Regulatory filing hints that new iPad mini could be unveiled during "Scary fast" event Monday

Tomorrow evening, Apple will be hosting a rare nighttime event that it has dubbed "Scary fast" because some of the new devices that will be unveiled include Macs powered by the zippy 3nm M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chipsets that run "scary fast". And even though well-connected Bloomberg scribe Mark Gurman said that we should not expect any new iPads until March, rumors that as many as three new iPads could be unveiled tomorrow. Those three include the 11th generation basic iPad, an M2-powered iPad Air, and a new iPad mini.

Information unearthed by MacRumors shows that a pair of Apple suppliers resubmitted filings made to a Chinese regulatory agency about batteries used in current Apple devices. Those products include the latest 14-inch MacBook, a 16-inch MacBook Pro, the Magic Keyboard for the Mac, and...the iPad mini. The batteries for these products had originally been filed in 2021 and were resubmitted this month with October 2023 issue dates.

The battery capacities in the new listings are exactly the same as the 2021 listings which means that Apple will not equip the aforementioned devices with larger batteries. That doesn't mean that we won't see battery life get longer in these devices as the newer chipsets should be able to deliver improved energy-efficiency. Also keep in mind that just because the battery for the iPad mini is included in the filing to the regulatory agency, it doesn't guarantee that the next-gen version of the 8.3-inch tablet will be announced tomorrow.

The most recent iPad mini was the sixth-generation model and was announced in September 2021. The tablet is powered by the 5nm A15 Bionic chipset that currently is found inside the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. Before that, the chipset was used on the iPhone 13 series. The sixth-generation iPad mini was known for the issue involving "jelly-scrolling."  Many owners of the device complained that the right side of the screen moved faster than the left side which suffered from a lag.

We'd expect the seventh-gen iPad mini to have the "jelly-scrolling" issue solved and the tablet is expected to get an update to the 4nm A16 Bionic chipset which powers the iPhone 14 Pro,  iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15, and the iPhone 15 Plus.

The "Scary fast" event will take place at 5 pm PDT (8 pm EDT) on October 30th. You can follow our coverage of the event right here.