Apples New iPad Rumor Roundup: Everything We Think We Know

　　As was foretold by the ancients, Apple will hold its holiday iPad jamboree on October 22nd. Well see some new tablets, sure.

　　Its official; Apples hosting an iPad unveiling extravaganza on October 22nd, 364 days after last years Cupertino tablet party. Heres what to expect from the new iPad and iPad Mini.

　　iPad Mini 2

　　Lets begin with the best-case scenario: Apple will announce the widely rumored iPad mini with a retina display.

　　Reports that the 7.8-inch screens resolution will double from 1024 × 768 on last years model to 2048 x 1536 . If we believe photos posted by Sonny Dickson, the new iPad mini 2 will be slightly slimmer than the already svelte original.

　　A higher resolution iPad mini is coming sooner or later, but according to Reuters, supply chain issues might stand in the way of an iPad Mini with retina display before 2014. In that case, wed expect to see at least some upgraded guts on the tiny tablet.

　　Speaking of guts, it seems logical that since Apple has publicly begun its transition to 64-bit processor architecture with the iPhone 5S A7 system-on-chip, the company would start future-proofing its new iPad models as well. But dont forget that the original iPad Mini ran just an A5 processor. An upgrade all the way to A7 (or some new A7X), would be a huge jump. Whats more, Apple might try a different SoC design since the A7s new M7 motion processor is less useful on an iPad than on an iPhone. Mobileaks seems to think itll be the A6X SoC currently used on the iPad 4.

　　iPad 5

　　Were going to get a new iPad at the iPad event because, duh. According to a video posted by Unbox Therapy (below), a supply chain report in the Wall Street Journal, and a detailed Sonny Dickson hands-on (above), a new iPad—the fifth generation flagship Apple tablet—will likely feature the first major hardware revision since the iPad 3 got a big heavy battery and a retina display back in 2012.

　　The Unbox Therapy video suggests that while the iPad 5 will retain its 9.7-inch retina display, itll have a narrower bezel, a lighter design, and an overall look resembling the iPad mini. The overall width of the tablet will be 1.5 cm thinner, according the video. An A7x processor would follow Apples standard upgrade schedule, and you can expect a camera upgrade here as well.

　　As with the mini, pre-orders for the iPad 5 will likely begin October 25th with the tablet hitting stores on November 1st. 16/32/64/128 GB Wi-Fi models should cost $500, $600, $700, and $800. LTE models models should cost $640, $730, $830, and $930.

　　Touch ID

　　NoWhereElse.fr posted images of what appears to be an iPad Mini with a fingerprint scanner like the one on the iPhone 5S, but this is hardly a given. A pretty shady image from CtechCN (below) appears to show the sensor on the full-size hardware as well. Logically, it would make sense for Apple to move forward with the technology, but theres no solid evidence. Its just as likely that Apple would want to keep Touch ID as an iPhone 5S exclusive.

　　Space grey and goldpagne

　　A Goldpagne iPad Mini Would Actually Look Really Nice

　　Now that a gold iPhone has actually manifested itself and made (a select few peoples) dreams come true, its time to move on to the next.

　　The iPads, like the iPhone 5S and iPod nano, will probably be available in a fancy Space Gray finish—at least according to images published by both Sonny Dickson and NoWhereElse.fr. The French site also has images of what it claims are gold models of the mini, although, given that Apple has faced supply chain issues with the gold iPhone 5S, the company might hold back. We can always dream.