Apple has placed orders with its Asian suppliers for over 10 million iPad minis for the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the Wall Street Journal.
On Sunday, WSJ's Lorraine Luk wrote: "Some component suppliers to Apple in Asia say they have received orders to make more than 10 million units of the smaller tablets in the fourth quarter. That is roughly double the order that were placed for Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets in the same quarter, these suppliers say."
The report comes less than a week after reports from WSJ that claimed that production of the iPad mini had begun.
The latest speculation is that Apple will send out invitations for a 17 October event on Wednesday, with an on sale date for the smaller iPad of 2 November.
There has been no official word from Apple about the iPad mini, or that it is even in the pipeline, but leaked parts and analyst expectations indicate that such device is likely to be launched by the company in the near future.
As for what the iPad mini will look like, the pictured mock-up of the 'iPad family' from graphic designer Martin Hajek could be a good approximation.
IDG News Service