“Now that Apple has released its iPhone 5, investors and Apple enthusiasts will soon begin looking to Apple’s next product launch. Many speculate this will be the ‘iPad Mini,'” Christopher Witrak reports for Minyanville.
“What Apple watchers seem fairly confident about is a launch sometime before the end of this year, though Apple has not confirmed this. At the end of last month, AllThingsD published an article confidently stating that the iPad Mini will debut in October according to ‘several sources,'” Witrak writes. “As for the price, the numbers making their way around the Web are between $249 and $299 for a 16GB iPad Mini. This price would allow it to compete directly with low cost tablets such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD priced at $199 and the Google’s current Nexus 7 priced at $199.”
Witrak reports, “Ewan Spencer of Forbes expects Apple to release a $299 entry-level iPad Mini with 16GB of storage and Wi-Fi connectivity as an option. He reached this guess based on the the specifications announced for the reworked 32GB iPod touch, which he believes ‘is almost a blueprint for an iOS powered tablet.’ Since Apple likes to have clear price brands, he projects a 32GB version will cost $399 and a 64GB versions will cost $499.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Unknown iPad device identifiers appear in device logs hinting at ‘iPad mini’ testing – August 31, 2012
Confirmed: Apple to unveil ‘iPhone 5′ in September, then ‘iPad mini’ in October event – August 27, 2012
‘iPad mini’ to feature very thin side bezels in portrait orientation, sources say (with photo) – August 15, 2012
NYT: Apple developing 7.85-inch iPad to be announced this year – July 15, 2012
Bloomberg: Apple preps smaller iPad, sources say – July 5, 2012
WSJ: Apple’s ‘iPad mini’ launch nears – July 5, 2012
If they release one, our household will buy one for sure.
So it’s the same price as an iPod touch?
It’s probably just a new iPod touch
the 32GB iPod touch was JUST released. I think the iPad mini will be $249 (16GB), $349 (32GB) and $399(64GB).
If it’s only difference is size, look to Apple to do what they did with the original iPad… price it lower than expectations.
There is a CHANCE that the iPad mini will sell for $199, but that is the same price as the previous generation iPod touch… so they would likely discontinue the previous generation touch and make the new iPad Mini 8GB the iOS entry-level device. I don’t see it happening, personally.
@ rohan
Buy at least 3, and put them in your ass.
How about an update to the iMac Apple? Not glamorous I know, but long overdue.
Not as overdue as the Mac Pro. I want a moratorium on iMacs and MacBooks until we get the next gen Pro. Some of us still need trucks!
I’m not even looking for “next-gen” iMac. Just moving it to a current processor tech would be nice. 18 months since it was last updated at all!
You know how the tech boys complain if it’s just some processor upgrade. They hear something like that and it’s automatic disappointment time. The tech-heads want Apple to reinvent all their products every year otherwise Apple isn’t considered innovative enough. You’re going to hear that if Steve Jobs was alive the iMac would be able to process your documents and bake a cake at the same time. I’d have been happy to have an iMac with a user-accessible hard drive, but even that will never happen.
If you can accomplish the same work today as you accomplished yesterday then you really don’t need a newer processor. You sound more like a Dell Dude talking that way.
+1 … Power and expandability rocks … and make it easier to upgrade everything in those iMacs and Mac Pros too.
In the Powerbooks I’m sure there must be a way to be innovative by making a battery light and thin AND easily replaceable. It’s in the consumer’s best interest for Apple to create products that are easily maintainable/upgradable software and hardware-wise, too.
Things that should be upgradable in all Mac OS devices:
Ram, Graphics Card, Hard Drives, Processor (along with the battery for all versions of Powerbooks.) For portable iOS devices the battery should be easily upgradable.
This is the kind of innovation I’d like to see from Apple along with everything else that they do so well. They have reasons for not being able to but I’m saying from a consumer’s perspective a Steve Job’s quote: “This is shit!” Go fix it.
