Rumors Already Surface Regarding Display Supplier for Next-Generation iPad Mini

SlashGear is reporting on an article from DoNews, a Chinese website, which claims that Apple’s display partner for the next-generation iPad mini will be AU Optronics. This new display, unsurprisingly, is expected to have a resolution high enough to earn Apple’s "Retina" branding. Previously it was thought that the iPad Mini could take several generations to gain a Retina display, similar in release pattern to Apple’s other iOS products.

MENAFN is also reporting that AU Optronics will be using indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) and Gate IC on array (GOA) technologies to get Retina resolution in a thin display such as the one used in the iPad mini.

Curiously both reports claim that the Retina iPad mini display would carry a resolution of 497 pixels per inch, but mathematically it would work out to be 326ppi. This is the same resolution that the iPhone has had since Retina displays were introduced in 2010 with the iPhone 4.

In other words, it seems even at this super-early stage, that the next-generation iPad mini will have a Retina display. This seems like a competitive necessity, and an overall good idea. The particulars of the technology used and the actual resolution of this display remain to be seen however.