The rumors had been circulating for weeks, and, at its October 23 media event, Apple made the (big) small announcement we had all been waiting for. Arriving November 2, the first iPad mini models will ship, starting at a price of $329 for a 16GB model with Wi-Fi.
The new model is just 7.2mm thick, which Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller noted is as “thin as a pencil.” At .68 pounds, it is 53 percent lighter than the latest iPad. It will have a 7.9 inch screen, giving it a slightly larger display than Google’s competing Nexus 7, which Schiller alluded to coyly.
“Others have tried to make tablets smaller than the iPad and they've failed miserably. These are not great experiences,” he said.
The iPad mini, Schiller noted, runs technologies equivalent to or better than the iPad 2, with FaceTime HD, an A5 chip, a 5-megapixel iSight camera and 10 hours of battery life. There will be Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Cellular models in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions.
If you’re not quite ready to downsize but have a broken iPad, you can use iPad repair services from iResQ to get your current device running smoothly again.