Mini-iPad In The Works?

TAIWAN – Does Apple have a mini iPad in the works? It seems unlikely, given the late Steve Job’s derisive putdowns of small-screen tablets produced by the likes of Dell.

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But the emergence of Amazon.com’s small-screen Kindle Fire at a low price may have changed the outlook by the new guard at Apple.

Fuelling speculation is a report in Taiwan’s Chinese-language United Daily News that Taiwan’s AU Optronics and Korea’s LG Display have both provided Apple with 7.85-inch touchscreens for testing.

United Daily suggests Apple could be planning a mini-iPad using a screen of this size and claims the new device could ship in the first half of 2012.