Apple has removed the original iPad Mini from its online store

Apple’s original iPad mini, the only non-retina iPad still on sale, was quietly removed from Apple’s online store last night, as noted by 9to5Mac. Comparing the iPad section of the store between this morning and yesterday reveals that the first-gen iPad mini has been dropped from the comparison chart, too, leaving the iPad mini 2 and 3, as well as the iPad Air and iPad Air 2 as the current tablet options available to purchase new. End-of-life for the original iPad mini doesn’t come as a surprise – the device was first released in 2012, and still used the original iPad resolution of 1024×768. It was the first 7.9-inch iPad created by Apple, and while it represented a denser display resolution than had been available on the 9.7-inch iPad with the same number of pixels, it didn’t qualify for Apple’s high-density ‘Retina’ display designation. The A5-powered iPad mini also represented something of an oddity in terms of processor generation, and retailed for only $50 less than the entry-level iPad mini 2, which does include the Retina display with 326 ppi display along with a much newer chip to power software and apps.