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Could the iPad mini be a mashup of Apple’s older gadgets? The much-rumoured tiny tablet could sport the same processor as the iPad 2, while having the same screen resolution as the iPhone 3GS, according to the man behind Instapaper.
Marco Arment, who developed the popular text reader and bookmarking app, claims Instapaper’s logs show it was recently accessed by devices named ‘iPad2,5’ and ‘iPad2,6’, CNET News reports. Considering the most recent 16GB iPad 2 identifies itself as ‘iPad2,4’ when it connects to an app, this could be the iPad mini we’ve been hearing so much about.
“It’s a textbook Tim Cook supply-chain move: selling the last generation’s hardware at a lower price point to expand marketshare,” Arment said.
“But this time, it’s more dramatic. Rather than just sell the original iPad 2 with a price cut, they’ve made a new product designed to be far less expensive from day one by combining old and new parts: the 32nm iPad 2’s guts, larger-cut iPhone 3GS screens, a smaller case and battery, and the new iPhone’s low-power LTE chip for $100 more.”
It’s just speculation at this stage, but if he’s right, we could be seeing a hybrid of the iPad 2 and iPhone 3GS, repackaged in a whole new device. Which would put everything Apple said at the Samsung trial about innovating into a new light.
The iPad mini is rumoured to sport a 7.85-inch screen. It’ll be announced at a separate event to the next iPhone, according to sources — the iPhone 5 will likely debut on 12 September, then Apple will announce the iPad mini in October. It’s thought to be Apple’s attempt to cut off competition from Google’s Nexus 7, which has been a runaway success so far.
Do you think these specs are likely for the iPad mini? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook.
