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iPad Mini Retina 3G/4G models now reaching Apple stores

The iPad Mini Retina with Wi-Fi + Cellular is now available for pickup at many Apple stores nationwide. The cellular models had been virtually absent at stores until now.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
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The iPad Mini Retina with 3G/4G is now popping at a number of Apple stores for pickup. Before, it had been virtually unavailable at stores.
The iPad Mini Retina with 3G/4G is now popping at a number of Apple stores for pickup. Before, it had been virtually unavailable at stores. Apple

The iPad Mini Retina with Wi-Fi + Cellular is now flowing into Apple stores.

What had been barely a trickle now seems to be a veritable stream. Models, such as the 32GB Verizon version, are now popping up for customer pickup all over Los Angeles -- where the cellular model had been absent.

The Verizon and AT&T models are now available for pickup at Los Angeles area stores like The Grove, Beverly Center, Pasadena, and Century City -- just to name a few.

Ditto on the Sprint and T-Mobile versions in the Los Angeles area. Sprint and T-Mobile are also appearing at other store locations nationwide for pickup, but the availability doesn't appear quite as widespread as the Verizon and AT&T models.

A quick check on Apple's Mini Retina store page and Seaturtle.org page (which also has a good tracker) shows the Verizon and AT&T 32GB models available more widely in Boston, Philadelphia, and San Diego, among other locations.

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However, Verizon and AT&T -- which also the sell the iPad Mini online and at stores -- are both backordered on the cellular versions of the Mini Retina, possibly another indication of the supply constraints for the new Apple tablet.

Verizon says the Mini Retina with "wireless and cellular" is on "back-order" and "will ship by 11/25."

AT&T says the iPad Mini Retina "with Wi-Fi + Cellular will ship in 21-28 business days."

The new Mini sports a 2,048x1,536 resolution display that boasts 326 pixels per inch -- one of the highest of any tablet to date. Analysts believe the display has been a challenge to make in the large volumes that Apple demands.