Apple Will Release $299 iPad Mini in October !

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A research analyst claims that Apple will unveil a 7.85-inch iPad Mini with 8GB of memory in October.

Fresh off the heels of Google’s own 7-inch tablet, new rumors are still firing about the same-sized iPad. Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves suggests that the 7.85-inch iPad Mini will debut in Q4.

“We anticipate an entry-level 7.80-inch iPad with 8GB of NAND capacity to price at $299 with an initial gross margin of 31%,” wrote Hargreaves, in a research noteposted last Thursday.

Hargreaves went on to claim that the iPad Mini will probably cannibalize some of the larger iPad sales. Hargreaves told CNET that Apple would most likely kill off the $399 iPad 2 to make way for a 16GB iPad Mini.

“We estimate Apple will sell 10.0 million 7.85-inch iPads in FQ1 (Dec. 2012) and 35.2 million in all of F2013,” he said. “Based on estimated component order volume, we believe our iPad Mini unit estimates are well within Apple’s production capacity. We anticipate 25% cannibalization of the larger 9.7-inch iPad (for every four 7.85-inch iPads added, we reduced our 9.7-inch iPad estimate by one), so our total F2013 iPad estimate increases to 91.6 million from 65.2 million.”

Rumors of a smaller iPad started circulating when Tim Cook took the reins as Apple CEO. Cook’s predecessor, the late Steve Jobs, famously had a dim view of the 7-inch form factor.

In recent months, TabTimes has learned that Apple has reportedly been testing a 7.85-inch iPad at its offices in Cupertino, while other sources (including Samsung) have claimed that the device could pop up as early as September.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, franckreporter

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TabTimes is a Mashable publishing partner that helps you select, buy and use the best tablet devices, accessories, apps, platforms and services for yourself, your department and your organization. This article is reprinted with the publisher's permission.