Today Apple announced that the iPad mini will be available for pre-order this Friday, October 26th and ship on Friday, November 2nd. What you may have missed is that this launch timeframe applies to Wi-Fi-only iPad mini models. If you want to buy an iPad mini that’s equipped with cellular data, then you’ll have to wait a few more weeks.
An interesting tidbit from Apple:
iPad mini with Wi-Fi + Cellular and fourth generation iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular will start shipping a couple of weeks after the Wi-Fi models, beginning in the US on AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. iPad mini with Wi-Fi + Cellular will be offered for a suggested retail price of $459 (US) for the 16GB model, $559 (US) for the 32GB model and $659 (US) for the 64GB model. Fourth generation iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular for AT&T, Sprint and Verizon will be offered for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. Additionally, iPad 2 is available at $399 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and just $529 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model where they are sold now.
AT&T, Verizon and Sprint will offer the iPad mini on their respective LTE networks when the cellular model goes on sale in mid-November.
Here’s the price breakdown for Apple’s iPad lineup from the keynote:
The iPad mini 16GB Wi-Fi + LTE model costs $460 in the United States, while the base version of the 10-inch Retina iPad 16GB Wi-Fi + LTE costs $630. You can’t order the updated 4th-gen Retina iPad or iPad mini online yet, so plan accordingly when pre-orders start Friday morning.
