With reports making rounds about the likely launch of a smaller tablet - being largely referred to as iPad Mini - later this year, analysts are of the opinion that the `mini' version of the popular iPad will quickly overpower its competitors in the `small and affordable tablets' arena.

According to reports, the iPad Mini will have a 7- or 8-inch screen; and will apparently be priced to take on the $199 Amazon Kindle Fire and the newly-released Google Nexus 7 tablets.

Even though there have been rumors abuzz about the iPad Mini for quite some time, an earlier-this-week report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that Apple has asked component makers in Asia to gear up for mass production of the smaller tablet.

About the prospects of the iPad Mini, IDC analysts Tom Mainelli said that Apple will seemingly not be perturbed by its rivals in the smaller tablets' market; and added if the Mini is priced at less than $300, the company can cause problems for all Android-based tablets.

With Apple tracker blog iMore revealing in a report that the iPad Mini will probably be a 7.85-inch iPad, which will be aggressively priced by Apple in the range of between $200 and $250, analyst Rene Ritchie said in a blog post that the Mini will apparently "do to the tablet market what Apple did to the MP3 market in 2004 with the expansion of the iPod product line -- leave absolutely no space for competitors."