Apple has today announced an iPad mini to run alongside its hugely popular iPad lineup. Spec’d with a 7.9″ screen, dual core Apple A5 chip, 720p Facetime camera, a 5MP rear iSight camera capable of 1080p video, and 802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4/5GHz Wifi with LTE in the cellular version.

The display is 7.9″, with the same 1024×768 resolution as the iPad 2. In preserving the same screen resolution as the iPad 2, Apple has allowed it to run all 275,000 apps designed for the iPad. The new iPad mini is 7.2mm thin and weighs a scant .68 lbs. Given its new size and proportion, it should easily fit in a jacket pocket or purse. Apple describes it as “thin as a pencil” and “every inch an iPad.”

The iPad mini also comes with the newly designed lightning connector and Apple has designed a new Smart Cover for improved viewing versatility.

The new iPad mini comes in black and white and wide range of flavors including 16/32/64GB in WiFi-only or WiFi + LTE cellular. With a base price of $329 and going upwards from there, it is more than a Kindle or Android tablet, but given that people seem to be more than willing to pay the Apple tax these days, I expect it to be wildly successful.

The iPad mini is available for pre-order October 26th shipping a week later.