The dream of iPad mini Pro is revived by new rumors
Apple's iPad family of products can be confusing, but it's easy to spot the odd one out: the iPad mini. The company's smallest iPad is updated fairly rarely (the iPad mini 4 was launched in 2015, followed up by the iPad mini 5 in 2019), and typically gets fairly cosmetic upgrades — its display size, for example, never changed from the original 7.9 inches.
Now, a bunch of rumors point to an entirely new iPad mini this year, one which could inherit many characteristics of Apple's iPad Pro line of products.
Korean blog Naver (via MacRumors) says an "iPad mini Pro" is coming in the second half of this year, with a 8.7-inch screen and a body that's a bit wider but also a bit shorter than the current iPad mini. This has been sort-of confirmed with the information released by Chinese leaker Kang, who says a smaller-sized iPad with a full screen is coming. Both reports claim the device is currently in "design P2" stage, meaning that it still needs to pass Apple's design and production validation tests before it can go into mass production.
As sources go, those above don't have much of a track record. But the reports are in line with a May 2020 report by Apple analyst Ming Chi-Kuo, who said an iPad mini with a larger display could be coming in 2021. And Japanese blog Mac Otakara says an iPad mini with an 8.4-inch display is coming as early as this month — though this report claims the new iPad mini will retain a similar design as its predecessor, with slightly reduced bezels and a Touch ID Home Button beneath the display.
As an iPad mini aficionado, I've been waiting for something akin to an iPad mini Pro since forever. The iPad mini is, in my opinion, the perfect-sized iPad to carry around, as it fits into smaller bags and bigger pockets, and it's also the best-sized ebook reader among the iPads. With smaller bezels and a bigger display inside a similarly-sized body, it would be a massive improvement to the slightly outdated iPad mini.
Even if we just get an updated iPad mini (without Pro design and features), it'd still be welcome, as the iPad mini is the only iPad that didn't get an update in 2020.
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Topics Apple
Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
