Apple has announced that the iPad mini with Retina display is now on sale through the Apple Store, Personal Pickup at Apple stores, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile stores.
When Apple announced the original iPad mini alongside the fourth-generation iPad last year, the company made some tradeoffs in terms of specs when compared to the full-sized tablet. Apple used a slower 1GHz single-core A5 processor in the iPad Mini compared to the 1.4GHz dual-core A6X processor in the larger iPad. The company also left out the 2048 x 1536 Retina display and shipped the iPad mini with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768. The lack of Retina display was one of the main criticisms the smaller iPad faced, although consumers didn't seem to mind that much and the iPad mini is rumored to have sold more units than the iPad fourth generation.
At Apple's iPad event in October this year, the company decided not to keep the new iPad mini as the less powerful offering compared to the full size iPad Air. Apple announced that the iPad mini would ship with a Retina display and the same 64-bit Apple A7 processor found in the iPad Air and iPhone 5s.
At the time, Apple announced that it was going to release the iPad Air on Nov. 1, while the iPad mini with Retina display would ship "later in November." The delay was reportedly due to supply constraints of the 7.9-inch Retina display.
The company has now started taking orders for the iPad mini with Retina display.
"The response to iPad Air has been incredible, and we're excited for customers to experience the new iPad mini with Retina display," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "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."
The iPad mini with Retina display is available to order through the Apple Online Store to ship or through Personal Pickup at Apple's retail stores (Apple is not allowing walk in purchases yet), and through AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and select Apple Authorized Resellers. The iPad mini with Retina display starts at $399.
