Android tablets simply can’t beat the iPad Mini. Here’s why

I’ve been a proud and vociferous Android fan because the Nexus One…however there’s an iPad sitting on my desk, not an Android pill. Apple has persistently and reliably crushed the pants off the competitors in the case of tablets, to the purpose that solely Samsung competes on the excessive finish. However in the case of a smaller, high-quality pill, not even Samsung needs to tackle the mighty iPad Mini.

And that’s a disgrace. There’s a marketplace for smaller, high-end tablets, one thing that’s extra comfy to carry and skim for longer intervals of time than a 10-inch or 12-inch display screen. However the iPad Mini is so good, or maybe simply sells so nicely, that each competitor thinks it’s a waste of time to attempt to take a shot at it. They usually’re in all probability proper.

I ought to know, I’ve appeared — the iPad Mini simply bought a seventh-gen refresh, after being unchanged for 3 years. In that point I didn’t discover a single various for an 8- or 9-inch Android pill in the identical high-end class. There are a couple of various factors at play right here, so let’s look at them.

Who’s afraid of the large dangerous little pill?

One, should you’re wading into the waters of a smaller pill, you’re additionally going to be competing with cheaper tablets. The iPad Mini begins at $500 retail (going as much as a whopping $950 for all of the bells and whistles!), however on paper, yow will discover one thing very comparable on the Android facet of issues for round $150 or much less should you deal hunt. And I’m not speaking no-name manufacturers right here — Samsung and Lenovo each have choices on this class, to say nothing of the Amazon Hearth sequence, which might be probably the most well-known after the iPad.

Lenovo

Lenovo

Lenovo

That could be a crowded and contentious market, for margins which can be very low. So attempting to make a small Android pill that’s both an excellent deal, or aggressive with the iPad Mini by way of high quality, is placing your self between a rock and a tough place.

It’s been tried earlier than. As an Android reporter and reviewer I bear in mind a slew of tablets just like the second-gen Nexus 7, the LG G Pad (which additionally got here in a pleasant Google-fied package deal), and Samsung’s smaller Tab and Word designs. Unsurprisingly, all of those traces have fizzled out. Clients both went greater with one thing like a Galaxy S pill (with its very good OLED screens!), cheaper with an Amazon or comparable design, or simply went with the iPad.

LG

LG

LG

In order that’s the value issue. However there’s one other angle that makes promoting a smaller, high-end Android pill daunting: you’re preventing on type issue, too.

Over the previous couple of years I’ve tried to discover a high-end telephone below 6 inches for my sister. It’s rattling close to inconceivable, particularly within the American market. Telephones have gotten completely large, to the purpose that an 7- or 8-inch pill simply doesn’t make sense when even finances smartphones begin within the 6.5-inch vary and get greater.

And that’s simply in one thing that’s comparable in measurement. Personally, I’ve virtually utterly deserted the pill type issue since getting a Galaxy Z Fold 6. Positive, its unfolded display screen isn’t fairly as huge as an iPad Mini…however I can carry it in my pocket with out the necessity for an additional bag, and I don’t have to get a second information connection or tether to my telephone.

Michael Crider/Foundry

Michael Crider/Foundry

Michael Crider/Foundry

Smaller tablets are being bombarded from each the finances and high-end facet of the smartphone market. It looks like solely Apple could make a high-end mannequin work — everybody else is caught promoting finances fashions for teenagers or different area of interest purposes, like industrial POS administration.

However regardless of my doom and gloom, you do have a few choices past Apple if you would like one thing higher than an Amazon Hearth at this measurement.

“Gaming tablets”

There are a only a few small pill fashions that try to be higher than a finances design, they usually’re additionally aiming for a distinct segment: players. Lenovo’s Legion Tab is an 8.8-inch Android-powered pill meant to be comfy held for lengthy cell gaming periods. However even should you’re not a gamer, its high-quality 144hz display screen, Snapdragon 8+ processor, and twin stereo audio system are a lower above the competitors.

