Apple Store Stops Selling The Original iPad Mini

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.

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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.

You can still get the iPad mini in the refurbished section of the store for now, and third-party sellers still appear to have stock, but the iPad mini’s life as new hardware is effectively done. That doesn’t mean existing users can’t continue to enjoy it, however: Apple announced that it will be among the devices that work with iOS 9, which is set to come out this fall and provide a host of new features.

Apple confirmed that the iPad mini is no longer available. A spokesperson provided the following statement to TechCrunch about the change:

The non-retina iPad mini model is no longer available. Now all models of iPad mini and iPad Air have 64-bit Apple-designed CPUs and high-resolution Retina displays.