Three years is a long time in the mobile world, so the fact that Apple finally took 2012’s first-generation iPad Mini off of its online store on Thursday isn’t that much of a surprise. Not only was the tablet the only non-retina iPad on Apple’s online store, it still had the 1024×768 resolution that the original iPad had. If you’re still interested in purchasing an iPad Mini for some reason, the tablet is still available on the refurbished section of Apple’s online store, as well as on certain third-party websites.
Apple’s original iPad mini, the only non-retina iPad still on sale, was quietly removed from Apple’s online store last night, as noted by 9to5Mac. Comparing the iPad section of the store between this morning and yesterday reveals that the first-gen iPad mini has been dropped from the comparison chart, too, leaving the iPad mini 2 and 3, as well as the iPad Air and iPad Air 2 as the current tablet options available to purchase new. End-of-life for the original iPad mini doesn’t come as a surprise – the device was first released in 2012, and still used the original iPad resolution of 1024×768. It was the first 7.9-inch iPad created by Apple, and while it represented a denser display resolution than had been available on the 9.7-inch iPad with the same number of pixels, it didn’t qualify for Apple’s high-density ‘Retina’ display designation. The A5-powered iPad mini also represented something of an oddity in terms of processor generation, and retailed for only $50 less than the entry-level iPad mini 2, which does include the Retina display with 326 ppi display along with a much newer chip to power software and apps.
