The Apple rumor mill is churning again with reports that the next-generation iPad mini will boast a significantly higher resolution display than the current model.
The rumor come by way of DigiTimes out of Taiwan citing industry sources. Although its always best to take DigiTimes reports with a large grain of salt, this one certainly makes sense. If Apple can figure out a way to keep costs of the retina display down (something which might not have been possible before), the iPad mini will have yet another advantage over its Android competitors, aside from an intuitve UI and a rich, entrenched ecosystem.
Interestingly, the sources of the above-mentioned rumors were unclear if the next generation iPad mini would be equipped with a 7.9-inch screen at the same resolution as the current Retina-enabled iPad. Indeed, some analysts expect the next-generation iPad to feature a HiDPI display rather than a retina screen.
If the rumors turn out to be true, the next-generation iPad mini could have a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. On a smaller 7.9-inch screen, that resolution would provide a pixel density higher than that of the normal iPad's 264 PPI.
The same source of the iPad mini rumor also claims that Apple will be moving to a different backlighting system using LEDs on the 9.7-inch iPad, with the full-size iPad moving from dual light bars to one light bar in an effort to make the tablet thinner and lighter.
