The launch of the iPhone 16 is less than 24 hours away, but according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter, Apple’s Glowtime event won’t be its last major unveiling of the year – more announcements are expected in October.
We’ve already been teased by the potential arrival of a redesigned Mac mini, as well the possibility of seeing M4-powered MacBooks, but now Gurman expects an October reveal of a new iPad model as well.
The iPad mini 7 has been rumored for quite some time. While initially expected to debut alongside the iPhone 16 and Apple Watch Series 10 at today’s (September 9) event, Gurman’s prediction makes sense as we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple’s Glowtime event.
No matter when the rumored iPad mini is announced, this is good news as 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 want to see from the iPad mini 7, but the key rumors suggest a new chipset and a more compact design than its predecessor. While we’re not expecting the rumored M4 chip to power an iPad mini like it does the iPad Pro models, Gurman speculates that it might include Apple Intelligence support, which means it could be powered by the A17 Pro chip at the very least.
Gurman’s use of “iPad models” in his speculations also makes us question the whispers of a larger 8.7-inch iPad mini with an OLED screen (compared to an 8.3-inch LCD display in the standard model), which we had previously written off as early iPad mini 8 rumors. But do we really need multiple iPad mini models?
There’s a reason we’ve questioned 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 having carved a place for themselves, most use cases are covered. Still, a mid-sized and mid-priced tablet around eight inches might just be the sweet spot for users who want a decent tablet for gaming, streaming and reading – while still being able to hold in one hand.
October’s announcements, potentially featuring a whole new Mac lineup and new iPads, are certainly something to look forward to but, before that, there’s still a big event happening today at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST (or 3am AEST September 10 AEST) that will see the debut of the latest Apple flagship phones and wearables. As always, we’ll have boots on the ground covering the event, and you can follow along with our live blog to ensure you don’t miss a thing.
