Is it worth upgrading to the iPad Mini 3?

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Last night Apple announced then ew iPad Mini 3 – an upgrade to last year’s iPad Mini 2 (or “iPad Mini with retina” to give it the proper title) and it left many commentators scratching their heads. Sure, it looks very shiny but… its awfully similar to last year isn’t it?

ipadmini3

The differences are few and far between: Essentially the only changes are TouchID instead of a home button – bringing it in line with the latest iPhones and iPad Air 2, and the addition of a digital compass and iBeacon microlocation tracker to the insides.

Storage options are now 16, 64 or 128GB instead of 16, 32, and 64GB.

Other than that… everything is the same. The screen is identical, the cameras are identical, the dimensions are identical and perhaps crucially the processor is the same. It means no performance boost. It’s the same damn tablet, dressed up as something new.

So if you’re thinking of upgrading from last year’s iPad Mini 2… it almost certainly isn’t worth the bother. If you’re thinking of upgrading from an older model then unless you can’t live without TouchID (unlikely) then why not buy the newly cut price iPad Mini 2? Last night Apple shaved $100 off of the price – so you’d get almost the same thing at a big discount.

James O’Malley
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