Apple has just sent out an invite to some members of the press to an event they’re holding in Cupertino on October 23rd. Their tagline for this invite reads “We’ve got a little more to show you.”
Likely a nod to the size of the device they’re about to announce, we’re putting our bets on an iPad mini (as is most of the rest of the world), as well as some other blow-away products. A lot of theory is going around as to how Apple will handle this event in general. Will is be focused entirely on iPad mini, or will we also see an iPad refresh, even though the last one was a scant seven and a half months ago.
Some rumours peg Apple to launch a whopping 24 varieties of the iPad mini, likely in 8, 16, 32, and 64GB varieties, in WiFi and WiFi + LTE versions, each in white and black. Yep, 24.
Other rumours say that this event will also be the time to highlight a new 13.3″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display. This does make sense, as the new laptop might make the Retina display a lot easier to swallow, but we’re not sure that’s where the news really is.
Turning back to the rumours of the iPad mini, we’re predicting an equally tiny price to go with the smaller tablet. For its base 8GB WiFi-only model, we’re almost positive that Apple will employ a $249 price to bring everyone into the iPad fold. The Cupertino company has said before that the $199 sweet spot is where they see iPod sales skyrocketing, and while we don’t think it’ll drop quite that low, it will be interesting to see just how low the price gets by next year around this time.
Other pricing predictions we have are based on size. We’re thinking the iPad mini will go for $249, $349, $449, and $549 for 8, 16, 32, and 64GB varieties, respectively. The pricing lines up with their larger models, and we will likely see about $100 added to each model for LTE connectivity.
The screen size is going to be the biggest factor here, and we’re thinking that the screen might just have the same resolution of the larger iPad. In doing so, Apple would make developers’ jobs extremely simple as they’d have to do absolutely nothing to make sure their apps run perfectly on the new device. Keeping things the same would also mean a ridiculously high screen resolution and likely the most densely packed screen they’ve ever put into a tablet. The current stunner of a display on the ‘new iPad’ would be outdone by its smaller sibling.
We’re not predicting many other big technologies here, although wireless charging would be a great bonus. Apple has to pull something else out of its hat if it is to really show us why a smaller iPad deserves its own event by itself. Will you finally be able to use the iPad mini as a touchpad for your Mac? Or can you turn it into a second screen through native software from OS X? We’ll have to wait and see, but you can bet we’ll be hearing (lots and lots) more next Tuesday.
For those keeping track, the invite that Apple sent out uses a remarkably similar theme and colour palette to that of the original iPad’s announcement invite. Take a look below and see for yourself!
