Apple iPad mini 4

Farewell, iPad mini 3, we hardly knew ye. Casually announced at the end of Apple's iPad Pro presentation, the iPad mini 4 replaces last year's mini 3 as the company's high-end small-screen tablet. The iPad mini 4 is a lot like its predecessor in many ways, save for some key hardware upgrades that make it feel faster. It's a great small tablet that runs smoothly, with a fantastic app experience and a premium feel—but it's hard to justify the $399 base price (for the 16GB model) when you can buy the still-solid iPad mini 2 for $269.

Design and Pricing
Available in gold, silver, or space gray, the iPad mini 4 is just about identical to the iPad mini 3, except a bit thinner and lighter. It measures 8 by 5.3 by 0.24 inches (HWD) to the iPad mini 3's 8 by 5.3 by 0.29 inches. And the new mini 4 weighs just 10.4 ounces compared with the mini 3's 11.7 ounces, making it even more comfortable to hold on your daily commute.

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There are no drastic changes to the display—it's still the same 7.9-inch, 2,048-by-1,536-pixel IPS LCD panel that you'll find on the iPad mini 3 and the iPad mini 2. One key difference is that the screen is now laminated, so the air gap between the display and the glass has been removed, like the iPad Air 2, which greatly decreases glare. Indeed, reading on the iPad mini 4 is a much better experience than with its siblings, though it's still not as good as an E Ink display for reading a book—especially outdoors. The screen is bright and vibrant, though not quite as saturated as the 2,048-by-1,536 Super AMOLED panel on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2.

Like last year's model, the iPad mini 4 includes TouchID and Apple SIM. Touch ID is Apple's fast and accurate fingerprint sensor that lets you log in quickly and make payments securely without passwords. Apple SIM lets you use one SIM card regardless of the carrier you use for cellular data—a boon for frequent travelers abroad.

The tablet starts at $399 for the 16GB Wi-Fi-only model, and goes up to $499 and $599 for the 64GB and 128GB models. There's also a cellular option, which starts at $529 for the 16GB model. We tested the gold 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model which sells for $729.

Performance and iOS 9
Internally, the mini 4's specs are similar to those of the iPad Air 2. You get 2GB of RAM, up from the iPad mini 3's 1GB, and Apple's A8 dual-core processor, which is the same chip found in the iPhone 6 (not the tri-core A8X chip of the iPad Air 2). This is all to make iOS 9 run more smoothly here than on previous iPad minis.

And the iPad mini 4 does run smoothly, for the most part. On the Geekbench processor benchmark test, the mini 4 achieved a single-core score of 1,716 and a multi-core score of 3,116. Impressive, but the iPad Air 2 is  more capable with a 1,833 single-core and a 4,596 multi-core score. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0, for comparison, which is powered by an octa-core Exynos processor, scored 1,225 (single-core) and 4,309 (multi-core).

The iPad Air 2's A8X chip seems to make a bit of a difference with iOS 9. I experienced some slight lag while sifting through several open apps on the iPad mini 4, that I didn't see with the iPad Air 2. The iPhone 6 with the same chip and iOS 9 installed, didn't show any lag either. It's likely due to the iPhone's smaller screen and lower resolution. In my testing, this was the only instance where I noticed any lag.

The iPad mini 3, which is powered by the same A7 processor as the iPad mini 2, scored 1,356 (single-core) and 2,449 (multi-core) on the Geekbench test. iOS 9 runs quite smoothly, if not just as smooth as on the iPad mini 4.

You get Apple's latest iOS 9 on the iPad mini 4 right out of the box. One of the marquee features is improved multitasking. To use the multitasking feature, in an app, you must swipe left from the edge of the screen, and you'll get a scrollable app tray. Tap the second app you want to open and it will appear on the left side of the screen. 

While split-screen multitasking on the iPad mini 4 is a welcome addition, it's not quite as sophisticated as the multi-window (not just split-screen) capabilities of the Galaxy Tab S2, which is capable of switching between six windows. Of course, things can get messy when you open that many windows on an 8-inch screen, but it can be useful to open three or four. That said, iOS 9's multitasking capabilities are certainly a boon for productivity-minded users, though you'd likely be better served by the 9.7-inch screen on the iPad Air 2 or the forthcoming 12.9-inch iPad Pro and Apple Pencil stylus. For more on iOS 9's new features and capabilities, see our full review.

Apple claims the iPad mini 4 can last up to 10 hours on a single battery charge when connected to Wi-Fi. Our battery test streams a full-screen video over Wi-Fi on 80 percent screen brightness, and the iPad mini 4 lasted for 5 hours and 15 minutes. Not quite as long as Apple claims, but in line with other small-screen tablets. The 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 lasted 5 hours, 33 minutes, while the Asus ZenPad S 8.0 (Z580CA), also 8 inches, only saw 4 hours and 16 minutes. The iPad mini 3 and the iPad Air 2 lasted for 5 hours, 45 minutes, and 5 hours, 15 minutes, respectively. The iPad mini 4 features 802.11ac Wi-Fi with MIMO support, and performed admirably on our networking tests. 

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The iPad mini 4 also gets a camera upgrade. The same fantastic 8-megapixel camera that's in the iPad Air 2 is here, and marks a significant upgrade from the 5MP camera on the iPad mini 3. If you take a lot of pictures on your tablet, you won't be disappointed—it's quick to focus and takes clear, vibrant shots. HDR mode works well, so you can take balanced exposures without blowing out details like the sky. Low-light performance will still result in grainier images than your iPhone, but overall this is a solid tablet camera. The front-facing camera uses the same 1.2MP sensor found on the iPad mini 3, and is perfectly acceptable for clear video calls.

Comparisons and Conclusions
The iPad mini 4 is an excellent choice in a category that's slowly being replaced by larger phones like the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus and the 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 5. Starting at $399, the mini 4 attempts to warrant its hefty price tag with a high-quality screen, a premium build, and Apple's unbeatable app selection. And it mostly succeeds. That said, the iPad mini 2 is still available at a considerable discount, and while it won't run iOS 9 with quite the same smoothness, it's still an attractive option when you consider what you actually do with a tablet: browse the Web, watch movies, answer emails, and maybe play some games. For most people it's a better choice.

If you want a slate that will truly run iOS 9 like butter, you're better off with the Editors' Choice iPad Air 2, which has a faster processor for smoother performance, and more screen real estate for split-screen multitasking. And if you're focused on productivity, the Editors' Choice Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 is a better option thanks to its multi-window multitasking.