Apple Retina iPad Mini Release: First Shipments May Reportedly Arrive Friday As Supply Shortages Likely To Ease In Early 2014

Many customers who ordered Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new Retina iPad mini immediately after its launch on Tuesday have reported receiving an estimated delivery date of Friday, Nov. 15, according to a new report.

A report from 9to5Mac revealed on Wednesday that several people in the UK received an estimated delivery date of Nov. 15 for the Retina iPad mini, while some customers in the U.S. reported receiving delivery time estimates from UPS of Monday, Nov. 18. Apple, on the other hand, is quoting a Nov. 21 delivery date on its website for many day-one Retina iPad mini orders, the report said.

Currently, Apple’s online store is showing the same shipping estimates seen at the time orders went live: 1-3 business days for 16 GB and 32 GB Wi-Fi models and 5-10 business days for all other models.

According to some earlier reports, available supplies of the Retina iPad mini are extremely low as Apple was likely facing display production issues, compelling it to turn to Samsung (KRX:005935) to assist with production.

Meanwhile, Rhoda Alexander of IHS iSuppli told CNET that the supply of the second-generation iPad is likely to be tight in the fourth quarter of 2013 but the shortage is expected to ease in the first quarter of 2014.

According to Alexander, Apple could ship only two million Retina iPad mini units in the fourth quarter of this year, but the shipments will likely grow to a total of about 4.58 million devices in the first three months of next year, representing a 102 percent quarter-on-quarter increase.

Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities made similar predictions in a recent research note, saying that 2.26 million Retina iPad units would be shipped in the fourth quarter and that number could more than double to 4.575 million units in the first quarter of 2014.

MacRumors reported on Wednesday that a small amount of stock of the cellular model of the Retina iPad mini appeared on some U.S. Apple retail stores. Although Apple retail stores in several other countries had stocks of the cellular version of the Retina iPad mini at launch, the U.S. stores did not have any availability, the report said.