An analyst speculated the launch of the much awaited successor of the iPad Mini will further encourage the inception of low cost tablets in the market.

According to J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz, the second-generation iPad Mini will force tablet vendors to continue to drop their prices.

Apple will be the major beneficiary of those higher tablet sales. In Moskowitz's opinion, other device makers have not been able to cook up a tablet as "compelling" as the iPad, at least not yet. As a result, the rest of the industry will be forced to compete on price.

"In our view, 2013 will be important for the laggards because Apple's iPad Mini, particularly when the second generation is launched, stands to drive other vendors to even lower price points. We expect sub-$199 price points to be reached this year by other vendors, but we are skeptical the feature sets will be able to establish a sustainable sales pipeline," Moskowitz said.

Prices will go down as more players will enter the tablet market. The analyst expects average selling prices to continue to drop by double digits this year and next. The analyst expects Apple to continue to lead the tablet market, though he thinks Samsung will gain more traction by expanding its line-up. Samsung will be able to take a bite on Apple's sales.

On the other hand, Apple's iPad Mini 2 will obviously offer Retina display to differentiate itself from its predecessor. However, Apple is struggling from supply constraints. The good news is that the Cupertino-based company is preparing to launch the next generation iPad Mini with a screen boasting of a higher resolution than the Retina Display equipped current iPad 4. The retina Display of the next generation iPad Mini will be 324 ppi which is miles ahead of the iPad 4 screens' 264 ppi display.

According to reports, iPad Mini 2 will feature a screen with a resolution of 2048 x 1536. This is almost four times the resolution of the present iPad Mini and is equal to the fourth generation iPad which was released along with the iPad Mini last year. AU Optronics has been rumoured to be making displays for the iPad Mini 2.

Other specs include a more powerful dual core A7 processor and a 7.9 inch screen. It will also feature a 10-hour battery life, a FaceTime HD camera, and an iSight camera with 1080 pixels HD video recording. Apple is also trying to reduce the thickness of the iPad Mini 2 by using the Sharp's IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) technology in its screens.