News: Apple unveils iPad Mini, fourth gen iPad

After months of rumours, speculation, unnamed sources ‘close to the matter’ and dodgy leaked images, Apple finally confirmed what tablet fans have been anticipating thoughout this year - the new iPad Mini.

The latest addition to the iPad family measures in at 7.9” and boasts similar specifications as found on the iPad 2: namely a screen with a 1024 x 768 resolution (163 ppi), and an A5 CPU. However, in its favour, the tablet will run all the apps supported by the iPad 2, which gives it an extensive library right out the box.

Mini me

Additionally, the iPad Mini will come in Apple’s preferred flavours, namely 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB versions, with either Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi and LTE.

Quite clearly, the latest device is a response to the popularity of 7” tablets like the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire HD, both which proved that there is, in fact, a significant market for smaller, more portable tablets that can be held in one-hand.

In fact, Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook even presented an image of what looked suspiciously like the Nexus 7 when comparing an unmarked Android tablet to the new iPad Mini, asserting that the company would do smaller tablets “better” than the competition.

The latest iPad may not look much different to its predecessor, but it boasts

a new processor which should account for even faster performance.

Behold, the next new iPad

Somewhat more surprisingly, the company also announced a refresh of its new iPad as well, in the form of the fourth generation iPad.

The latest iPad includes its lustworthy Retina display, but ups its processor to an A6X, which apparently boasts twice the graphics and processing power as the third generation iPad. Also onboard is a new, smaller Lightning connector, dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, and a 720p FaceTime camera.

To the point

Most importantly, both the iPad Mini and the fourth generation iPad will apparently offer ten hours of battery life on a charge.

The launch of the fourth gen iPad marks Apple’s shortest update cycle to date, as the announcement comes a mere six months after it revealed the new iPad (largely dubbed the iPad 3).

By venturing into the 7”+ realm, we suspect that Apple fully intended to place Android-based competitors on notice that it considers the tablet market an Apple pie, and that they wouldn’t sit back and watch Android or Amazon take a slice of it without a fight.

While the iPad and the iPad Mini will be available Stateside on 2 November, no official word has yet been given as to a local release date or prices.

Apple unveils iPad Mini, fourth gen iPad

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