Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is believed to be testing a new iPad Mini that will include a faster processor but not a Retina Display, according to references in the iOS 7 SDK sent by a developer to 9to5Mac. Nick Frey is the developer who submitted the reference through which it is clear that cellular technologies and baseband chip of the latest iPad mini will be the same as the old ones.
Apple testing 3 models
There would be three iPad mini models launched; iPad “2.8”, iPad “2.9” and iPad “2.10”. All the three models are codenamed J75, J76 and J77. Amongst three, one would be WiFi model and the other two would be cellular compatible models.
The iPad mini mentioned in the references is said to have “s5l8950x” processor. The processor is identical to A6 system-on-a-chip powering Apple iPhone 5. The processor is fast enough to give minis speed enhancement as against A5 based models. Sitting on A6 processor the latest machines will allow the user to load movies quicker and see better performance and frame rates when playing games.
Mentioned devices do not have hooks to images at a “@2x”
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s Retina display devices like iPhone 5 and fourth-generation iPad, had hooks to images at a “@2x” mode, which is used by developers to reference app artwork for a Retina display device. The mentioned iPad minis does not look to have “@2x” hook, which implies that they don’t have retina display. From this, it can be concluded that Retina Display iPad mini is codenamed “J85” and the upcoming iPad is “J75”.
Will Apple sell these iPads?
Though according to references it is known that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is testing a new iPad mini with a spec bump and no Retina display, but it is not confirmed that it will launch these iPads as a product and sell it.
There have been many reports and news that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is preparing to launch a new version of the iPad mini with Retina display in 2014 so these models can be just an upgrade to keep the customers sticking to the product while they launch the new one with higher resolution.
These new models can also be an internal- only variant or a quiet update. Also, there have been talks around of non Retina iPad mini update out of the Asia supply chain.
