Apple Rumors: “iPad Mini” On The Works

According to two insiders a “mini” iPad is in the works, and should arrive by the end of this year. The planned tablet—intended to help battle competition from Google, Amazon, and Microsoft—shrinks the screen from 9.7 inches diagonally to 7 or 8 inches, and will lack the top-notch display of bigger models. But it’ll be cheaper and, likely, “competitors’ worst nightmare,” says an analyst.

“There’s a business plan for it, there’s a mass production target for it, and we know that it’s for Apple” an analyst tells CNET

The smaller tablet would likely be priced somewhere near $199 to compete with Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire. But consumers would likely be willing to pay a small premium for the Apple version. “Fifty or a hundred bucks wouldn’t be enough to make someone switch,” the analyst adds. The plan does, however, seem to violate Steve Jobs’ vision: He believed the current iPad’s size was the smallest that could satisfy users, notes Bloomberg.