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Apple's iPad mini 4 gets the teardown treatment, turns out there's a smaller battery in it as well

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By Peter Kostadinov

Updated: Sep 18, 2015, 4:01 AM

Apple's iPad mini 4 gets the teardown treatment, turns out there's a smaller battery in it as well

To say that the new iPad mini 4 got its fair share of spotlight time during Apple's latest keynote event will be a serious overstatement. The new member of Apple's small-sized iPad was only treated to merely 30 seconds of on-stage time. The reason for this were the iPad Pro, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, which were the true stars of the show.

We already knew it has an 1.5GHz Apple A8 chipset inside, which is aided by 2GB of RAM, but thanks to a recent iFixit teardown, other tidbits of info became clear. For one, it was revealed that the iPad mini 4 has a smaller battery than its predecessor. Whereas the iPad mini 3 hauled a two-cell 6,471mAh battery inside, its successor comes with a thinner, single-cell 5,124mAh one.

Despite the stark difference in the capacity department, Apple claims that the downgrade hasn't had a detrimental effect on the battery life of the new slate. In fact, Apple claims an endurance of 10 hours for the iPad mini 4, which is the same as the official stamina stats of the iPad mini 3.

Additionally, the teardown revealed that the new slate has "stolen" a few features of its larger peers, like the fully-laminated screen. Some additional changes over the past generation are antennas that are split between the top and the bottom part of the device. The display and the glass on top of it are now fused to one another, making display changes a cumbersome task.

As a result, iFixit awards the new munchkin with a repairability score of 2 out of 10 points, which is not that great. Still, the device is praised for its easily-interchangeable battery, but criticized for the hard to replace display. Check out the insides of the device below.

source: iFixit via MacRumors

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Peter, an experienced tech enthusiast at PhoneArena, is captivated by all things mobile. His impartial reviews and proficiency in Android systems offer readers valuable insights. Off-duty, he delves into the latest cryptocurrency trends and enjoys sci-fi and video games.

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