Low Touchscreen Yields Reportedly Contributing to iPad Mini Pricing

[dampfnudel]

No way. Tablets and phones (and anything portable, for that matter) benefit from being light and thin.

I would gladly pay another $30 extra to make it even thinner and lighter.

I would gladly pay another $70 extra if Apple had given us a retina display & A6X.

iPad mini retina with A6X ($100 less for a shrunken version of the iPad 4)

16GB - $399/349
32GB - $499/449
64GB - $599/549

Maybe Apple just needed to test the waters with the A5/non-retina mini (as well as LG panels) and next year we get the real deal.

 

[warschauer]

I'm still puzzling over Apple's choice to discontinue the iPad 3 but keep the iPad 2 in production. I'm actually glad about the decision, since that leaves one Apple iDevice with the old-style dock connector. I'm sure that the iPad 2 is cheaper to produce, thus they can sell it for a slightly cheaper price. But if someone is prepared to spend $399 for an iPad, why wouldn't they pony up the extra $100 and get the newest model? It doesn't seem like a big enough difference in price.

Schools are very cost-sensitive and do not need retina displays. Schools that are using iPads have been buying iPad 2s. Of course some of them might make the shift to iPad mini now.

 

[etrinh]

Maybe Samsung did not invent OLED but they definitely perfected it like no one else. 97% market share in OLED tech proves just that.

By the same logic: Apple didn't invent the smartphone but they perfected it. Should that apply as well?

 

[FieldingMellish]

Low touch screen yields? So it's harder, now, to make a crappier, older tech display?

 

[awesomebase]

Total BS

Every time I see a pricing issue, I see "excuses"... sorry, but Apple has the upper hand in supply-side management for almost any components you can think of. They just want huge margins and they keep getting them. Nexus is looking better all the time... just want the LTE version to come out!

 

[SeaFox]

How do the two technologies compare?

If we look at the comparison cross-section between the full size iPad, which users older screen technology, and the technology used in the iPad Mini, the new screen is half a millimeter thinner.

Isn't that worth a $100 markup?