The Wall Street Journal have reported that Asian suppliers have started mass production of an “iPad Mini”, although Apple haven’t mentioned such a device.
The new device is rumoured to have a 7.85-inch LCD screen with a lower resolution than the current iPad, presumably the 1024 x 768 that the first and second models are running.
The news follows reports from Fortune who have been told by “a major Apple investor” that invites for an reveal event will go out next week and the new device could be in stores next month.
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Holding on for this before I make my mind up over the Nexus7, my Dad is too.
This will presumably be a sizeable amount more expensive than the cost-price Nexus7
a) Because it’s Apple b) Too good a deal and they’ll lose all their margin from their ridiculously successful iPad business as people would in the main take the affordable option.
Bilbo_bobbins
Exactly my position too. Waiting to see the cost of the mini compared with others. Personally I would pay a little more just because it links up with my other Apple gear, but not if its too much more.
Be a lot of people hoping for one of these for christmas I think.
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I’d pay a little more because the iPad eco-system is massively superior, if it’s a lot more then I’ll just go with the Nexus7 as it’s mainly for sofa browsing & media consumption anyway, but it would be nice to the iPad Mini and its games.
mcphatty
Brilliant, I’ve been following the mini rumours for a few months, the mill is churning at full tilt now, it’s got to be real! I really like the idea of a Nexus sized iPad, so does my girlfriend as a ten incher is a bit too big for her to stick in her… hand bag.
Forrest_01
Isn’t an iPad Mini just an iPhone???
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No, it’s an iPod Touch Maxi ;)
Which confuses me why they didn’t just drop the name of the iPod Touch and call it the iPad Nano
Forrest_01
Yeah, but ‘iPod Touch Maxi’ does have a bit of a ‘sanitary towel’ ring to it, doesn’t it? ;)
Tuffcub
I did make that joke but it got edited out. Bah!
colmshan1990
No thanks.
Apple’s support of iPad is actually pretty poor.
The first iPad didn’t get iOS6, my iPad 2 didn’t get many features from iOS6 either. Presumably the new iPad mini will have that stupid ‘Lightning’ (it’s still USB 2.0!!!) connector rendering all accessories useless.
When my iPad 2 needs replacing I’ll be off to one of the Windows tablets. Hopefully not for at least a year though.
And it won’t be a 7 inch tablet either. That’s only about 2-3 inches bigger than the leading phones, there’s not enough of an increase in screen size to justify a 7″ tablet if you have a good phone.
plutoniumdragon
Not interested in a 7″ tablet for the same reason, I already have a phone with a 5″ screen (ok 4.8) and a 7″ tablet wouldn’t really give me anything.
I have an iPad 3 for when I want the larger screen.
bunimomike
It’ll be retina-screen PPI, surely? Makes sense.
Awayze
Tim Cook is ruining Apple!!
Making him CEO was a bigass mistake, Steve Jobs wouldn’t have wanted a iPad Mini.
colmshan1990
Steve Jobs said he didn’t, but he also said nobody wanted to look at videos on iPods either because the screen was too small, and we all know how that turned out.
He was a critic of small flash based ‘shuffle’ MP3 players too- until the iPod Shuffle came out, that is.
Basically, Jobs was very critical of every market right up until he launched his product into it.
KeRaSh
I’m curious about Apple’s pricing strategy. The iPod Touch starts at 299$ and I think the iPad 2 is still selling for 399$. They have to price it around the 200$ mark in order to compete with the Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire line up, which would mean they’d have to undercut their Touch products and justify the Touch’s higher price with more storage capacity. I think they dug a hole by not coming out with a 7″ version earlier and now they are basically competing between their own product lines.