Following the teardown, it was Dr. Raymond Soneira’s turn to test the display of the recently launched iPad mini 4.
As he points out, the device has finally “grown up and became a full-fledged, respectable iPad family member, with a display that Steve Jobs would be proud of.” The small tablet’s display underwent some upgrades, and the result is a full and very accurate 101% sRGB Colour Gamut, and a very low 2% screen Reflectance, which is the lowest ever measured for any mobile display.
As of this year, the iPad mini 4’s range and accuracy of colours match that of the recent 9.7-inch iPad, and of the iPhones 5, 6 and 6 Plus. In fact, there is one feature that puts the iPad mini 4 ahead of all Apple devices, and that is the impressively low screen Reflectance, as measured by Soneira.
To put this into context, Soneira points to the iPad Air, which was the previous record holder for low Reflectance with 2.5%. Most tablets tested by DisplayMate fall in the range of 5% to 6.5% screen Reflectance, including the iPad mini 3.
Another nice upgrade highlighted by DisplayMate is that the iPad mini 4 has 36% better Contrast in ambient light than the iPad Air 2. Actually, the device has a contrast rating for High Ambient Light of 225, the highest ever measured and another record for the mini 4, Soneira says.
