Apple updated the iPad Mini to include a retina display at its keynote this morning. Here’s the basic facts and local pricing.
The new iPad Mini is a shade thicker than the old model — 7.5mm to 7.2mm — and also a little heavier at 331grams (WiFi) to the older model’s 308 grams. Adding LTE bumps that up by 10 grams, which I suspect you wouldn’t really feel.
The new model runs on the A7 processor and M7 motion co-processor, same as the new iPad Air (https://www.alexkidman.com/news/ipad-air-just-basics/) and comes in 16/32/64/128GB varieties.
Availability is “late November” — no, you can’t pre-order one yet — with pricing at $479/$598/$699/$799 for the Wi-Fi models and $629/$749/$849/$949 for the LTE enabled units. The original iPad Mini also sticks around in a baseline 16GB model for $349/$499 (Wifi/LTE).
How does that compare to US pricing? At the keynote, the baseline 16GB retina model listed at US$399, which would come to around $450 or so at current exchange rates.
The original model dropped to US$299, which would suggest around $340. That’s quite acceptable, allowing for smaller market size and shipping.