iPad Mini Prices To Start At $349, Rumor Claims

The Apple iPad mini will be priced at the premium cost of $329 according to an unnamed source. That pricing would be $130 more expensive than the 7-inch tablets offered by Google (Nexus 7) and Amazon (Kindle Fire HD).

Apple will officially announce the device this week but very little is known about the new offering. The iPad mini is expected to carry Apple’s new lightning adapter and several unnamed sources claim that it will lose the larger iPad’s backside camera. Apple’s retina display is also expected to get the ax.

While the company’s base model will start at $329 it’s most expensive model is rumored to cost $659, a rather large premium for a 7-inch tablet. The higher end devices will feature larger hard drives and cellular connectivity, although it is still not clear if that connectivity will be 3G or 4G LTE based.

According to an Apple source the iPad mini will come in three memory configurations and two color options.

It should be noted that the iPad mini’s expected 7.85-inch display is slightly larger than competitor devices but hardly enough to place a $130 premium on the tablet.

Regardless of the possible premium pricing structure Apple is expected to sell at least 3 million iPad mini devices before the end of the year.

Apple will face increasing pressure from the Microsoft Surface tablet, the next Google Nexus tablet and Amazon’s increasing line of Google Android based tablets.