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With Apple having recently updated the iPad after a mere seven months, there’s been talk lately that instead of Cupertino’s schedule of annual updates, they might be moving to a bi-annual update schedule instead.
It doesn’t take a genius, then, to trace the newest rumor to mere speculation: according to a hit-or-miss Japanese Apple blog, Apple will release the iPad 5 in March, and it will have a chassis design similar to the iPad mini.
According to Macotakara, the fifth-generation iPad will be here in a mere three months, and it will be smaller: 4mm smaller in height, 16mm in width, and 2mm in depth. It will also have a design more like the iPad mini.
Okay, we’ll buy that, maybe. The iPad mini is an attractive design, and it would be a welcome change to see the bigger iPad get the same look.
But here’s where Macotakara’s report starts falling apart for us. They also say that Apple’s got a new iPad mini in the wings. Naturally, they say it’s a Retina device, but they also claim that the new iPad mini has the fourth-generation iPad’s massive A6X processor.
That seems just bonkers to me. At best, you’d expect the iPad mini to boast an older chip, like the A5X manufactured with a smaller die size, not a chip that is at an absolute premium right now and will likely remain Apple’s most expensive, powerful chip until at least October.
Macotakara, it has to be noted, misses a lot of rumors. They tend to be good at “predicting” the common sense stories, and less good at sourcing stories that come out of left field. For example, they have predicted that the iPod nano will come with WiFi, or that Apple has been secretly hoarding carbon fiber.
Source: Macotakara
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