Apple: iPad mini Blows 7-Inchers Out of the Water

Continuing to emphasize the advantages posed by Apple’s iPad mini over competing 7-inch tablets, Apple claims to offer 35 percent more viewing area on its diminutive tablet, compared to the likes of Amazon's Kindle Fire HD.

Commenting on the display size of the recently-launched iPad mini, Apple CEO Tim Cook said during yesterday’s earnings call, “Let me be clear, we would not make one of the 7-inch tablets.”

“We don’t think they are good products, and we would never make one. Not just because it’s 7 inches, but for many reasons. One of the reasons…is size,” he said.

“I’m not sure if you saw our keynote. The difference in just the size between 7.9—almost 8—versus 7 is 35 percent,” Cook commented. “And when you look at the usable area, it is much greater than that. You know, it is from 50 percent to 67 percent.”

Clarifying that the iPad mini boasts the same amount of screen pixels as iPad 2 does, Cook reinforced Apple’s belief that it’s not just a smaller iPad, but a concentration of all the features offered by its bigger siblings in a smaller form factor.

The CEO further cemented that claim by pointing out that all of the tablet-centric applications in the iTunes App Store will work exactly the same on the smaller device.

“You have access to all 275,000 [iPad] apps in our App Store. So, iPad mini is a fantastic product. It is not a compromise product like the 7-inch tablets. It is a whole different league,” Cook said.

Apple elaborates on the matter in the product’s specs pages on Apple.com.

It states that “It has the same 1024-by-768 resolution as iPad 2 — in a size that’s significantly smaller. So everything looks incredibly crisp and sharp. And since the iPad mini display has 35 percent more screen area than a 7-inch tablet, everything is easier to read and interact with.”