Within the next two weeks Apple will announce an updated iPod mini with a color screen and higher capacity hard drive, Think Secret has learned. Highly reliable sources have confirmed that the next iPod mini will gain a full-color active-matrix TFT screen while the form factor will remain largely unchanged. The color screen will be able to display colors clearly and brightly regardless of ambient lighting, even outdoors in direct sunlight.
The new screen will be about the same size as the current iPod mini display and will sport a 176x132 resolution. Apple"s move to a color screen on the iPod mini is part of the company"s shift away from monochrome displays, sources said. Standard iPods will also gain color screens across the board with the next update later this year. The move toward color screens is part of an effort by Apple to keep its industry-leading iPod looking new and fresh.