Facts and figures on the new iPad mini

SAN FRANCISCO, California–These are the principal features, pricing and availability of the new iPad mini tablet computer, sales of which started in Australia on Friday:

— the iPad mini has a 7.9-inch (20.06-centimeter) touchscreen when measured diagonally, smaller than the 9.7-inch (24.6-cm) display on the original iPad

— the iPad mini weighs 0.68 pounds, 53 percent lighter than Apple’s third generation iPad

— it is 7.2 millimeters (0.28 inches) thick, 23 percent thinner than the original iPad and thinner than a pencil

— the iPad mini has 10 hours of battery life, the same as the latest iPad

— the iPad mini runs on Apple’s latest operating system, iOS 6, and features a dual-core A5 chip

— it has a front-facing HD camera and a 5-megapixel camera on the back for taking still pictures and recording 1080p HD video

— it has built-in stereo speakers.

— the iPad mini with Wi-Fi connectivity and 16 gigabytes of memory costs $329, the 32GB model sells for $429 and the 64GB version for $529

— the 16GB iPad mini with Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity costs $459. The 32GB model costs $559 while the 64GB version is $659

— Apple began taking pre-orders for the iPad mini from October 26. Sales of the Wi-Fi model started Friday in Australia and will also be on sale in Austria, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

— Apple said the iPad mini with Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity will start shipping a couple of weeks after the Wi-Fi model