Apple tells retail employees not to gossip about new iPad; 5G iPad mini 6 incoming

A tweet posted by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman hints that Apple might unveil a new entry-level 9th generation iPad during next Tuesday's new product event called "California Streaming." The festivities begin at 1 pm EDT (10 am PDT) and Apple should unveil the four new iPhone 13 models, the AirPods 3, the Apple Watch Series 7, the 6th-generation iPad mini, and possibly the new entry-level iPad.

The eighth-generation iPad shows up on Apple's website as "currently unavailable," and with shipping delays pushing delivery of the tablet out to October, it seems apparent that the supply part of the supply-demand equation is running on empty leading to delays in shipping the device. Gurman's tweet says that Apple is telling its retail employees not to speculate to consumers why deliveries of the 8th-gen iPad models are running late.

Gurman says that the 9th-generation iPad will be marketed toward students with a thinner design; the new tablets will be faster. Speaking of design, the new entry-level iPad will reportedly take its design cues from the third-generation iPad Air which shipped in 2019. The 9th-gen iPad will keep the predecessor's 10.2-inch display instead of hiking it to 10.5-inches. It will sport a home button with Touch ID.

The thickness and weight of the new iPad (2021) could tally 6.3mm and 460 grams respectively. That would compare to the 7.5mm thickness and the 490 grams of weight belonging to the iPad (2020). The latter is powered by the A12 Bionic chipset manufactured by TSMC using its 7nm FinFET process node. The latter chip, used on devices like 2018's iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, and the 2019 iPad Air and iPad mini slates, could be replaced by something a bit fresher. That could be the 2019 A13 Bionic SoC, or the 2020 5nm A14 Bionic chipset.

There is also speculation that Apple will hike memory from 2GB to 4GB while storage will start at 64GB instead of 32GB. We could also see Apple introduce the next-gen iPad mini next Tuesday. We might see a redesign that will give the next-gen iPad mini design cues from the most recent iPad Pro and iPad Air models. That means Touch ID could be integrated with the power button and the screen will feature thinner bezels.

The new iPad mini (2021) will reportedly feature a USB-C port instead of Apple's proprietary Lightning port. According to reliable TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, we could see the A15 Bionic chipset under the hood. The chip that will power the iPhone 13 series is manufactured by TSMC using its advanced 5nm process node. While others are calling for the iPad mini (2021) to sport the A14 Bionic SoC under the hood, would you really bet against Kuo?

The most recent rumored specs for the iPad mini (2021) include a 7.9-inch True Tone display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 resolution and 326 pixels per inch. The A15 Bionic chipset powers the tablet which will sport 4GB or 6GB of memory. Storage options will be 64GB and 256GB, and there will be support for the Apple Pencil 2. On the back of the tablet will be an 8MP camera while a front-facing 7MP FaceTime camera will be on board.

We expect to see stereo speakers on the iPad mini (2021) on opposite sides of the device. The tablet will also offer 5G connectivity and will feature the aforementioned USB-C port.

Still, there is a chance that we could see more changes coming to the 6th-generation iPad mini model, and there is a chance that some of these rumored changes won't appear at all. Different tipsters have different ideas of what to expect for the iPad mini (2021), but the good news is that in less than a week we will know exactly what to expect with the tablet as far as the specs are concerned.