Gurman's $799 figure puts the OLED iPad mini $50 above the iPad Air

Someone in procurement has a quote saved at $599 ^[1] and a purchase order half filled in. If Gurman's number holds, the next mini does not fit that quote.

The number is softer than it looks. Cult of Mac reports the $799 start price from Gurman's Power On newsletter ^[3], but elsewhere in the same piece says Gurman believes Apple will sell the tablet for as much as $799 ^[4]. 9to5Mac says Gurman floated a price closer to the $799 mark ^[5]. In 9to5Mac's account, Gurman said the new mini will be "considerably more expensive" ^[6].

Apple will argue that buyers get more product for the money, 9to5Mac wrote ^[15]. Cult of Mac lists an A20 Pro chip and a redesigned speaker system ^[8], and 9to5Mac adds thinner bezels ^[9]. The starting storage may also rise ^[18]. The current $599 buys 128 GB ^[2], so part of the gap could be capacity that some seats will never use. Neither report breaks the $200 down by component or says whether the $599 model stays on sale.

We'd keep the $599 line in the budget and add a separate $799 line for seats that can name the feature they need. The cost is two lines to defend, and if Apple drops the old model, the first line goes away and the whole order reprices.

The app list and the support thread show what a mini on your fleet does all day, and they sort seats better than the spec sheet does. Two questions place each seat: does the task depend on something only the new mini adds, such as the OLED panel or the A20 Pro chip ^[8], and is the $599 model still on sale when the order goes out?

- Needs the new hardware, old model still on sale: buy the new mini for those seats only and leave the rest at $599. - Needs the new hardware, old model gone: budget the announced price for those seats, because the gap Gurman describes cannot be avoided. - Does not need it, old model still on sale: buy at $599. - Does not need it, old model gone: price the Air against the new mini before ordering either.