Digitimes’ Max Wang and Steve Shen report that OEM subcontractors in in Apple’s iPad upstream supply chain have begun delivering samples of 7.85-inch iPads for verification, with volume production likely to begin in the third quarter of 2012 earliest, according to industry sources.
The 7.85-inch iPad will apparently target Amazon’s US$199 7-inch Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet in aid of protecting Apple’s 60% share of the tablet PC market in 2011.
Wang and Lee project the 7.85-inch iPad’s price to come in somewhere in the $249$299 range, since Apple is also expected to release an 8GB iPad 2 next week expected to sell for $349-$399, and lower the price of the 16GB iPad 2 to US$449 their sources indicate.
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