There were some doubts about how widely available the new iPad mini with Retina Display (iPad mini 2) would be for the holiday shopping season, after manufacturing issues reduced the expected stock. However, according to one report, there are iPad mini 2's to be had out there, and there might be an iPad "max" in the waiting for 2014.

Tech watchers and Apple fans have been watching the build-up to the holiday shopping season closely. This is because burn-in issues, from a portion of the display manufactures Apple contracted to make the iPad mini 2's retina screen, resulted in an unspecified portion of iPad mini 2 retina displays being substandard and unsellable. This, in turn, led to rumors that the second generation 7.9-inch tablet would be scarce this Black Friday and beyond.

Apple initially declined to set a specific release date for the iPad mini 2, while the iPad Air and other new Apple products for the fall were given clear release dates - or simply made available the same day they were announced - which made iPad mini 2 fanboys even more nervous.

Well fear not, because according to CNET's correspondents on the ground, the iPad mini 2 is all over the U.S. and ready for purchase. "As of this week, the iPad Mini Retina is available, for the first time, widely at stores across the U.S., according to checks done by CNET," reported the tech news giant.

CNET's availability checks included stores in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and L.A., which all had iPad mini 2 in store, at least before the Black Friday 2013 rush. Availability was limited to WiFi-only models or certain wireless carrier LTE-enabled variants in some stores, but all Apple Stores at least had something to sell. The iPad mini 2 is also available online at the Apple Store, though, unlike other stores like Target, Apple isn't offering any gift card deals or discounts on the diminutive tablet.

Apple may have something completely new to offer the world next year though, if reports from South Korean media are correct. The Korea Times recently reported that Apple is planning to compete with Samsung and LG on large tablets by introducing an almost 13-inch iPad next year.

"Apple's local first-tier display supplier is now producing a 12.9-inch Retina Display to be used in the new iPad, which will be coming out sometime next year," said an unnamed official at a "local Apple supplier in Korea", according to the Korea Times.

The report isn't specific on the details of the rest of the huge-screened iPad "max," other than one detail, which seems a little improbable: supposedly, this 13-inch iPad will feature "almost ultra high-definition (UHD) quality," known otherwise as 4K video, which is a technology almost exclusive to a few exorbitantly expensive big-screen televisions, professional computer monitors, and otherwise, the R&D labs right now. That, plus the fact that there is a long-trending history of expecting iDevices to get bigger screens, which so far has not been borne out by reality, should give even the least circumspect industry watcher a large grain of salt to mix with that report.
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