Apple now offers three different iPad families.
You can’t blame Apple. The iPad is by far the best-selling tablet of all time and the company doesn’t want to cede ground to any upstarts, therefore, enter the iPad mini.
Tablet buyers gain another great choice of smaller tablet form factor with the iPad mini, which to date has been dominated by Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Google’s Nexus 7, both 7-inch tablet models.
But for buyers, even those predisposed to buying Apple to the exclusion of other vendors, the choice of iPad has gone from the ultra simple in 2010 when the first iPad was released, to today when there are now three different models and 14 different total configurations.
Here’s how it all breaks out:
iPad 4th generation: The latest and greatest
In a bit of a surprise, Apple replaced the current iPad with Retina display model today with a new “4th generation” model with the same 9.7-inch display. The new iPad also maintains the same pricing starting at $499 for the base, Wi-Fi-only model and goes up from there for models with cellulari dual sim connectivity and more storage.
Apple’s pretty good at clearing inventory, but it’s quite possible bargain hunters can find the suddenly older “new” iPad at a discount either online or at some stores. But the discount may not be that high, and you’d be missing out on new features like a much faster processor (Apple says the A6 in the latest iPad is twice as fast as the chip it replaces) and better front and rear cameras).
iPad 2: The classic keeps on going
A big hit with educators and consumers with limited budgets, Apple said it will continue to offer the iPad 2 starting at $399. While there are six different pricing and configuration options for both the iPad mini and iPad with Retina display, the iPad 2 keeps it simple: $399 for the Wi-Fi version, $529 for the version with 3G cellular. Both have 16GB storage standard.
iPad mini: Apple’s rising star
Take that Amazon and Google.
Apple essentially recreated what was a niche tablet market when it launched the iPad in 2010 and the release of the iPad mini makes clear the company isn't ready to cede any of its dominant market share to competitors.
Plenty of budget buyers will still balk at the iPad mini’s higher $329 price that’s over a hundred bucks higher than rivals like the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7, but Apple’s now got a much more tempting offer for the majority of would be tablet buyers.
The iPad mini’s 7.9-inch display actually offers a lot more screen space than 7-inch rivals. As Apple exec Phil Schiller noted at today’s launch, 7.9-inches is the diagonal measure, but the iPad mini screen actually offers about a third more screen size than competitors -- 29.6 square inches versus 21.9 inches for the 7-inch Android competitors.
That extra screen real estate matters when you consider “the number one thing people do is surf the Web,” said Schiller.
The 1024 x 768 resolution display matches that of the iPad 2 and its powered by the same A5 processor. But the iPad mini improves on the iPad 2 in terms of its camera, adding a better 1.2 megapixel FaceTime HD camera with 720 HD video besting the VGA resolution of the iPad 2. The iSight camera on the iPad mini is 5 megapixels, the same as the Retina display iPad.
iPad to the max
For those looking for the ultimate iPad you can spend $649 for a new iPad mini with Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity along with 64GB of storage. The standard model at $329 comes with 16GB.
The same options (64GB and cellular) are available for the iPad with Retina display, but the price jumps to $829 .