By Michael Oleaga / m.oleaga@latinospost.com (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Apr 04, 2013 04:55 PM EDT

The iPad mini has received a price discount as rumors of the next 7.9-inch tablet grow.

Mega retailer Walmart is offering the iPad mini for $299. The price tag is only for the

16GB model and available for both black and white options.

The original price for the 16GB iPad mini is $329, in fact, the price remains the same on Apple's official website.

While the tablet is available in stores, purchasing the tablet on Walmart.com could result in a different price. According to Walmart, price could vary on distribution, regional competition, and "other factors."

"Prices shown on Walmart.com are online prices only. Products that are shown as available in your local Walmart store may have a different price. Walmart stores do not honor or match prices from other online sellers or from advertisements outside of a store's local trade territory," the retailer noted.

Usually, when a company reduces the price of an item, it is due to two reasons. The first is to cut down on current stock, which usually leads to, second, a new item coming to succeed the original.

A report did note Apple is preparing to cut down on iPad mini shipments. The alleged decision may be as high as a 20 percent decrease for the month of April alone. According to DigiTimes, sources stated the iPad mini 2 is likely to be released during the third quarter this year.

NDP DisplaySearch has projected Apple would ship 55 million iPad mini units during 2013. According to NDP DisplaySearch, the iPad mini's demand is eclipsing the 9.7-inch iPad. Initially, the regular-sized iPad was to sell 60 million units compared to the iPad mini's 40 million units. NDP DisplaySearch now believes the figures will reverse.

Overall, the tablet market is expected to sell 254 million units during 2013, up 94 million from the 160 million units sold in 2012.

The iPad mini also features 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB of internal storage variants with 512MB of RAM, a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with 2,592x1,944 pixels, front-facing camera with 1.2 megapixels, iOS 6 operating system, and is available in black and white color options.

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For the iPad Mini vs. Microsoft Surface with Windows RT specs, click here.

For the iPad 4 vs. the original iPad, click here.