Apple on Monday said it has sold three million iPads in three days since the launch of its new iPad mini and fourth generation iPad, double the previous first weekend milestone of 1.5 million Wi-Fi only models sold for the third generation iPad in March.

“Customers around the world love the new iPad mini and fourth generation iPad. We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis. We are working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand,” said Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple.

Demand for iPad mini exceeded the initial supply and while many of the pre-orders have been shipped to customers, some are scheduled to be shipped later this month.

Both iPad mini and the new fourth generation iPad with Retina display are available in 34 countries including the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and the UK, and will be available in many more countries later this year, including mainland China. The Wi-Fi + Cellular versions of both iPad mini and fourth generation iPad will ship in a few weeks in the US and in many more countries later this year.

Apple iPad mini features 7.9” display with 1024*768 resolution (163ppi) and is based on the same chip that powers Apple iPad 2, the A5 (dual-core ARM Cortex-A9, PowerVR SGX543MP2 graphics core, 1GHz clock-speed, 32nm process technology). The tablet features 512MB RAM, 16GB/32GB/64GB NAND flash storage, 5MP rear camera with backside illumination, 1.2MP front camera, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, accelerometer, gyroscope, GPS/Glonass (cellular version only), “world-ready” 3G, HSPA+ (21Mb/s), DC-HSPA (42Mb/s) and 4G/LTE (73Mb/s). iPad mini comes in a new aluminum and glass design that is 7.2mm thick and weighs up to 312 grams/0.69 pounds. The device comes with Apple iOS 6 operating system. Just like all the new gadgets from Apple, the iPad mini utilizes Lightning connector, which is speedier and more robust than the 30-pin connect Apple has been using for about a decade.

Thanks to 4:3 aspect ratio of the 7.9” screen, the new iPad is not only compatible with all applications ever designed for the original iPad and iPad 2, but should provide a little better user experience compared to popular 7”-class media tablets with 16:9 displays.

Tags: Apple, iPad, iOS