Following the start of orders for the Retina iPad mini a few hours ago, Apple has issued a press release officially announcing the launch. The release notes that the Retina iPad mini will not only be available for online orders, but also through the in-store Personal Pickup mechanism by which customers can check stocks at their local Apple retail stores and purchase online before heading to their stores to pick up their orders. Walk-in sales will apparently not be offered until supplies improve.
Stocks of the Retina iPad mini have apparently yet to make their way to Apple's U.S. retail stores, as all stores are currently showing no availability for pickup, but limited supplies should be arriving shortly. Some of Apple's international stores do, however, already have stock available for in-store pickup, as noted by MacStories' Federico Viticci, who has placed an order for pickup and confirmed with his local store in Italy that supplies are indeed available.
Availability through Apple's online store appears to be holding up for the time being, with the company's U.S. stores showing the same shipping estimates seen at the time orders went live: 1-3 business days for 16 and 32 GB Wi-Fi models and 5-10 business days for all other models.
Update: Some U.S. retail stores on the East Coast are beginning to show availability of Wi-Fi models for Personal Pickup. Many stores have all 8 color/capacity Wi-Fi configurations available at the moment.
Update 2: Apple has now opened up Personal Pickup availability for a number of its stores across the United States. Many stores are, however, still listing no in-store stock, and those that do have stock are seeing quick sellouts of many models.
Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued.
The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
Tuesday February 18, 2025 12:02 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models.
In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
Thursday February 20, 2025 5:06 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring.
There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category.
M4...
Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:38 am PST by Juli Clover
Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple updated its iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia pages to give a narrower timeline on when the next updates are set to launch.
All three pages now state that new Apple Intelligence features and languages will launch in early April, an update from the more broader April timeframe that Apple provided before. The next major point updates will be iOS ...
Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19.
"Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag.
The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle.
Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
Apple today announced its first custom cellular modem with the name "C1," debuting in the all-new iPhone 16e.
The new modem contributes to the iPhone 16e's power efficiency, giving it the longest battery life of any iPhone with a 6.1-inch display, such as the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16.
Expanding the benefits of Apple silicon, C1 is the first modem designed by Apple and the most...
Tuesday February 18, 2025 8:46 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is permanently closing its retail store at the Northbrook Court shopping mall in the Chicago area. The company confirmed the upcoming closure today in a statement, but it has yet to provide a closing date for the location.
Apple Northbrook opened in 2005, and the store moved to a larger space in the mall in 2017.
Apple confirmed that affected employees will continue to work for the...
bigger screen / bigger battery / higher clock speed on the A7 chip is kind of a big deal :)
It's a very small deal I think. No one will ever notice the higher clock speed. Screen size is subjective, doesn't make any difference in performance unless you're using it to create work then I could see the bigger screen being beneficial. For 90% of people, it's all e-mail, web browsing, Facebook, Twitter, banking, games.
Just to confirm, has anyone seen a Wifi+Cell available anywhere? I have been checking throughout the day for NYC availability and have not seen anything.
We've added the new iPad mini to our iDevice availability page and notification service. Receive an e-mail when your local Apple Store has the model you want available for in-store pick-up.