The iPad mini is going to be a big seller when (if?) it comes out. Can’t wait 🙂
I’m thinking the Mac Pro is as perfect as it can get, save adding a rewritable blu-ray drive as standard. What features are people looking for in an upgraded Mac Pro?
Duh-uh, Thunderbolt! Right now Thunderbolt is pretty useless because Apple has never put it on the Mac Pro. Since it has never made its way to the Mac Pro, the people who always buy accessories, in quantity, have never had a need for Thunderbolt. Thus the number of companies who have made Thunderbolt accessories is quite limited, as is the number of Thunderbolt products.
USB 3 too, though you can get a card and get USB 3 today in a Mac Pro. Like CalDigit’s which I have and it’s great.
Yup.
Yup. As a professional depending on my Macs for a living, not just fun, I’m more than ready. Long,long overdue. But they will come up with some incremental improvement. Just don’t expect much. Oh well……,
same here, i want to buy the current 21.5 inch when the new iMac comes out and then throw my pos windows laptop
If there is an October release of a new major product like an iPad Mini, there are a raft of other updates that could be piggy-backed for more press visibility. So I expect you’ll get your wish.
And Cook did say we should expect releases pretty much across the board in 2012….
Long in the tooth: Apple Cinema Display (380 days), iMac (515 days), Mac Mini (437 days), Mac Pro (well they called it an update 3 months ago and made promises for likely next year when they got blowback)
I’ll get the iPad mini instead of the iPhone 5.
Two things I don’t like about the new iPhone stand out.
– The screen is too small & too narrow. Needs to go up to 4.3″ with a 4:3 aspect ratio. I don’t need a 10′ high screen on a 1″ wide base.
– The headphone jack at the bottom bothers me no end.
The iPad mini fulfills all I need in a pocketable form factor. I’ll even use it as a phone if Apple puts in a 4G LTE radio.
The screen is perfect size. Watch the apple thumb video, a wider screen makes it harder to use one handed. The iPhone is meant to be one handed…not android freak sized 2 handed operation. On a “phone”
Headphones on the bottom, preference but I like it. Nothing like having it plugged into power on one end… And having the headphone jack used on top.
Granted things like the Square card reader may need some work, or change to Bluetooth etc.
iPad mini, not even going to look at one. I have an iPad.
Heh, heh. You old dog, you wanted a 4″ screen and you got it. Now bigger? I do hope you are not going to play a size game, that would get stale quickly.
To be fair, BLN started out wanting a 4″ screen, then he went to 4.5″ and, later, even mentioned a 5″ display. Like his girlfriend, BLN is never satisfied.
I am tired of debating iPhone display size. I am glad that Apple does not have two dozen different models of the iPhone with crazy names. However, if Apple wants to release a 4.5″ iPhone (BLN edition) in parallel to the 4″ model, then maybe the debate would end. People with big hands could bet the big iPhone, etc.
The headphone jack is on the top of my iPhone 5, but so is the home button and Lightning connector. Plus it’s weird having the power button on the bottom. Oh well, you can’t win them all!
BLN, go look at one in an Apple Store. the new iPhone 5 is pretty darn nice. Build quality is terrific. Screen to me is just right. I’m hoping this will be the iPhone screen size and for anything else an iPad Mini or full-sized iPad. Great combination. I suspect many of those who want a bigger phone really just don’t want to buy a tablet which satisfies the need for a larger screen.
Apple prices its products very carefully.
Since the NEW iPod touch starts at $299 and it was just released a few weeks ago, I don’t see how Apple can release an “iPad mini” for anything at or below $299.
My prediction, whenever it is released, is that the iPad mini replaces the “last year’s model” iPad 2 at $399. And I don’t think it will happen until next year’s regular new iPad release time.
If Apple was having a difficult time selling the current iPads due to competing smaller tablets, I can understand why Apple would want to release an iPad mini sooner. But that’s not the case at all. Apple has a higher market share now compared to last year. Why release a new lower-profit product that essentially competes with (cannibalizes) the higher-profit existing iPads, especially if the price is going to the $299 (or even $249)? That makes no sense… Apple can sell as many $399 (and up) iPads as they care to produce.
