Well-versed industry insider Ming-Chi Kuo just shared his two cents on the rumors that Apple is developing a foldable iPad mini, which could put the company on the foldable device map. According to Kuo, such a move wouldn’t take place, neither now nor in 2025, when the change is rumored to take place.
Quite logically, Ming-Chi Kuo contemplates that a foldable Apple device would be a super-premium device, which doesn’t really fit the nature of the iPad mini. Thus, either a more premium iPad family could be used as the proverbial vessel for the foldable iPad, or Apple could come with a new iPad series that will better reflect the foldable nature of the rumored device.
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I think it’s unlikely Apple will replace the iPad mini with a foldable iPad in 2025, which may be contrary to what some media previously predicted. It’s because a foldable iPad will have a markedly higher price than an iPad mini, so such a replacement is not reasonable.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) December 27, 2022
Although foldable phones have been around for a few years now, Apple is yet to join in onto the foldable fun.
Circling back on the iPad mini situation, Ming-Chi Kuo has it that a new iPad mini is currently in development over at Cupertino. The fresh new tablet is expected to come with a “new processor as the main selling point”, and it doesn’t take a genius to assume that either the M1 or M2 could be used to make the most compact iPad an appealing product. Apple’s ARM-based performance silicon is already powering the iPad Pro and iPad Air lineup, so it makes sense that the iPad mini 7th Gen could score this improvement as well.
As far as a possible release date for the next iPad mini, Ming-Chi Kuo ponders a late 2023/early 2024 mass shipment, which hints at a possible announcement alongside the iPhone 15 generation in September 2023.
