Apple is planning to give the iPad mini a major update this year, including a Pro-style redesign with a larger display, according to recent reports.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Webby Wu, the updated iPad mini will feature narrower screen bezels, with Apple also testing a model that does away with the Home button, in a design that sounds closer to the current iPad Air.
Leaker Jon Prosser has claimed to have seen schematics, CAD files, and real images of the next-generation iPad mini and created renders to reflect the purported new design, showing the squared-off edges and reduced bezels that debuted on the iPad Pro but have since spread to the iPhone 12, iPad Air, and iMac.
Prosser says that the new iPad mini will feature slimmer bezels around the display and no home button, with Touch ID being relocated to the power button like the iPad Air. He did not elaborate on the size of the new iPad mini's display, but claimed that it will have dimensions of 206.3mm x 137.8mm x 6.1mm.
Last year, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple was planning to launch a new iPad mini with a larger display in the region of 8.5 to 9-inches. Other rumors suggested that the device will feature an 8.7-inch display, housed in a chassis that is wider and shorter than the existing iPad mini 5.
In terms of features, Prosser said that the iPad mini will switch from a Lightning connector to USB-C, have "dramatically improved" speakers, the A14 chip, support for 5G connectivity, and compatibility with a new, smaller Apple Pencil, bringing the smaller iPad closer than ever to the high-end iPad Pro. Indeed, such is the apparent positioning of this device in the iPad lineup that it is being referred to as the "iPad mini Pro" in some reports.
Kuo now expects the updated iPad mini to launch in the second half of 2021. Prosser and a range of other reports have similarly claimed that the redesigned iPad mini will arrive by the end of this year, being available in three colors: black, silver, and gold.
