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A larger iPad Mini with Air-style thin bezels could still arrive this year

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Apple is rumored to be launching a new iPad Mini this fall, bringing it with it a new design that resembles the more seamless looks of the iPad Pro and iPad Air, as reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter.

Gurman says the 2021 iPad Mini will be one that looks very different, ditching the older look with the Touch ID home button and adopting an iPad Air-style, thin-bezel design. The screen is also rumored to be getting bigger and going up from 7.9 inches to 8.4 inches. It is likely the overall footprint will remain the same, with most of the size increase coming from thinner bezels.

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Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had predicted earlier that the company would be making an iPad Mini that would be about 8.5 to 9 inches in size, and this report falls alongside similar lines. Kuo had also expected the iPad Mini to launch this past spring, but that didn’t happen. As Gurman says the new Mini is “a go” for fall, it seems likely it may just have been delayed.

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While Apple is removing Touch ID from the iPad Mini, it does not necessarily mean the company will add in Face ID support to match the biometrics of modern iPhones and the iPad Pro. Rather, it has been suggested by reports from leaker Jon Prosser that the iPad Mini will also have a fingerprint sensor embedded in the side. Prosser also claims the Mini will arrive in silver, black, and gold, with a few renders to illustrate. The Mini is also said to come with Apple’s A14 processor with 5G support on board. There is also the possibility a new Apple Pencil could debut with the Mini. For small tablet lovers, this represents a substantially future-proof update for the iPad Mini, if these reports pan out.

Other than the new iPad Mini, Apple’s predicted slate for the rest of this year includes four iPhone 13 branded phones, from the iPhone 13 Mini, all the way to an iPhone 13 Pro Max. With Apple already having refreshed the iPad Pros in spring 2021, that appears to wrap up the company’s mobile product line for 2021.

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Michael Allison
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A UK-based tech journalist for Digital Trends, helping keep track and make sense of the fast-paced world of tech with a…
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