Apple, a traditionally very mysterious company, has been surrounded by a lot of speculation lately with regards to one specific product in their line-up – the iPad Mini 5. There are various rumors about the device going around right now, and some of them are not exactly positive, with claims that Apple might be looking to kill it off.
This is actually not the first time we’re hearing those rumors either – they’ve been brought up for quite a while now, and have been sometimes accompanied by similar rumors about the iPod. The main theory is that Apple have too many devices on their hand right now, and they might be looking into consolidating some of their lines in order to ease the burden on themselves.
On the other hand, some of the more positive rumors about the iPad Mini 5 claim that the device is not only coming, but it’s actually not that far away, with a March 2017 release planned at the moment. Of course it’s impossible to tell whether there’s any truth to that or not, knowing how secretive Apple can be, but this particular rumor has been repeated from multiple sources already, and it seems to be quite credible.
There are various claims about the specs of the device as well, but in any case it looks like Apple are planning a strong release with the iPad Mini 5, if some of those rumors are true. With a powerful processor, 3 GB of RAM, and a battery with over 5,000 mAh, it should be quite the capable device, possibly beating what most people would expect from an entry into the iPad Mini line.
It’s possible that the tablet could be launched together with a new iPad Pro next year, as some of the rumors about the release of the iPad Mini 5 talk about a dual offer with the “big brother” of the device. If that’s true, it will definitely put the rumors of the iPad Mini’s cancellation to rest for good.
Some of the more skeptical commenters claim that if the iPad Mini 5 does come out next year, this doesn’t necessarily have to mean that Apple intend to keep the line alive. The Mini 5 could actually be the last device in its line, depending on its market performance, and that could make it a very critical release for Apple right now.
This is the biggest theory in some circles – that Apple are on the fence about the product’s future, and are going to watch the metrics around its release very closely in order to decide if they want to keep working on that line or not.
But this would be a bit strange, as Apple are not an indecisive company in general. They’re actually one of the last companies we would expect to have such issues, as they typically have a very strong, well-defined vision for the future, and know exactly what they want to do.
Some have argued that these times are over now though, and that Apple have been showing significant decline in their creativity and productivity on the market lately. According to some, it’s no coincidence that this started to happen right around the time Steve Jobs passed away, and it’s starting to become clear to some just how much of an impact the man had on his company. This could be just a coincidental observation though, and it’s hard to tell what exactly is going on behind Apple’s closed doors right now.