Apple’s iPad Mini will be uber-thin Apple’s upcoming iPad Mini is expected to feature “GF Ditto” (GF2) touchscreen technology, enabling the tablet to be both ultra thin and super light.
According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Cupertino will be the first company in the world to commercialize and mass produce GF Ditto tech.
As AppleInsider’sNeil Hughes points out, the method is a definite improvement from the “G/G touch structure” Apple currently utilizes in its third-gen iPad with Retina display.
“[As such], the iPad mini will be about as thin as Apple’s next-gen iPhone,” explained Hughes. “The iPad mini’s panel thickness will be below 2.2 millimeters alone, or below 4.2 millimeters including the printed circuit board.”
Unsurprisingly, Kuo also noted that manufacturing a device so thin and light has become somewhat of an issue for Apple, with the new iPad posing “a challenge to panel assembly yield” and allegedly prompting an internal delay in launching the device.
Nevertheless, the KGI Securities analyst believes the iPad Mini will begin shipping during the first half of October, with the device hitting Apple stores later that month.
Although official specs are obviously non-existent, Kuo says the iPad mini will feature an HD forward-facing FaceTime camera, along a 5-megapixel rear camera.
In other iPad Mini news, IHS iSuppli analyst Rhoda Alexander estimates a $249 price point would make it difficult for rivals to compete against the device. The real question, notes Alexander, is whether Apple wants to “crush the opposition” or just maintain dominance.
“And the price point would be how they do that,” she told CNET.
While a $299 price tag “would sit in a more comfortable place as far as a profit,” Alexander believes Apple could go as low as $249 for an entry level model. A higher end iteration of the iPad Mini would likely hover at around $349 and support 4G LTE.