Whenever the smaller iPad does arrive, I will welcome it. I’d love an iPad with the same screen resolution of the iPad 2, scaled down about 20% with a weight reduction of about 40%.
Going by your logic, that Apple should not introduce a new line of iPads because the full size iPads were selling so well, then should not Apple bring out a replacement for the iPod touch positioned at $299 exactly because it needs to replace a declining trend line of iPod sales immediately.
> then should not Apple bring out a replacement for the iPod touch positioned at $299 exactly because it needs to replace a declining trend line of iPod sales…
I don’t understand… Apple DID bring out a replacement for the iPod touch priced starting at $299.
The fact that Apple set the price tag for the new iPod touch at $299 means to me that the starting price of an iPad mini will be higher, probably $399. There is already an iPad at $399 (last year’s iPad 2), so the iPad mini will replace it at that price point.
And I don’t think it will happen until next year’s usual iPad refresh time because right now, for this holiday season, Apple wants to sell as many Retina Display iPads as possible at $499 (and up). Apple does NOT want to disrupt sales of a very popular highly profitable product by introducing an “unknown” into the mix, that will mainly serve to cannibalize existing iPad sales, not draw sales away from the competing products.
With the existing iPad models, Apple can make a good estimate of expected sales for the holiday quarter and plan production accordingly. Throw a brand new iPad mini into the mix, and there is total chaos. There is no way to guess at the proper sales mix of iPads. Apple is smart and plans very carefully… I think they will go with the existing iPads for this holiday quarter, and add the new “mini” model early next year.
The whole iPod line, including the touch model, is facing declining sales.
Do you think that a new iPod touch priced higher than the older generation initial price of $199 is going to arrest the decline? People are not buying iPod touches at $199, what makes you think they will buy more units at $299? I don’t think so.
They have to rejuvenate the iPod touch line by bringing out an entirely new class of product altogether, one with a proven sales record, and that logically is the iPad mini at $299.
I’ll guess:
iPod touch $149 – 199
iPad mini $249 – 299
iPad 2 $349 – 399
New iPad $449 – 499
when a new smaller form tablet appears aka iPad mini. (Most of the prices that end with “49” is just wishful thinking.)
The iPod touch should not really be considered part of the “iPod line,” at this point. It is more of a very small iPad (“iPad nano”), or an iPhone minus the phone. There is no need to use it as a way to “rejuvenate” iPod sales, as a product category.
Apple would much rather sell a customer an iPhone than an iPod touch, because a single iPhone 5 sale probably brings in more profit than the sale of FOUR iPod touches. That’s why the new A5 iPod touch is priced at $299 (and why Apple did no upgrade the iPod touch to A5 when the iPhone 4S came out last year), to encourage customers to consider buying an iPhone instead for the $199 upfront cost.
> People are not buying iPod touches at $199, what makes you think they will buy more units at $299?
What makes you think Apple wants to sell more iPod touch units…? Apple wants to sell more iPhone units. The iPod touch is there for people who want the “iPhone experience” without the monthly phone bill. It does not matter as much to Apple, if iPod touch sales go up or down, as long as iPhone is meeting or exceeding sales goals.
Exactly!
Apple already has an “iPad mini”. It’s called the iPod Touch.
Hey, that’s my line! 😉
No, the name of the TV show was “What’s My Line?”
Actually it’s not an iPad mini. It’s an iPod Touch. I have 2 and I have no idea what your comment is about? It’s the size of the 2 iPhone 4S’s I have so your comment makes no sense. The mini will be obviously the size of the mock ups seen on the different Apple sites. So no, it’s not to be the size of the Touch. Please think before you post. You’re comments are without thought or merit. Nothing personal of course.
zzzzzz
Yawn. Zzzzzzzz.
I want one, for sure.
@sparkw: I bought about 10 MacPro mid 2010 for my company earlier this year after I was sure that we would not get a serious update for a longer period of time.
