Apple's new iPad Mini heads to NZ in November

Apple has this morning revealed the eagerly anticipated iPad mini with Retina display, set to launch in New Zealand late November.

Bringing all the pixels from the 9.7-inch iPad to its 7.9-inch screen, the device features the Apple-designed A7 chip with 64-bit desktop-class architecture, ultrafast wireless with faster built-in Wi-Fi and expanded 4G LTE cellular connectivity, and the newly-designed iOS 7 featuring hundreds of new features.

“iPad created an entirely new mobile computing experience," says Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

Schiller claims the device packs all the 3.1 million pixels (2048-by-1536 resolution) of iPad Air into its 7.9-inch Multi-Touch display, for a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch.

The 7.9-inch Retina display of iPad mini is 35 percent larger than screens on 7-inch tablets, and is the only small tablet to deliver the full iPad experience, now with razor sharp Retina quality.

According to Schiller, "images are crisp, text is crystal clear, movies play at full 1080p HD-resolution and the 475,000 apps designed specifically for iPad work automatically."

Including the newly released iPad Air also, both new iPads feature two antennas to support Multiple-In-Multiple-Out (MIMO) technology, bringing twice the Wi-Fi performance to iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display at a blazingly fast data rate up to 300 Mbps.

FaceTime

iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display now have a next generation FaceTime HD camera with improved backside illumination sensors featuring larger pixels for better low-light performance.

The iSight camera with 5MP sensor and advanced optics, combined with iOS 7 and the image signal processing of A7, further improves still image and video capture on iPad bringing faster auto-focus, up to three times video zoom, five times still zoom, better dynamic range and automatic image and video stabilisation.

iOS7

The new iPad mini come with iOS 7, featuring a stunning new user interface, completely redesigned with an elegant colour palette, distinct, functional layers and subtle motion that make it feel more alive. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop®, enhanced Photos and Safari®.

Pricing & Availability

iPad mini with Retina display will be available later in November in silver or space grey.

iPad mini with Retina display Wi-Fi models will be available for a recommended retail price of NZ$599 for the 16GB model, $749 for the 32GB model, $899 for the 64GB model and $1,049 for the 128GB model.

iPad mini with Retina display Wi-Fi + Cellular models will be available for a recommended retail price of $799 for the 16GB model, $949 for the 32GB model, $1,099 for the 64GB model and $1,249 for the 128GB model.

Additionally, the original iPad mini is now offered at a more affordable recommended retail price of $450 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and $649 for the 16GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model.