Are you one of the many people unhappy with your new iPad mini’s low-res screen? Good morning! Here’s a handful of salt in your wound. Apple may already be revving up retina iPad mini production, according to a tenuous new analyst report.
According to a quick note from RBC Capital Markets analyst Doug Freedman, who is touring Chinese chip companies this week, Apple’s starting inking deals for second-gen iPad mini production:
iPad Mini Gen-2: Apple’s gen-2 iPad mini is getting pulled-in, and is likely to have several new suppliers, with TXN gaining content.
TXN refers to Texas Instruments, who has provided small parts to the iPad in the past. Given that Texas Instruments has exited the SoC market recently, it’s unlikely this indicates a partnership on Apple’s A-series chips.
There’s admittedly not a lot to go by on this report, less a timeline. Even if the second-gen iPad mini is still a year away, Apple would likely be lining up partners now.
As for the feasibility of the next iPad mini being a Retina display, we ran the math in a feature a month ago or so, and we concluded that Apple will be able to make a retina iPad mini a reality this year without bumping up the price of the base model.
Source: CNET
