Only a few days remain to the Apple event scheduled for Oct. 23, where the Cupertino-based tech giant is expected to launch the highly-awaited iPad Mini. Rumors are rife that Apple may bid adieu to iPad 2 once the iPad Mini launches.

The second generation of the Apple tablet family, iPad 2, was released in March 2011 and the tablet has received plaudits ever since.  The iPad 2 sports a 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology with 1024 x 768 pixels resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi). The tablet also has fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. Apple's custom-designed A5 processor powers the iPad 2.

The iPad 2 includes a 25 watt-hour battery which provides its user 10 hours of productivity on Wi-Fi. The iPad 2 is among the most popular tablets around, giving competition to other devices available in the consumer market.

"Rob Cihra, an analyst at Evercore Partners, says the iPad Mini will become the company's lowest-priced iPad, eliminating the need for the $400 iPad 2," reported Investor Place.

Furthermore, the Investor Place reported "Cihra predicts that Apple will sell 7 million iPad Minis and 49 million iPhones during in the holiday shopping quarter and record revenue of $56.1 billion. For the September quarter, Cihra anticipates revenue of $36.5 billion, on sales of 17 million iPads, 27 million iPhones and 4.9 million Macs. Apple will report its September quarter results on Oct. 25."

Rumors indicate that the latest iPad, dubbed the iPad Mini, features a smaller 7.85-inch display.

 "The smaller device will pave the way for iPad to become a bigger part of the Apple story. We believe that the smaller iPad could cannibalize 1 million regular iPad units in December or a rate of cannibalization at 20% (i.e. for every 5 million smaller iPads, you lose 1 million standard iPads), implying 25 million units for December from our prior 21 million" said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray. 

Apple may have analyzed that its new iPad Mini may eat into the sales of its previous iterations and may want to discontinue with the iPad 2. If rumors are to be believed, then the iPad Mini will become the entry-level tablet and the New iPad will become the top-end tablet for the company.