A bevy of leaks and rumors have been circulating the web — pretty much ever since the iPad 4 and iPad mini were announced, users have been speculating on the next upgrade. These are five major rumors that seem pretty sound.
5. The iPad 5 will be thinner and lighter than the iPad 4.
The iPad 4 is heavy, just like its predecessors. It weighs 1.44lbs and the only difference between it and the iPad 3 is the new lightning dock connector, which the iPhone 5 also uses. If you use an iPad, chances are it's propped on or braced against something else, or your arm will get tired very quickly.
To address that, Apple is releasing the new iPad 5 with a GF2 touch module, which is already in use with the iPad mini. The new touchscreen material will make the iPad 5 23 percent thinner and 53 percent lighter than the iPad 2. A new case design leaked from MiniSuit shows that the newest iPad would be less beveled along the edges, with a design similar to the iPad mini. A leaked image of the iPad's back shell also indicates that the new design will also be significantly thinner and somewhat smaller than the iPad 4.
4. iPad mini 2 could be more expensive than the iPad mini.
The iPad mini 2 will probably come with a retina display, a feature that many users have requested for the 7.9-inch slate. With a 2048 x 1536 resolution display, Taiwanese website DigiTimes reports that the production cost of the iPad mini 2 could be up to 30 percent higher than the iPad mini.
The cost would involve the higher-resolution panel itself, which would also require more LEDs for the backlight and market researchers estimate that the production cost of a basic iPad mini 2 will be around $188.
Still, companies such as Asustek and Acer are also working to build tablets, which will hit the market for around $149 - $159, and they are planning to eventually release full HD slates, says DigiTimes. Apple may break rank with precedent and up the price of its iPad mini 2 — but it may just as well be more important to stay competitive in the marketplace.
3. The iPad 5 and iPad mini 2 will run iOS 7.
If analysts are right, Apple's iOS 7 will first be shipped out on the iPhone 5S. The most reliable tidbit we've heard about iOS 7 is that it "will come with a highly improved Siri, able to do a lot of new cool stuff," which developers may have a chance to play around with, if Apple introduces the new iOS at WWDC 2013 in San Francisco this June.
Other details about the new interface are sparse, but that hasn't stopped numerous sites from concocting their own wish lists and concept designs for iOS 7.
2. When the iPad 5 hits the market, the iPad 2 will be retired for good.
With its release, the iPad 2 is expected to retire, just as the iPad 3 was phased out immediately after the iPad 4's debut. “The long-beloved iPad 2 is expected to retire with honor with the reveal of new iPad,” said a report by Taiwan-based research firm TrendForce, according to BGR.
1. The iPad 5 Will be released in the third quarter of 2013.
Apple has released the first three iterations of its iPad line at around the same time: iPad in April, 2 and 3 in March, and iPad 4 in November, though it announced a 128GB version in February. Rumors have circulated that the iPad 5 will come out in March in response to the Surface Pro, a date in line with previous releases — but the lack of buzz, both online and from Apple, indicates that it's not scheduled for next month.
TrendForce's report suggested that the iPad 5 and iPad mini will debut around September, a few months after the iPhone 5S.
