Not just the iPhone 16 – Apple could announce new iPads in October
The iPhone 16 launch is less than 24 hours away, but according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his Enable newsletterApple’s Glow time This event won’t be the last big reveal of the year, with more announcements expected in October.
We’ve already been tipped off about the possible arrival of a revamped Mac mini and the possibility of MacBooks with an M4 processor, but now Gurman also expects a new iPad model to be unveiled in October.
The iPad mini 7 has been rumored for a while now. While it was initially expected to debut alongside the iPhone 16 and Apple Watch Series 10 at today’s event (September 9), Gurman’s prediction makes sense since we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple’s Glowtime event.
Whenever the iPad mini rumors are announced, this is always good news because the last model was the iPad Mini (2021), so a refresh is long overdue.
iPad Mini 7: What to expect?
We have a wishlist of what we’d like to see from the iPad mini 7, but key rumors suggest a new chipset and a more compact design than its predecessor. While we don’t expect the rumored M4 chip to power an iPad mini like the iPad Pro models, Gurman speculates that it could include Apple Intelligence support, meaning it could be powered by the A17 Pro chip at the very least.
Gurman’s use of “iPad models” in his speculation also makes us doubt the rumors of a larger, 8.7-inch iPad mini with an OLED display (compared to an 8.3-inch LCD display in the standard model), which we had previously dismissed as early iPad mini 8 rumors. But do we really need multiple iPad mini models?
There’s a reason we’re wondering whether the iPad mini can survive. With plus-sized iPhones, the iPad 10.9 (2022), and the 11- and 13-inch iPad Air and iPad Pro already carving out a niche for themselves, most use cases are covered. Still, a mid-range to mid-priced tablet around eight inches could be the ideal solution for users who want a decent tablet for gaming, streaming, and reading that you can still hold in one hand.
October’s announcements, potentially including an all-new Mac lineup and new iPads, are certainly something to look forward to, but before that, there’s a big event today at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST (or 3am AEST on September 10 AEST) where Apple’s latest flagship phones and wearables will be launched. As ever, we’ll be there covering the event and you can follow our liveblog to make sure you don’t miss a thing.