Sam Oliver
Apple's iPad mini may not gain a high-resolution Retina display until early next year, if the latest rumor about the second-generation 7.9-inch tablet proves accurate.
The claim was published on Friday by China's Economic Daily News, which said that though Apple originally planned to launch a Retina iPad mini this fall, it may be delayed until the first quarter of 2014. As such, the rumor suggests that a second-generation iPad mini will not launch this year.
It's expected that a Retina display on the iPad mini would follow the same double-resolution approach used by Apple in existing devices like the iPhone and full-size iPad. That would mean the iPad mini's 7.9-inch display would need to pack in the same 3.1 million pixels into a panel nearly two inches smaller in diameter.
The latest report comes on the heels of a separate rumor out of the Far East from earlier this week which claimed Apple plans to launch a new fifth-generation, full-size iPad in September. That report claimed that the features of a second-generation iPad mini, such as a Retina display, remain in flux at Apple.
Reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities said in April that Apple was experiencing yield issues in manufacturing high-resolution screens for its next iPad mini. He suggested that production issues would push back the launch of the second-generation tablet, but at the time he believed it would still launch this October.
The first-generation iPad mini debuted last October with a screen resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels. That matches the resolution of the first-generation iPad and iPad 2, but packs the pixels into a smaller space, giving the display a higher pixel density.
Still, the iPad mini display squeezes in only 163 pixels per inch — an improvement on the 132 pixels per inch found on the first two iPad releases, but still well below the 264-pixel-per-inch density of the third- and fourth-generation iPads.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
29 Comments
These rumors are all over the place, not sure what to believe at this point. Though I do think it could be bad news if we don't get a retina mini until 2014. Rumors are the new Fires and Nexus tablets are going to have improved screens so it will be hard for Apple to sell the non retina mini unless they reduce the price, IMO.
Diameter? Probably better to measure in square inches and area.
People only have a finite amount of money to spend on gadgets. I think releasing a new version of every gadget they have within a few months is stupid. For example, I want a new 5S and a new 5G iPad, but if they come out at the same time, or even within a month or two of each other, I won't have the cash for both. If they are more spread out, people will be more willing to buy multiple gadgets. I'm sure they didn't want to hold everything until the end of the year, sometimes stuff happens, but if they can hold out until 2014, I may just add one of those to my want list as well.
Apple does seem to have trouble with production quantities of its newer technologies. Invest some of that cash hoard to improve their yields.
It is a rumor it something to be believed or disbelieved. I find it perplexing that anybody attaches weight to any of these sorts of reports. [quote name="Rogifan" url="/t/158466/latest-retina-ipad-mini-rumor-says-apple-eyeing-early-2014-launch#post_2361081"]These rumors are all over the place, not sure what to believe at this point. Though I do think it could be bad news if we don't get a retina mini until 2014. Rumors are the new Fires and Nexus tablets are going to have improved screens so it will be hard for Apple to sell the non retina mini unless they reduce the price, IMO.[/quote]