Top insider leaks Apple’s biggest iPad design overhaul in years
Apple’s smallest iPad version targets a particular type of tablet buyer. It’s meant for people who want a more compact device, but who aren’t interested in supersized smartphones like the iPhone Pro Max. Anyone interested in the iPad mini 5 right now will have to deal with a few compromises. The tablet has the same design with large bezels and it’s powered by outdated hardware. There’s no reason why the smallest iPad can’t offer the same excellent iPad design that’s available on the Pro and Air models, or why it can’t run on the best possible A-series chip.
A few leaks said earlier this year that the iPad mini 6 will receive a radical redesign paired with the expected specs bump that each new iPad gets. One leak went as far as to claim that the new iPad mini will feature a design that is unlike anything Apple made so far, including a hole-punch display camera and a hole-punch fingerprint sensor. The most reasonable expectation is for Apple to apply the same iPad Pro/Air design to the iPad mini, and a brand new leak gives us a first look at the purported iPad mini 6 design that follows this line of thinking.
The iPad mini 6 was last updated a few years ago when the tablet received the A12 Bionic chip introduced back in 2018. But the mini did not get a new design.
Last year, Apple launched a surprising iPad Air redesign that was in line with the iPad Pro. The 2020 Air features a large display with uniform bezels running around the screen. The home button is gone in favor of a novel Touch ID scanner placed in the standby button at the top. That’s something Apple has never done before, and it’s a great compromise between design and security. Apple didn’t have to add the more expensive Face ID camera system to the iPad Air in order to remove the home button. And Touch ID is still a great security feature for locking/encrypting the tablet.
Apple will apply the same design principles to the iPad mini 6 if Jon Prosser’s renders on FrontPageTech are to be believed. The prominent leaker has provided plenty of accurate Apple leaks in the past few years, including schematics belonging to gadgets that Apple has yet to announce.
