iPad Mini 4 Best For Outdoor Reading: New Apple 7.9-inch Tablet Low Reflective Screen

The iPad Mini 4, Apple's most recent tablet release, has had its screen measured by display calibration experts DisplayMate, and the results are surprising. Those looking to buy the new device for some outdoor reading are in for a treat: The new device has a 2 percent rate of light reflectance, the lowest the company has ever seen on a mobile display.

By comparison, most tablets fall around the 5 percent to 6.5 percent range of reflectiveness. Even the iPad Air 2, which focused on achieving very low light reflectiveness, is rated at 2.5 percent. The Mini 4's ultra-low rating means the screen is easier to read in sunlight, colors will appear less washed-out and ambient light will have a tiny effect on display accuracy.

"The era of low screen Reflectance has finally arrived -- where visual display performance in real world ambient light viewing conditions is now a major competitive factor -- something that all consumers will easily see and appreciate -- both indoors and especially outdoors!" DisplayMate said.

Previous iPad Minis have had quite poor reflectiveness scores. While the Mini 3 had a 6.5 percent reflectance rate, the original iPad Mini had a 9.0 reflectiveness rate. The older iPads also had less accurate colors: While older Minis had a 62 percent color gamut, the new Mini has a 101 percent gamut.

The iPad Pro is set to ship in November and is aimed at becoming Apple's new flagship tablet model. It remains to be seen whether the Pro will match the Mini's lofty reflectiveness goals, but if Apple is aiming for this to be the professional's choice of tablets, it will be surprising if the Pro cannot match the Mini's low reflectiveness score.