When Apple launched the iPad mini, it didn’t look like it was a huge success. Many stores normally packed with customers didn’t even see a line form for its tiny tablet launch. The company itself had expected as much, having only ordered enough components and parts to build 6 million iPad minis for the holiday season. The latest information (via NPD DisplaySearch) suggests that Cupertino has doubled that order to 12 million, which should see it outsell its bigger brother.

We had already heard from Sterne Agee analyst, Shaw Wu, that iPad mini sales would cannibalize the Retina iPad’s. But I don’t think anyone was expecting this amount of demand for the smaller form factor. I know I certainly wasn’t. In fact, most people I talk to outside the tech world ask the same question: “what’s the point?” (Admittedly, they asked the same about the original iPad in 2010.)

At the moment, all this is analysis based on orders and keeping an eye on supply chain developments. The evidence of any of this being true will come to light when Apple announces its Q1 2013 earnings in January.

Via: AppleInsider