Why Was The Retina iPad Mini Released Without Fanfare?
A week ago, we reported that rumors suggest Apple will release the second generation iPad mini with Retina display next Friday, on November 22nd. However, in a surprising move, Apple decided to quietly release the second generation iPad mini in its retail and online stores last Tuesday, on November 12th.
Apple’s Marketing Senior Vice President, Phil Schiller, said that “The response to iPad Air has been incredible, and we’re excited for customers to experience the new iPad mini with Retina display [...] We think customers will love both of these thin, light, powerful new iPads, and we’re working hard to get as many as we can in the hands of our customers”.
We all expected Apple to release the iPad mini with retina display with fanfare, just like any iPhone and iPad release before it. Usually, Apple announces new tablets during a Tuesday or Wednesday media event and then the company waits a week and a few days and officially launches the device the following Friday. This strategy works as most Apple releases generate interminable lines of customers waiting outside the company’s Stores spread around the United States. Since the Cupertino based giant continues to announce record breaking launch weekends of Apple’s devices on a yearly basis, there is no doubt that the traditional release strategy works very well. However, this year Apple changed its release pattern: in October Apple announced to new iPad models (the fifth generation main iPad, the iPad Air and the second generation iPad mini with Retina display), but only released the iPad Air on November 1st. The iPad mini with Retina display only received a vague release interval of “late November“.
So the question is: what cause the initial delay of the second generation iPad mini’s launch? Many sources from Apple’s Asian chain of supply, suggest two reasons: one is that Apple found it very dificult to produce quality panels for the iPad mini 2, panels that should be up to Apple’s specifications; the other reason is represented by a very high rejection rate of the second generation iPad mini’s Retina display; combined, these two reasons are rumored to be behind the low amount of tablets produced. It was also rumored that Apple was forced to ask its rival company, Samsung, for help with the manufacturing of iPad mini 2′s Retina displays. It seems that this was a last minute decision in order to help with the tablet’s production, as panels from LG Display and Sharp (Apple’s main suppliers) had problems such as burn-in issues; these issues, while not visible to consumers do not meet Apple’s standards of quality.
Analysts agree that the aforementioned supply issues represent the main reason behind ipad mini with Retina display’s quiet launch last Tuesday. Without a good supply of second generation iPad mini units, it is likely that Apple felt that it could not hold a massive launch as the company did for the fifth generation iPad, the iPad Air. Lots of Apple Stores received hundreds of iPad Air units that would be enough for the many customers that visited Apple Stores on November 1st, when the iPad Air was released. Even the iPhone 5S, that faced supply constraints (especially the gold and silver models) just like the second generation iPad mini, was released together with the mid budget iPhone 5C in a move to offer an alternative to customers that didn’t get the chance to buy an iPhone 5S. So, due to not being able to hold a massive launch for the second generation iPad mini with Retina display, Apple decided to go with a quiet launch; this will allow Apple to build momentum for both the iPad Air and the second generation iPad mini, before the Thanksgiving week, especially since this year Thanksgiving also coincides with Black Friday and Hanukkah.
About The Retina iPad Mini
The Retina display iPad mini features the same form factor as the first generation iPad mini and the same 7.9 inch display, but it now features a resolution of 2,048 × 1,536 and a pixels per inch density of 326, two times the resolution of the first mini Pad, and the same as the iPad Air’s but with a higher pixels per inch density. The second generation iPad mini also comes with the same A7 System on Chip that is being used in the recently released iPhone 5S and iPad Air. The dual core A7 System on Chip is the fastest ever made by Apple. It also makes use of a new 64 architecture and it is the first 64 bit System on Chip to be released on the mobile market. It offers many advantages over 32 bit chipsets one of them being represented by the fact that the processor has to spend less time accessing comparatively slow system memory, which means it will speed up apps even if they aren’t 64 bit optimized. The new SoC also comes with a better GPU so you won’t have to worry about it being powerful enough to run the new high resolution graphics of the Retina display.
The iPad mini 2 also comes with the M7 motion coprocessor (there is one in both the iPhone 5S and the iPad Air). All the new technologies included in the second generation iPad mini (the Retina display and the new 64 bit System on Chip) make it a heavier and thicker tablet when compared to the first iPad mini. However the differences are not major (the first generation iPad mini weighs 308 grams and is 7.2 mm thick while the second generation iPad mini weighs 331 grams and is 7.5 mm thick) and most users won’t even notice them. The second generation iPad mini also comes with iOS 7 out of the box and it is available in two color options: white and silver and black and space grey.
The price of the iPad mini with Retina display starts at $399 and $529 for Wi-Fi only and cellular, respectively, while the first-generation iPad mini will now release at a lower $299 price point. The price of the Retina iPad mini ranges up to $699 for 128 GB of space but WiFi only, and $829 for 128 GB of storage plus WiFi and cellular connectivity.