Them I put in 16 GB of RAM replacing the odd 3 GB. Also a 512 GB SSD replacing the stupid 1 TB harddrive. And finally I plugged in 4 x 3 TB of harddrives.
This was not really cheap, but since I could order all parts at Amazon for fairly low prices, it was worth the effort. Upgrading the MacPro is so simple that everybody, even me, can do it by himself.
Now we have really really fast machines for InDesign, Final Cut Pro X, Photoshop etc. I am truly sad that pro users like you and me get no USB 3.0 and no Thunderbolt.
Apple should feel ashamed how they treat pro users. It would be no big deal to put USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt as an extension card into the MacPro, if Apple does not want to create a new Mac Pro from scratch. I like the form factor and the size it as it is, but the missing USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt is ridiculous.
@BLN … hey have you not figured out yet that no one cares what you don’t like about the iPhone 5 … bitch … bitch … bitch … go upstairs and kick the dog while you are at it …
Upstairs? Upstairs?? Upstairs in a trailer???
I can’t wait to see how the media is going to rip into this coming iPad Mini. Somehow they’ll manage to turn a plus device into a huge negative. It never seems to fail that they find some minor flaw and turn it into some major crisis. Too heavy? Too Expensive? Still has Apple Maps?
The iPhone 5 was released and the most that was made of it was mainly a horrible Map app. The iPhone 5 itself got lost in the media shuffle.
Apple maps is not horrible it’s an incredible start. Already replaced over 100 million google map users.
I’m getting the next iPad. No Touch, no mini. Got my 4S. If and when my iMac dies, I’ll still need a truck, too.
all iPad models, including the mini should all have only wifi , to keep
cost low as possible, then for cellular connection whether 3 or 4 gs,
make a device separately for connections and charge maybe 99.99
or higher
Actually, Apple would rather sell someone an iPhone instead of an iPod touch, or even an iPad (any model). That’s why the iPod touch that roughly equivalent to the iPhone 5 is priced at $299.
An iPhone sale probably generate (at least) four time the total profit of selling an iPod touch. So, that’s yet another reason iPod touch will not be priced lower, and iPad mini will not be priced at $299.
And iPad mini that is equal (or better) in performance compared to the current iPad 2 is (but 20% smaller and 40% lighter) is TOTALLY worth $399.
Actually, Apple would rather sell someone an iPhone instead of an iPod touch, or even an iPad (any model). That’s why the iPod touch that is roughly equivalent to the iPhone 5 is priced at $299. That’s why they kept the A4 model going when the iPhone went to A5. Apple does not want to “rejuvinate” iPod sales at the expense of iPhone sales.
An iPhone sale probably generate (at least) four time the total profit of selling an iPod touch. So, that’s yet another reason iPod touch will not be priced lower, and iPad mini will not be priced at $299.
And an iPad mini that is equal (or better) in performance compared to the current iPad 2 (but 20% smaller and 40% lighter) is TOTALLY worth $399.
And in other news, Jaguar must put out a low cost car to compete with the Yugo and other inexpensive cars.
Let’s dumb downthe english language some more by using the word Imminent when we mean soon. Actually, coming from Minyaville, it’s no surprise.
+500!
Taking of dumbing down, English is a proper noun.
I can’t believe I don’t see more people make the connection that a version of iPad mini should be a phone too. A really useful portable post PC device. Satisfies all the people wanting a bigger phone screen and useful for work, Docs etc it is the total game changer. And I hate that term. Cannibalization considerred, Mark my words it will be done by someone and it will be the device needed by many. I hope it’s apple. And if you don’t want it don’t buy it. Stereo speakers please!
if you don’t have any sense of economy, you buy it. it’s fine. but who will buy this crap for $299 when ipod touch 5th Gen. price is the same. it doesn’t make any sense. new ipad mini won’t even be retina display with new A6 processor & new camera. I don’t think so. resolution will be terrible like ipad 2. if I were you, I would just buy ipod touch 5th Gen.