iPad mini - page 27

DigiTimes has a rather poor track record when it comes to Apple rumors, so it’s always best to take its reports with a healthy heap of salt. The latest claims that Apple has informed its suppliers to prepare for a next-generation iPad in “mid-2013.” The Cupertino company has always launched its latest tablet around March, it is expected next year’s model will come slightly later.

The report also claims that Apple is working to reduce the number of LED backlights in the new model in an effort to simplify its manufacturing process.

According to the latest round of rumors, Apple will unveil the iPad Mini and a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display on October 23rd. Both aren’t radically new products, they’re just smaller versions of the iPad or 15-inch MacBook Pro.

So which one is more lust worthy? I’ve been using a 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro for a few months now and it’s beautiful, but too bulky compared to the 11-inch MacBook Air I had been using for the last year. A smaller MacBook Pro with a Retina display would be perfect. As far as the iPad Mini goes, I don’t play a lot of games on my iPad, and a smaller screen would make it more portable and better for reading in bed. I can’t decide which one I should want more though. What do you think?

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums and tell us which new Apple device you’re most excited for

Apple’s iPad Mini event that is rumored to be taking place on October 23rd is going to be jam packed with goodies. The iPad Mini is coming. Some redesigned iMacs might be revealed too. And now we’ve gotten some solid info that Apple will also unveil a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display at the event.

The iPad mini is getting all the hype this month, but we haven’t heard much about the line of new iMacs that should be coming out some month soon. Apple hasn’t updated the iMac lineup in over 531 days, but according to a new rumor, a redesigned iMac might be unveiled at the iPad mini event on October 23rd.

After much speculation, the last piece of the iPad mini puzzle has fallen into place, as a complete list of European prices of the iPad mini have leaked to the Internet, confirming that the iPad mini will come in multiple variations and ship with LTE capability.

It’s back to the Mac on this week’s CultCast, and on our newest episode, we’ll tell you everything we know about Apple’s rumored 13-inch Retina Macbook Pro, and why you might be seeing it before the year is through.

Then, is Apple’s Passbook really going to take over the world of tickets, coupons, and payments? It’s tough to imagine, especially with how little Passbook can do now. But imagine coupons on your lock screen right when you need them and making payments with nothing but your iPhone. Ready to leave your wallet behind? Passbook may soon let you do exactly that.

All that and our three favorite Mac apps on our latest CultCast! Subscribe now on iTunes, or easily stream The CultCast via Apple’s free Podcasts App.

Read on for the show notes!

As you know, the upcoming media event for Apple’s smaller, thinner, and less expensive tablet, the as-yet-named iPad Air iPad mini, is being widely reported as happening on October 23,2012.

While the invites haven’t gone out yet, we’re seeing a rumor that the event will focus on iBooks, which makes a ton of sense considering that a smaller iPad is in the same market category as a device like the Amazon Kindle Fire, which is kind of like a souped-up eReader, with media consumption its main purpose, at least from Amazon’s perspective.

While this seems like a plausible rumor, I’m not ready to fully embrace it yet.

Apple was expected to send out invitations to an upcoming iPad mini announcement on October 10, but that date has now come and gone, and we’re still left wondering when the tiny tablet is going to get its grand unveiling. Recent reports have suggested that the device has been postponed due to production delays, but according to AllThingsD, that’s not the case.

Instead, Apple will be holding its event on October 23, sources claim — just three days before Microsoft’s new Surface tablet begins shipping in the United States.

It seems right now like Apple has a lot of prospective new products on the horizon. The 7.85-inch iPad mini. The 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro. Updated iMacs. Yet despite the fact that all of these products have been highly rumored to debut this month in time of a busy holiday season, we’ve yet to see any of them. Now one report is suggesting a reason why: Apple’s having production problems on both the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and iPad mini.

Apple is widely expected to unveil the rumored ‘iPad mini’ at a press event this month, with many speculating that event invites will be sent to the press as soon as tomorrow, October 10th. The mythical 7-inch tablet will likely be priced between $200-$250 and target competition like the Google Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire. Apple has been poised to enter the cheaper tablet market for quite some time, and the company has reportedly started manufacturing an upwards of 10 million units to sell this holiday season.

A new report today claims that the iPad mini will be Wi-Fi-only, unlike the current third-gen iPad that can operate on 3G and 4G carrier networks. Apple is also expected to unveil an updated version of the current third-gen iPad with 4G support in the U.K. and the new Lighting dock.

Some design changes to the new iPad Mini that was revealed via photos of leaked parts has halted the production of iPad Mini cases of at least one major case manufacturer. We’ve seen numerous cases and physical mockups of the rumored iPad Mini, so it’s not clear which changes have caused the production delays.

According to Japanese site Macotakara, a large OEM mobile accessory maker noticed that the round shape of the iPad Mini has changed and they may have to drop their designs based on leaked iPad Mini parts.

The iPhone 5 has a slightly larger display than the iPhone 4S, but come on, no one wants to watch movies on a tiny little 4-inch screen. You could go and buy an iPad or iPad Mini if you really want to watch movies on your iOS device, or you could save your self a few hundred dollars and buy this odd accessory that magnifies your screen size.

