iPad Mini 4 Display Has Improved Color Gamut and Lower Reflectance

DisplayMate has tested the iPad mini 4 display and found that its colors and color accuracy are on par with the iPad Air 2, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, with an improved 101% color gamut. All previous iPad mini models had 62% color gamut with poorer color saturation, according to the company's analysis.

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iPad mini 4 also has a record-low 2% screen reflectance, compared to 6.5% reflectance for the iPad mini 3 and and 9% reflectance for the original iPad mini. This gives the iPad mini 4 a contrasting rating in high ambient light of 225, which in layman's terms means the tablet has improved readability in real-world viewing conditions.

DisplayMate Technologies President Ray Soneira:

But in terms of real-world viewing conditions, the record low 2.0% screen Reflectance actually makes a bigger visual difference for the image colors and image contrast that you actually see because ambient light washes out and degrades the displayed images and reduces screen readability - so [the iPad mini 4's] record low Reflectance actually makes a bigger difference!

DisplayMate says the iPad mini 4 has between 2.5x and 3.5x higher contrast in ambient light than the iPad mini 3 and most other tablets, which mainly fall in the range of 5.0% to 6.5% screen reflectance. iPad Air 2 was the previous record holder with 2.5% screen reflectance, but the iPad mini 4 was 36% better per this test.

DisplayMate will provide in-depth analysis of the iPad mini 4 display when the iPad Pro launches in November.

Related Roundup: iPad mini
Buyer's Guide: iPad Mini (Caution)
Related Forum: iPad

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Top Rated Comments

136 months ago
Finally! Now it's worth it to me to upgrade.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MyopicPaideia Avatar
136 months ago
Finally! No more colour gamut haters on the iPad mini!
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
soupcan Avatar
136 months ago
With all of the stuff they did with the mini 4 (thinner, faster, multi-tasking capabilities, better display) you'd think Apple would spend more time talking about it.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
peterdevries Avatar
136 months ago
The reduced color gamut was a huge issue a few years back for many, so this is a welcome change.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Moonjumper Avatar
136 months ago
Apple has had some terribly reflective screens in the past, so it is nice that they are continuing to make progress. Hopefully they will continue to work on it across their whole product line.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Gasu E. Avatar
136 months ago
i would take reflections over those horrible dark smudges all over the coated display to be honest

You're touching it wrong.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)