All good things must come to an end eventually, but the manner in which that happens also varies from case to case. Take the iPad mini for example – when it first rolled out, it proved to be quite the hit, delivering all that the regular sized iPad could, apart from the very simple fact in which its name conveys – the iPad mini is smaller, so much so that carrying it with just a single hand is not too much of an issue at all. Of course, it has lasted a year or so before an updated version with a Retina display was revealed, but recent whispers of a larger 12.2” iPad Pro started to make its way, also citing that the release of the iPad Pro would signal the demise of the iPad mini.
Perhaps Apple might have mulled over the possibility of the 5.5” iPhone 6 Plus actually cannibalizing sales of the the iPad mini, not to mention whispers of the iPad mini sales figures being far from impressive or growing. While Apple does not share the specific breakdown of their sales figures, we do know that the entire iPad sales in the recent fiscal fourth quarter report saw a decline to 12.3 million from 14.1 million in the previous year. As to whether the iPad mini played a role in that, we do not know for sure.
Do you think that the latest rumor of the iPad Pro being released would also mean the end of the iPad mini in the market, as the latter goes the way of the iPod Classic? Only time will tell – but there will always be a market for smaller sized tablets, as evident by the explosive growth of smaller sized tablets which run on the Android operating system.