Apple's new rumored iPad Mini will supposedly come with a sleeker design than the company's current iPad models, according to an analyst.
"Apple did not skimp on the aesthetics of the much anticipated iPad Mini," Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White said recently in a research note obtained by All Things Digital and reported by CNET. "In fact, we believe the iPad Mini could outshine the new iPad in terms of how the device feels in a consumer's hands."
While the analyst doesn't specify what the cosmetic changes will be, the iPad mini will obviously be smaller than current models. Apple's existing iPad model comes with a 9.7-inch screen while the iPad Mini will reportedly has a 7.85-inch screen.
The new device is expected to look more like Apple's iPhone 5 and to compete with the Kindle Fire HD and the Google Nexus 7 tablets.
But most descriptions of the rumored device have the iPad Mini with a near identical design as its bigger brother. Steve Jobs once said during an Apple quarterly earnings call in 2010 that the seven-inch tablet was too small for consumers and the optimization of application.
"This size isn't sufficient to create great tablet apps in our opinion," he said. "Given that all users will already have a smartphone in their pockets, giving up precious display area to fit a tablet in our pocket is clearly the wrong tradeoff," Jobs said, as he squashed speculation about a smaller iPad.
But that could have been Jobs trying to convince the media that the company was not working on the rumored devices.
Apple has not confirmed the device, but many are speculating that it will cost $299 for a entry level device and $399 for a higher end model, which would price the device just $100 dollars less than the regular version and $100 more than the entry level iPod touch.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the company has ordered more than 10 million iPad minis to be produced for this upcoming holiday season. The article uses unnamed Apple suppliers as its source of the rumor.
A major Apple investor told Fortune that he's heard from "multiple sources," that invitation for an announcement event are expected to go out on Wednesday Oct. 10. The report says, "If the rumor is true, and if Apple follows its usual scheduling protocol, that would suggest a special event to unveil the product on Wednesday, Oct. 17, with a launch day of Friday Nov. 2 -- plenty of time to capture holiday sales."