Sadly Lenovo appears to have run into the identical drawback as everybody else. Although the Legion Tab is on its second technology, it doesn’t appear to have been up to date since 2023, and Lenovo isn’t even promoting it on its on-line retailer. From what I can inform it by no means even got here to the US market. You will discover the Y700 mannequin on locations like AliExpress or different import outlets for somewhat below $300, or way more from a third-party store on Walmart.

Razer made considered one of these Snapdragon-powered gaming tablets too, although at 6.8 inches, the Edge is far nearer to a telephone than a pill (you’ll be able to even purchase it proper from Verizon with a 5G radio). It’s additionally on the expensive facet at $400, although it does include a really good Kishi cell controller. However once more, should you’re getting a pill that small, odds are fairly good you can get an identical expertise along with your telephone by simply including the controller on high.

I can’t assist however suppose these gaming tablets are going through their very own type issue crunch, between competitors from normal telephones and new moveable gaming gadgets, each Android and PC-powered, to say nothing of Nintendo’s 800-pound Change gorilla. (That’s 800 kilos in a figurative, market share sense — the actual factor is somewhat lighter.)

Okay, your choices within the “gaming” space are fairly slim, and barely higher than a finances pill. However what about…

E-readers

Should you’re on the lookout for a smaller pill, odds are you need one which’s comfortable in a single hand, and which may imply you’re seeking to learn for lengthy intervals of time. Whereas small, high-end tablets are apparently a dying area of interest, there’s been an explosion within the space of high-quality e-readers. Because of extra accessible E-ink screens, tons of corporations are stepping as much as problem Amazon’s Kindle, with colour besides…they usually’re doing it with Android-powered tablets.

The Boox Tab Mini C is my decide right here. At 7.8 inches with a extra square-ish 1872 x 1404 display screen, it’s fairly just like the iPad Mini by way of each measurement and in-the-hand expertise. And regardless of utilizing an e-paper show, it’s a pill, not likely a reader. The Kaleido colour display screen and comparatively excessive refresh make it greater than able to dealing with internet shopping and e mail along with books and comics. It’s additionally quite a bit simpler in your eyes (actually) for lengthy intervals of use. Entrance lighting makes it purposeful, if not splendid, in the dead of night.

There are some compromises, although. Whereas Boox makes use of Android software program, it’s working on a virtually historic Android 11 construct with loads of customization. You get entry to the Google Play Retailer, however count on loads of quirks from third-party apps. The display screen’s very low refresh signifies that video is all however unwatchable, and any video games extra action-packed than checkers are a no-go.

So yeah, it’s a significantly better reader than the iPad Mini, however not a greater all-around pill. And if that’s what you’re after on this $350 value vary, you is perhaps extra comfy with a Kindle Paperwhite, warts and all. (The warts on this case are a black-and-white display screen and no entry to third-party apps.) The Kobo Libra Color is an efficient center floor between the 2, providing much less restrictive entry to extra books and comics, however not wide-open Android app entry.

Even Apple can’t do that perpetually

I ought to level out that even because the de facto normal for a small, high-end pill, Apple has made some compromises. I discussed that the iPad Mini went three years with out an replace, however even the brand new mannequin isn’t what followers actually wished. It’s working on the identical A17 Professional chip because the iPhone 15…however not the M-series chip that the iPad Air and iPad Professional upgraded to years in the past. Macworld referred to as it a “minor replace” for an already-dated design.

So even Apple thinks this $500 pill can get by simply high-quality on cell {hardware}, and doesn’t get entry to a number of the extra spectacular multi-tasking capabilities that the large boys do. That makes the iPad Mini uncomfortably near the usual iPad ($350) in functionality, to say nothing of value and appears. Even in Apple’s personal lineup, the iPad Mini is being squeezed from above and under.

At this level I’m tempted to make a plea to Samsung to offer the small, high-end pill class one other swing. I’ve fond reminiscences of the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 from 2014, one of many few small tablets with an OLED display screen, a concentrate on multi-tasking, and nice accent help. I’d point out Google too, if needs have been horses.

However having laid out the realities of the pill market in the intervening time, the reality is that I absolutely perceive why nobody is keen to compete right here. If even Apple doesn’t imagine in small tablets sufficient to supply up its finest {hardware}, then there’s no level in chasing this specific waterfall. What a disgrace.