Apple will reportedly launch the iPad Mini 2 with a significant upgrade to Retina display visuals in October of this year, according to Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge.
Mr Horwitz has managed to secure exclusives on forthcoming Apple products in the past and has turned out to be right, with his early information on Apple’s 2012 range of iOS devices sporting a smaller ‘Lightning’ connection proving very accurate.
His report states that the iPad Mini 2 is currently codenamed ‘J85’ and will closely resemble the current first generation model, with the key difference being a big jump in screen quality to Apple’s famed Retina display tech.
While the iPad Mini does offer a decent picture quality, it falls behind its Android rivals which have HD displays, including the Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7. The current iPad Mini sports the same 1024 x 768 resolution as the iPad 2, whereas a Retina display would squeeze in 2048 x 1536 pixels.
As for the October release estimate – that makes perfect sense. Apple revealed the original iPad Mini last October and launched it early November, so it would fit in perfectly with the company’s annual refresh schedule.
Asides from an iPad Mini 2, Jeremy’s report also touches on the next iPhone, which he claims will be dubbed the iPhone 5S. This upgrade is said to arrive in July with a significant upgrade to the rear camera. Apple will reportedly use a 13-megapixel Sony sensor to upgrade from the 8-megapixel snapper in the iPhone 5, although for now that’s the only specific we’ve got.
Finally, as many Apple fans are probably expecting, Apple will be launching a fifth generation full-sized iPad at the same time as the iPad Mini 2. Currently we only know its codename, which is ‘J72’, so keep an eye out for it.
Out of all the tech rumours Apple ones tend to be the wildest and most frequent, but Jeremy has been pretty on-point with previous rumours, especially within the past year.