Last month we reported on rumours that tech giant Apple is reportedly working on a smaller pint-sized version of the iPad called the iPad Mini. This month, the speculation has become even more rampant as pictures of the alleged device surface on various Chinese websites. Could this be the real deal or a very convincing fake?

Apple is well known for keeping its projects shrouded in secrecy until the last possible moment. Having achieved great success with the iPad and almost single-handedly cornered the tablet market with nearly 70% market share, various competitors such as the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire have almost conquered the smaller (7-inch) size tablet market in a very short space of time.

Industry pundits have been suggesting over the last few months that Apple is already planning a smaller version of it’s successful iPad model, which might even be launched next month and debut alongside the anticipated iPhone 5 launch. There’s talk of a September 12th announcement, where we could see both new devices being unveiled.

Yesterday, SlashGear posted pictures online of what appears to be the rear side of said iPad Mini, but it’s very hard to tell if the pictures are genuine or just very good fakes. Nevertheless, it lends additional credence to the rumours, and if true we won’t have very long to wait to find out. What’s interesting about the pictures is that there’s no rear facing camera, which doesn’t seem all that unlikely - who takes snaps on their iPad anyway? (and the Fire and Nexus 7 don’t have rear cameras, either) and the build quality looks very high.

 

 

If the iPad Mini turns out to be fact rather than fiction, we can imagine that it would share much of the capabilities of the first or second generation iPad, and would retain the same screen resolution (albeit with a higher pixels per inch) - it would be very unlikely to have a super hi-res Retina Display like the new iPad. It would also come just in time for iOS 6. The great thing is that all the existing apps made for the iPad 1 and 2 (and the iPhone) would run just fine on such a device, and it could be immensely popular if the price was kept low. Google and Amazon must be hoping that the rumours are false...and in the recent court battle that's going on between Samsung and Google, emails used in the trial seem to suggest that Apple's management was into the idea, despite what they've acknowledged publicly in the past.

Either way, keep your eyes peeled and we’ll post more news as we get it. We want to know whether you think an iPad Mini is on the cards. Would you buy one and what would you use it for? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or over on our Facebook page.