Leaked Photos Show the iPad mini 6 Is Coming (But It May Not Be What You’re Expecting)

Over the years, Apple’s smaller iPad mini has come to feel like the neglected step-child of the iPad family. After seeing four solid years of annual updates in the first half of the past decade, the once-heralded smaller 7.9-inch tablet seemed to be forgotten until Apple surprised us with a new fifth-generation model in early 2019.

Since then, however? Crickets. Despite helping to usher in a new middle tier in the iPad family alongside the third-generation iPad Air, the smaller iPad mini was nowhere to be found when Apple unveiled a fully redesigned iPad Air 4 last fall. Meanwhile, the iPad Pro and entry-level iPad models continued to march on into new territory as well, with the little iPad mini once again looking like it was going to be left behind to fend for itself.

To be clear, we’ve heard rumours. Plenty of rumours. Last spring, veteran analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted a new 10.8-inch iPad and a new iPad mini, and at the time he conceded that while we’d see the larger iPad arrive in the fall — which it did — a new iPad mini wasn’t coming until early 2021.

Since the iPad mini 5 and iPad Air 3 were basically just two different sizes of the same device, many including Kuo believed that the iPad mini 6 would feature a major redesign that would keep it on par with the newest iPad Air. Some doubt was cast on that idea, however, when Mac Otakara shared information from its sources that the iPad mini design would remain basically unchanged.

Now well-known leaker Sonny Dickson has shared some images that would appear to back up Mac Otakara’s contention that the iPad mini 6 will, in fact, be a much more boring device than we’d first hoped.

The images in question are of dummy units of the iPad mini 6, along with new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models. To be clear, these aren’t official Apple models, but were most likely fabricated from schematics leaked through the Chinese supply chain. It’s quite common for accessory makers to build their own dummy units such as these for designing and testing new cases, so they can be ready before the products actually ship.

If these images are truly representative of what the iPad mini 6 is going to look like, then it’s safe to say we can expect few changes. The model still features a home button and the standard bezels on the top and bottom, and in fact Dickson says it may even be “slightly thicker,” than the current version.

This would line up with what Mac Otakara reported back in January. That report suggested the screen would grow to 8.4 inches, but that this would be accomplished through a design change similar to what we saw when the full-sized iPad screen increased from 9.7 inches to 10.5 inches. In this case, Apple simply shrunk the bezels, rather than eliminating them entirely.

There Is Another…

While the information we’ve seen on this iPad mini seems quite reliable, it also directly contradicts two other very reliable sources. Both Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman have reported that an iPad mini is coming that would include a display in the range of 8.5 to 9 inches, and Kuo also insists that Apple is working on bringing its mini-LED screen technology to the smaller iPad as well.

While an 8.5–9-inch screen wouldn’t fit in the current iPad mini design without eliminating the bezels entirely, that doesn’t mean that Apple couldn’t make the new device slightly larger. However, assuming the iPad Pro casings shown in Dickson’s photos are the same size as the current models, the alleged iPad mini 6 doesn’t seem to have grown significantly in size.

More importantly, however, it’s very hard to believe that Apple would choose to debut a mini-LED screen in a device that still uses the older and more traditional design.

This leads us to believe that Apple actually has another iPad mini up its sleeve. Last month, a lesser-known source claimed to have heard that Apple is working on an “iPad mini Pro” that would feature an 8.7-inch display, yet still be only slightly wider and shorter than the current iPad mini 5. The report was somewhat corroborated by a more reliable Chinese leaker, Kang, who spoke of a “full-screen, smaller-sized iPad” in the works, likely being targeted for a fall release.

The fact that these reports seem to align with what Kuo and Gurman are also saying adds even more credibility to the idea that there is another iPad mini on the more distant horizon, meaning that Apple could soon be adding a new product tier to its iPad lineup.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]