Apple Suppliers Begin Mass Production on iPad Mini

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple’s Asian component suppliers have ratcheted up production, and are now churning out the as-yet-unannounced iPad Mini.
 
According to the Journal, “people with knowledge of the situation” explained that the factories have already started mass production of Apple’s new tablet which will “have a 7.85-inch liquid-crystal display with a lower resolution compared with the latest iPad model that came out in March”. Those specs certainly tie in with other rumours we’ve heard.
 
The report offers little else in the way of details. We’ve seen a couple of different rumoured prototypes floating around, though, so—unlike the recent iPhone—we don’t have a clear idea what the device might look like. If it exists.
 
Elsewhere, speculation suggests the smaller tablet would share the guts of the iPad 2 and, perhaps, launch some time around mid October, but for a full round-up of iPad Mini rumours you can read our recent report. Of course, for now this is all hearsay—but we might not have to wait long until we find out what Apple really has up its sleeve