Apple could launch an iPad Mini with no home button this fall

Apple’s smallest tablet is on track to receive a major design update before the end of the year, according to a report by Bloomberg. 

In a recent edition of Bloomberg’s Power On newsletter (via 9to5Mac), Mark Gurman writes that the successor to the iPad Mini 5, the iPad Mini 6, “should be a go” for a fall launch. 

According to Gurman, the physical design will be similar to that of the current iPad Air and the tablet will be powered by the latest processor. 

While it isn’t 100% clear whether that will be the A14 Bionic found in the iPad Air or the Arm-based M1 chip found in the most recent iPad Pro, the Mini is the second cheapest tablet in Apple’s line up sitting below both the Air and the Pro, so it seems unlikely the tablet will be treated to an Apple Silicon chip just yet. 

Either way, it’ll be an upgrade from the current iPad Mini which packs the A12 Bionic processor introduced in 2018. 

The news that the iPad Mini 6 is on track for a fall launch follows a report by Gurman in June which revealed details about the incoming iPad Mini, as well as a new iPad Pro. 

According to the report, the new iPad Mini will see the bezels around the display slimmed down and the home button removed entirely. This would modernise the design of the tablet and give it a look more comparable to the iPad Pro or the iPad Air. 



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Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via MacRumors) has also released his predictions for the tablet which include a larger 8.5 or 9-inch display (for reference, the current Mini has a 7.9-inch display). Meanwhile, Japanese site Mac Otakara (via MacRumors) expects the iPad Mini to have an 8.4-inch display, but doesn’t think the home button is going anywhere anytime soon. 

Either way, slimmer bezels could certainly make space for a larger display without forcing Apple to make the iPad Mini not-so-mini. 

We’ll have to wait until this fall to find out more.
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