Teardown shows iPad mini 4 has almost 20 percent smaller battery

A teardown from iFixit shows that the iPad mini 4 has a battery with 20 percent less capacity than its predecessor from last year. With the iPad Air 2, Apple also reduced the battery. Then the battery life decreased measurably.

The smaller battery is necessary to enable the thinner housing of the tablet. Instead of 7.5mm, the new iPad mini is around 6.1mm thick. Apple has also switched from a two-cell battery to one with only one cell, iFixit reports based on its own teardown.

The capacity of the battery is 19.1Wh, compared to 23.7Wh of the previous iPad mini. This means that the battery has a capacity that is 20 percent less than that of its predecessor. The iPad Air 2 received a battery with 16 percent less capacity from Apple last year than the first iPad Air, which led to a measurably shorter battery life.

The tablet also has a RAM of 2GB, as the rumors have been going for some time. It concerns memory from SK Hynix, but it is possible that Apple purchases memory from different manufacturers.

Apple briefly presented the tablet at its event last week. The mini 4 must succeed the mini 3, which is going out of range. The small tablet is the first of the new Apple devices to go on sale. The new iPhones will probably follow in two weeks, after which the Apple TV and the iPad Pro will be released later this fall.