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iPad Mini could take design cues from iPod

iPad Mini speculation is beginning to hint at a design that may be substantially different than the current iPad.

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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Will the iPad Mini design be thin like the iPod touch
Will the iPad Mini design be thin like the iPod touch? CNET

Now that there is an increasing likelihood of Apple releasing an iPad Mini, speculation is starting to get more specific.

Japanese-language Web site Macotakara claims the iPad Mini -- rumored to use a 7.85-inch display -- will be almost as thin as the iPod touch (4th generation), citing "reliable Chinese sources."

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That would indeed be thin. The iPod touch is a mere 7.2 mm thick -- a couple of millimeters thinner than the Retina iPad.

The dimensions are similar to Google's Nexus 7: the height is about the same, while the width is a "little bit" bigger, Macotakara said.

And Macotakara goes out on a limb with this statement. "It won't be like a slimmed down iPad, it will have an iPod nano-like (3rd generation) design. The look is pretty different," according to the Japanese-language site.

Screenshot by Brooke Crothers/CNET

Some models may come with 3G, too, though not all carriers may necessarily offer a 3G version, Macotakara said.

And the interesting tidbits don't stop there. Though trial production is being done in China, mass production will take place in Brazil.

NPD DisplaySearch told CNET on Tuesday that Apple has plans for the iPad Mini and it may be only a matter of getting production up and running.

"For the 7.85-inch panel, there's a business plan for it, there's a mass production target for it. And we know that it's for Apple," Richard Shim, an NPD DisplaySearch analyst, said on Tuesday.

[Via Cult of Mac and AppleInsider].