While everyone is waiting for Apple to send invitations for its September 10 event where it's expected to announce the next generation iPhone and a low cost iPhone, the company is also rumoured to be working on the next iterations of the iPad and the iPad mini, its bestselling tablets.
However, a Bloomberg report which was majorly about Apple's plans to open an Apple store in Tokyo, also had a passing mention of the company releasing new version of its tablets at the much talked about September 10 event. This is not the first time it mentioned the possibility of Apple releasing new iPads in its reports. It had made a passing mention about new iPads in an earlier reportabout Samsung and Sony launching their new devices at the IFA.
While Bloomberg has now updated the article to remove mention of the new iPads, The Loop's Jim Dalrymple, who is well connected at Apple, and has a great track record of being accurate with Apple related rumours, also dismissed the rumoured categorically mentioning that there would be no new iPads at the September 10 event.
Interestingly, a previous report by Bloomberg suggested that Apple will release new iPad models, including an iPad with a thinner body design and an iPad mini with a high-resolution screen, later this year but not at the September 10 iPhone event. So it's surprising that it contradicted its own reports.
A number of rumours including a report by the credible Wall Street Journal, have suggested that Apple is modelling its next-generation iPad on the iPad mini in terms of design and form factor. The WSJ report suggested that the new iPad will feature the same touch-panel technology that's seen in the iPad mini, making it thin and light, and adds that Apple intends to use the film-based touch panel used in the iPad mini instead of the glass-based one that is sported by the full-sized iPad.
Recently, a video showing the front and back panel of the fifth-generation iPad assembled together, had appeared online showing a design different from the current generation iPad. Prior to that pictures of alleged back panels of the next-generation iPad and iPad mini had also appeared online on a website. The purported iPad rear casing was slightly smaller than the casing of the current generation iPad and the site mentioned that the distance between the border and screen of the iPad 5 was much shorter than the previous iPads, indicating that the new iPad would look similar to the iPad mini with smaller bezels. The casing had the Apple logo carved out and not just printed on it, in the images.
