This years special iPad event ‘finally’ put all rumours and speculations at rest as Apple announced second gen iPad mini with Retina Display.

Apple entered into a new product category with a smaller version of the full size tablet. The purpose of iPad mini was to make the device even more portable. It was aimed at those of us who want to hold the device for long hours to read books, browse the web and want something that fits in a small bag without adding any extra weight. In 2012 when all iOS devices were already supporting high resolution display Apple announced iPad mini with the same resolution as iPad 2 with 1024×768 pixels.

Since its introduction many started speculating that the next gen 7.9 inch tablet will certainly feature retina display. However, some reports and bloggers expressed concerns about battery and weight of the device. John Gruber of Daring Fireball also remained sceptical about iPad mini going retina in 2013 and said, “we demand magic — a retina iPad Mini with no decrease in battery life, but no increase in thickness, weight, or price. And they need to produce at least 20 million of them by Christmas. Something has to give.”

Apple has made iPad mini with retina display a reality this year with the same 10 hour long battery performance. The display features 2048×1536 resolution  which is the same as iPad Air at 326 pixels per inch. With the new retina screen the hardware saw an increase of 0.01 inches in thickness and 23 grams (0.06 pounds) in weight. The fact that the device continues to provide battery for a full days worth of use even with retina certainly makes it worth the negligible thickness and weight.

iPad mini with retina display also features the 64-bit A7 chip and M7 coprocessor introduced in the iPhone 5s. This boost the performance of the new tablet upto 4 times in CPU and upto 8 times in GPU performance.

The 5MP rear camera and 1.2MP FaceTime HD camera remain the same even in the new model. Apple has added support for even more LTE bands in this new device and also delivers twice the Wi-Fi performance than before.

If reading and browsing the web are the primary tasks that you use the iPad mini for, then upgrading to the latest model is certainly worth considering. High resolution screen makes the text crisp without any fuzziness and each pixel in the photos deliver fantastic detail.

Apple will continue to sell the original iPad mini with 16GB storage at $299 for the WiFi and $429 for WiFi + Cellular. iPad mini with retina display will be available in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. The WiFi models start at $399 while cellular version starts at $529 and each model gets $100 expensive for more storage.

Will you be buying the new iPad mini this holiday season? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Apple’s 7.9 inch tablet, the iPad mini is due for a refresh this fall and according to a new report the next gen iPad mini will have an almost bezel free design. We recently highlighted another report which claimed that Apple is facing shortage of retina display supply that could result in retina iPad mini launch to be delayed until 2014.

DigiTimes published a repot citing sources that claim Apple will introduce a redesigned version of the iPad mini to give the next-gen 7.9 inch tablet an almost bezel free look. The current iPad mini design already features a very narrow bezel to it is unclear how the company will accomplish this. The report further highlights that retina display iPad mini won’t be available for this holiday season however, customers can expect a refresh this fall with improved technical specifications.

While the new iPad mini may not be availabe during the year-end shopping season, Apple reportedly may first release a slightly updated version of the current iPad mini in the second half of 2013, which is expected to be lighter, thinner and equipped with improved specifications, the sources said.

Apple clearly dominates the tablet market space which is evident by the total mobile web share. The company has a very aggressive marketing strategy for its tablet product line-up. The introduction of a small 7.9 inch tablet gives Apple an edge to dominate the market further by entering the small screen tablet segment. The company does not want to give any room to its competitors to compete in this segment.

Tablet product category was revolutionised by Apple and it was the first company to sell it in large numbers. The product refresh cycle for tablets has become shorter since the third and fourth gen 10-inch tablet as both were introduced in less than a year.

The launch of Apple’s much awaited retina iPad mini could possibly be delayed according to a new report. When Apple introduced the smaller screen size tablet it used the same screen resolution of the full-sized iPad of 1024×768. Even as the entire iOS device lineup comes with retina display, the iPad mini did not feature the high pixel density screen.

Retina displays are costlier than the non-retina screens and also impact the battery and graphics performance of the device. Apple’s move to a retina iPad mini could significantly impact the cost which could be one of the reasons why the company decided to introduce the product line without the retina display.

The company is expected to refresh the iPad mini product line-up this fall however, according to a new report customers waiting for a retina display iPad mini may have to wait until early 2014. The Taiwanese Economic News Daily claims that the shortage of retina displays could cause the delay in the product release and Apple would be forced to push the release date to early next year.

In this situation, Apple could possibly follow the release cycle same as the third and fourth gen iPad where the company released an updated fourth-gen iPad within less than a year. The second-gen iPad mini could see some minor processor upgrade and the retina display iPad mini could be introduced as the third-gen iPad mini.

Apple’s product release cycle is increasingly becoming predictable as the company seems to introduce internal improvements in one generation and then introduce an all-new model the next generation.