Friday Apple Rumors: iPad Mini Coming Oct. 23

by Christopher Freeburn | October 12, 2012 2:10 pm

daily apple rumors AAPL[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

Coming Announcement: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[3]) will unveil its much-anticipated iPad Mini[4] at a special media event on October 23, AllThingsD says. That would put the event three days before Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT[5]) debuts its new Windows 8 operating system on October 26. Previous reports indicated that the company would mail invitations to the event this week, with the unveiling occurring possibly next week. Apple has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of the smaller-screen iPad, rumored to have a 7.85-inch display. However, reports from Asian component makers indicate that production of the iPad Mini began in September and is ramping up to produce as many as 10 million units by the holidays. The smaller iPad would compete with a flurry of 7-inch tablets from Google (NASDAQ:GOOG[6]), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN[7]) and Samsung.

Advance Selling: Though the iPad Mini hasn’t even been officially acknowledged by Apple, Asian manufacturers are already selling various cases for the so-far-unseen iPad[8], the Wall Street Journal notes. Numerous listings on Chinese e-commerce website Alibaba offer protective cases for the 7.85-inch iPad. Such pre-unveiling accessory listings aren’t unusual for Alibaba, which offered cases for the iPhone 5 well before the newest iPhone was launched on September 21.

Chip Poaching: Apple has won another victory against Samsung, and this time not in a courtroom. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has lured prominent chip designer[9] Jim Mergard away from Samsung’s Texas-based microprocessor design team. Mergard was a former AMD (NYSE:AMD[10]) chief engineer before joining Samsung. Apple has long relied on Samsung to make the chips that power its mobile devices, with many of those chips produced in Austin, Texas. However, as the two companies have become the dominant players and rivals in the smartphone and tablet market, Apple has begun looking for alternatives to Samsung, including assembling its own in-house chip design talent.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[11] stories.

Endnotes:

  1. [Image]: https://investorplace.com/hot-topics/apple-rumors-stock-news/
  2. Apple rumors: https://investorplace.com/search/?q=Apple+Rumors&searchsubmit=Search
  3. AAPL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AAPL
  4. unveil its much-anticipated iPad Mini: http://allthingsd.com/20121012/apple-likely-to-unveil-ipad-mini-at-october-23-event/
  5. MSFT: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=MSFT
  6. GOOG: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GOOG
  7. AMZN: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AMZN
  8. are already selling various cases for the so-far-unseen iPad: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/10/12/cases-for-7-85-inch-ipad-mini-available-for-sale/
  9. has lured prominent chip designer: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/10/11/chip-design-luminary-leaves-samsung-for-apple/
  10. AMD: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AMD
  11. Apple Rumors: https://investorplace.com/2012/04/hot-topics/apple-rumors-stock-news/

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