate colours, and I certainly found that the new display was one of the best that I’ve used.

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Apple hasn’t touched resolution, with the new screen maintaining the same 2,048x1,536 resolution of the previous model. At 324ppi, it means that everything looks extremely sharp. I have to say that this improved screen makes a tangible difference to the product and it’s good to see that one slightly weaker area of previous models has been improved.

Performance and battery life

We’ve had two generations of iPad Mini using the same old A7 chip, but Apple has boosted the iPad Mini 4 with an A8 chip, the same as used in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Note that this is not the A8X chip, as used in the iPad Air 2, which has three cores and improved graphics performance. It’s also not the new A9 chip, as used in the iPhone 6S.

Still, the difference in performance from the previous generation is still very good. Running GeekBench 3, which measures processor performance, I found that the iPad Mini 3 scored 1694 in the single-core test and 3058 in the multi-core test; an improvement over the 1385 and 2485 respective scores of the iPad Mini 3. That also puts the iPad Mini 4 in good stead against its closest competition, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, which scored 1244 and 4182 - it's higher multi-threaded performance is because it has  quad-core processor.

Web performance was also exceptionally good, thanks to the combination of a slick browser (Safari), and efficient processor and operating system. Running the PeaceKeeper browser test, we got an exceptionally high score, showing that this tablet can easily cope with any website.

In the GFXBench Manhattan benchmark, the iPad Mini 4 scored 925 running at native resolution and 1330 in the 1080p offscreen test. It shows that it’s more than capable of running any existing game. Indeed, firing up Hearthstone, which is surprisingly graphically intense, the iPad Mini 4 ran the game beautifully.

Battery life from the 5,124mAh battery was also very good, with the tablet lasting for 10h 43m in our video playback test, with the screen set to a brightness of 170cd/m2. That’s a little over an hour more than from the iPad Mini 3, which is mostly down to a more efficient OS and processor.

iOS 9 

One of the advantages that Apple has is that it makes both the hardware and software, so iOS 9 is beautifully optimised to run on the iPad Mini 4. Every transition and animation is handled smoothly and there’s no sense of slow-down or jerkiness, which still creeps into Android products, even if they have faster processors on paper.

While my full iOS 9 review explains more about this new OS, it’s worth pointing out here that the iPad Mini 4 gets the new Split View mode, where you can run two apps side-by-side at the same time. It’s a great feature and means that you can honestly do a lot more with the tablet and OS, making it feel like a proper productivity tool.

Camera

Apple has installed an 8-megapixel camera in the iPad Mini 4, up from the 5-megapixel camera in the iPad Mini 3. It certainly means that there’s more detail in test shots. Outside, I’m pretty impressed with the camera. Outside, my test shots were well exposed with plenty of detail across all parts of the image, from the brightness of the sky to the darker parts in shadow.

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Inside and the camera’s limitations start to show up, with noise creeping into the image and colours becoming a lot more muted. There’s no flash on this model, so if it gets too dark you simply won’t be able to take any shots. Given that most people will have a smartphone with them that's not a problem; what's important is that you can take some pretty good shots with this tablet outside when you need to.

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There’s the usual range of options we’ve come to expect from Apple devices, including Panoramas, 1080p video and 120fps slow-motion at a resolution of 1,280x720. Video, as with images works best outside where there’s lots of natural light, but suffers a little inside from image noise.

TouchID

As with the iPad Mini 3, this new tablet also has the TouchID fingerprint reader, which is becoming a more and more important part of iOS. For starters, it gives you a quicker way of logging into your iPad, rather than having to type in a six-digit code (the default code length for iOS 9). It's also being used by more and more apps, such as for logging into your Amazon account. Finally, you can use it to authorise Apple Pay payments in-app, which saves having to type your credit card details in.

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Storage

There’s no memory card slot, as is normal for Apple, so you need to buy the model with the right amount of storage for you. The entry level model has just 16GB of storage (£319), which isn’t really enough. Next up is the 64GB model (£399), which is the one that most people will buy; at the top is a 128GB version (£479). It’s a shame that 32GB isn’t available as the entry-level option.

Wi-Fi and 4G

As with previous generations, you get a choice of Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi+Cellular models. The first has 802.11ac Wi-Fi for fast wireless connections, which you’ll notice if you’ve got an 802.11ac router and a quick internet connection when you’re downloading apps or large files, such as films. If you pay the extra £100 for the Cellular model, you also get a built-in 4G receiver, so that you can also get online when you like.

You can fit any standard microSIM, although the iPad Mini 4 comes with an Apple SIM built-in. I have to say that this such a brilliant idea, as the Apple SIM can connect to any supporting cellular network, letting you buy the data plan that’s the best value for what you need now, and then letting you change to a different provider later. It’s still a little disappointing that EE is the only major UK carrier to support the service, but the range of price plans it has at least means you can get the data you need for a decent price. There’s no GigSky, which provides mobile roaming data, so you can get online wherever you are. It’s no particularly cheap, though: it charges £8 for 75MB of data in the UK; it’s just £5 for 300MB for 30 days with EE 

Conclusion

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After the slightly disappointing iPad Mini 3, Apple is back on form with the iPad Mini 4, which is hands-down the best small tablet that you can buy. If you're looking for a bit of a bargain, the iPad Mini 2 is still available. It's screen's not as good, there's no TouchID and it's a little slower, but it's great value at £259 for the 32GB version. There's also the similar-sized Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0, which is the only Android to come close to the iPad Mini 4, although it's a touch slower and the build quality isn't as good. If you're looking for something a little larger, check out our Best Tablet 2015 round-up.