We’re expecting Apple to announce the iPad Mini really soon. Production is ramping up, and the keynote is rumored to take place next week. By now Apple’s got all the details in place for the first generation iPad Mini, and it’s more than likely only going to come in black and white, but what if Apple made the iPad Mini as colorful as the new iPod Touches?

Gizmodo’s been playing around with iPad Mini concept art, changing the back plating to match the new colors of the iPod Touch, and it looks really good. A red or yellow iPad Mini would look pretty sweet, and because it’s going to be a cheaper tablet, parents are probably going to be buying a lot of iPad Mini’s for their kids at Christmas, and kids love the hell out of colorful products. Do you think Apple should release the iPad Mini in a rainbow of colors like they do with iPods and the original iMac? Tell us what you think over at the Cult of Mac forums.

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums and share what you think about the idea of colorful iPad Minis

Following reports of a riot between 4,000 employees earlier this month, Foxconn has acknowledged that two disputes between workers did take place at one of its Chinese plants. However, the company has denied claims of a strike over iPhone 5 production pressures, and says that production is on schedule.

Apple has reportedly placed an order for 10 million iPad mini units ahead of its much-anticipated launch this fall, according to component suppliers in Asia speaking to The Wall Street Journal. The figure indicates that Apple expects the device to be a big seller this holiday season, despite strong competition from the likes of Amazon and Google.

The visionary co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, may have been dead for a year today, but the fruits of his incredible imagination, indefatigable quest for perfection and keen design eye are still ripening and shaking from the tree of the company that he created. The recently released iPhone 5 and new Lightning Connectors were  approved by him before he died,  the upcoming iPad mini was greenlit personally by Steve, and Apple’s upcoming roadmap for the next couple of years will probably be filled with projects that he personally oversaw.

Some of Steve Jobs’s last unrealized products loom larger than others, though. Here are the five incredible products from Steve Jobs that we still haven’t seen.

Hey, you know what’s getting a bad rap these days? Apple Maps! Sure, the app’s got issues, but it’s not all bee stings and bug bites, and on this episode of The CultCast, we’ll tell you exactly why some of us actually love the new Google usurper.

And then, with the anniversary of his death on Oct. 5th, we remember the life and works of Steve Jobs; ponder why the things he touched all turned to gold; and examine the price he paid for conquering the world of tech.

All that and so much more on our newest CultCast! Subscribe now on iTunes or easily stream it via Apple’s free Podcasts App.

Show notes ahead!

The iPad mini’s rumored announcement is drawing near, with many speculating that Apple will unveil the mythical device by mid-October. We’ve seen a few part leaks of the smaller tablet, and The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Apple is starting to ramp up mass production for the expected launch. Hopefully low yield rates overseas can pick up to meet what will undoubtedly be crazy consumer demand.

Martin Hajek made some strikingly accurate concept designs for the iPhone 5 before it was announced, and now he’s back with Gizmodo for the iPad mini:

Apple’s much-anticipated iPad mini is expected to make its debut in mid-October, but it may be a little more difficult to get hold of than other iOS devices. According to sources in the Cupertino company’s Taiwanese supply chain, iPad mini shipments are already stumbling due to the low yield rates of the tablet’s aluminum chassis.

According to a new report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, one in four adults in the United States owns a tablet of some kind. Two thirds of those adults have purchased them in the last year, according to the study, which was reported by The Economist. Further, the data doesn’t even include the new Google Nexus tablet, nor the new Kindle Fire HD from Amazon.

Is iPad in trouble? Is this a new era for Apple, one in which it must play catch up? The numbers of units do seem to tell that story.

I’m not buying it, though.

The Wall Street journal reports that Apple’s upcoming iPad mini has now entered mass production with component suppliers in Asia. According to two people familiar with the matter, the device will have a 7.85-inch LCD display — as previous rumors have suggested — and it will be priced to compete with cheaper tablets like the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire HD.

The rumor mill is churning out iPad Mini like a savage beast now. Yesterday we got word on the date of the iPad Mini announcement along with some new mockup pictures, but today we’re finally getting to see some leaked iPad Mini parts that we haven’t seen before.

UkrainianiPhone has some leaked photos of the iPad Mini that show what the black casing will look like. Most mock ups have shown the iPad Mini to have the same grey aluminum back casing as the new iPad, but these new images make the iPad Mini look a lot more like the Nexus 7 because the back panel uses the same iPhone 5 anodized aluminum material.

Take a look:

We learned this morning that the iPad Mini might be announced on October 17th after invites get sent to the press on October 10th. Everyone has a fairly good idea of what the iPad Mini will look like, but it can never hurt to see a few physical mock-ups for the sake of comparisson.

The latest mock-up photos to hit the Internet show what the iPad Mini will look like in comparison to the new Kindle Fire HD, Nexus 7, and the new iPad. The iPad’s design is noticeably more blocky as it’s missing the tapered edges of the iPad. Check out the photos after the jump.

Apple is bound to make an iPad Mini someday soon, and for the last few months the rumors have been saying  they’ll be announcing it in October. According to Fortune, Apple is set to mail out iPad Mini invitations on October 10th, which might suggest the actual keynote will be held on October 17th.

Remember that iPad mini that surfaced on Tuesday? Rather naively, I suggested it could have been the real thing, but as it turns out, it was nothing more than a dummy unit — as you can see from the video above. Admittedly, it is a rather impressive dummy unit, and it’s likely to be almost identical to the real iPad mini.