Following a surprise launch last week that saw Apple's retail stores offering the new Retina iPad mini only for Personal Pickup of online orders, the company's U.S. stores have now begun selling the device to walk-in customers. Supplies do, however, remain extremely tight, and thus ordering online for Personal Pickup to secure a specific model is still advised.
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The launch of walk-in sales was noted this morning in a research note from Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White, who indicated that a number of New York City stores received shipments designated for walk-in customers last night and this morning. MacRumors has confirmed that walk-in sales are now being offered in some stores, although one store contacted by MacRumors reported that it was still offering only Personal Pickup options.
Apple has also updated its iPad retail page to simply encourage customers to purchase in-store, rather than specifically noting that they should purchase the Retina iPad mini online for in-store pickup.
The tight supply constraints on Retina iPad mini models mean that Personal Pickup remains unavailable for many models at many stores, with several supply trackers attempting to help customers determine whether their desired models are available in their areas. Online orders through Apple's U.S. online store continue to show 5-10 business day shipping estimates for all models.
Update 10:40 AM: White has issued a new note reporting that 26 out of 32 stores surveyed by his team currently have at least some stock of Retina iPad mini models available for walk-in purchase.
Top Rated Comments
I think you are correct in that the average user won't know / care about the yellow screen. It's just that I currently have a first gen ipad mini and am already slightly annoyed by the jaundiced screen. I definitely can't see myself spending money to "upgrade" to new high res yellow screen with ghosting issues. What can I say? I've become extremely spoiled with my rmbp 15" with beautiful samsung display. They really make all other display manufacturers look like crap.
Yellow screen and ghosting? It sounds like you're not talking about color accuracy at all, but rather manufacturing defects that are well within limits of the 1 year warranty.
I've got a friend who was complaining to me about how terrible the battery is on his iPhone 5. He's even got a Mophie and it only lasts a couple hours or so without even being used so he has to constantly charge it all day every day. Somehow, it never dawned on him to just walk into an Apple store to get it checked out. :confused:
If you've got a lemon, go get it replaced; Apple is pretty good about that sort of thing.
Put a samsung screen in this sucker and I'll give you my money.
I said when this thing was announced that it is the iPad I have been waiting for. Now that I've had it for a week, I will repeat what I previously said - This is the iPad I have been waiting for, and the wait is over! These ridiculous screen issues don't bother me the slightest bit.
Put a samsung screen in this sucker and I'll give you my money.
I got my rMini on the day of release and was thoroughly enjoying a number of games thinking, "Wow, this screen is amazing! And the colors are so awesome!" I mean, I was literally playing Oceanhorn thinking that the colorful palette was super vibrant and popping, wondering if my iPad 3 could possibly look as good.
Then of course Anand's review came out and everyone is like, "Wow, that screen is garbage! The colors are so faded!"
I honestly can't imagine that the average consumer will ever notice the color gamut deficiency. That being said, do you mind me asking what your use case is that this matters? And if it's just for watching movies or other media consumption, is this something you noticed before Anand's review (e.g. the original iPad mini's color gamut)?
(I am of course assuming that your request for a Samsung screen implies that their screen would present better color accuracy.)