Apple's Media Event Predicted to See Retina iPad Mini and Thinner iPad, but No ... - Mac Rumors

High-profile KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has released a new research report outlining some of his expectations for Apple October 22 media event, focusing on the company's iPad and Retina MacBook Pro lineups.

In line with our previously summarized expectations, Kuo believes that Apple will be introducing a thinner and lighter fifth-generation iPad, as well as a new iPad mini with Retina display. The latter has been the subject of considerable debate, with some sources believing that Apple is not yet ready to bring Retina displays to the iPad mini, but while Kuo believes that Apple will indeed be able to introduce a Retina iPad mini, supplies will be highly constrained at first.

Kuo also weighs in on several other rumored additions for the iPad and iPad mini, claiming that "probably" neither a Touch ID fingerprint sensor nor a gold color option will be available in either line. He believes that production of components related to those features are still being prioritized for the iPhone 5s, which remains in very tight supply, and thus will not yet be able to make their way into the iPad lineup.

As for other upgrades, Kuo believes that the fifth-generation iPad will adopt a new A7X chip while the new iPad mini will be equipped with a slightly less powerful A7 chip like the one found in the iPhone 5s. Kuo also reiterates his earlier claim that the rear camera on Apple's new iPads will be upgraded to 8 megapixels. Finally, Kuo believes that both the fifth-generation iPad and the second-generation iPad mini will include Apple's new "M7" chip that debuted in the iPhone 5s, offering significant improvements for motion tracking.

Alongside the iPad updates, Kuo also believes that Apple will be introducing its Retina MacBook Pro on Tuesday, moving to Intel's latest Haswell chips for improved performance and battery life while also upgrading the FaceTime camera to 1080p quality, a claim he has made in the past.

Overall, Kuo unsurprisingly believes that the new fifth-generation iPad will drive a significant increase in sales for Apple's full-size iPad, while the new iPad mini will result in a more modest bump due to the very tight initial supplies. He also predicts a very strong bump for the Retina MacBook Pro, as pent-up demand for new Haswell models should lead to strong sales heading into the holidays.

Unaddressed is Apple's Mac Pro, which is expected to be given its full introduction on Tuesday in advance of a launch before the end of the year, but Kuo has generally not covered Apple's Mac Pro line in his report.

Kuo has been fairly accurate with his claims over the past several years, earning him significant attention from the rumor community. He has, however, had some misses, as seen with his prediction that the Retina MacBook Pro would be updated at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference back in June. That update had been widely expected, but did not come to pass and customers are still waiting for the new models to appear over four months later.

Related roundups: iPad 5, iPad mini 2, MacBook Pro

If the MacBoom Pro Retina is getting 120hours of battery life or more, I'm in for it. Anyone with me?

Touch ID is one of the greatest implementations ever. iPad 5 needs to have it.

New iPads should have multiple user accounts with iOS 7 especially with their potentially doubled RAM. Pair that with Touch ID, everyone in the family can log in into their own account just by using their finger!

Touch ID would be great on the iPad mini 2, but it's not a deal breaker for me if it doesn't have it.

iPad Mini 2 will get Retina since everybody and their brother is doing it in similar form factor and at a lower pricepoints. To support Retina, it needs an -X processor with doubled memory bandwidth, so it's more than likely it's inheriting A6X from the iPad 4 of yesteryear. The reason original iPad Mini used A5 like an iPhone and not A5X like the iPad 3 is because the low resolution, just like iPad 2 did not need an A5X. Just like original iPad Mini being a shrink down of iPad 2 it will be essentially identical hardware wise as iPad 4 just in a smaller package, so no need to test against a new configuration.

iPad Mini 2 is not getting Touch ID due to cost as well as it's use of A6X which does not have the supporting circuitry. iPad 5 is getting it though, being the flagship, having A7X and not so tight bill of material.

Touch ID would be brilliant to enable multi-user support on iPad - where it actually makes sense as opposed to a phone, should Apple opt to go down this path. That would be a good enough reason to buy an iPad instead of a couple cheaper tablets for family, therefore get sales which would otherwise go to competition.

Touch ID to do what? Unlock and remember password for App Store? :confused:

I'm fine with remembering my passwords which we have all been doing for years :rolleyes:

I'm ecstatic about mini with retina. Question is, which processor? That will then determine which one I'd get :apple:

You've OBVIOUSLY never used TouchID, lol.

I sit patiently with my thumb on the home button of my iPad mini, waiting for it to unlock. Lol, my 5S has me trained already!! It rocks. I love it.

Touch ID is one of the greatest implementations ever. iPad 5 needs to have it.

Touch ID to do what? Unlock and remember password for App Store? :confused:

I'm fine with remembering my passwords which we have all been doing for years :rolleyes:

I'm ecstatic about mini with retina. Question is, which processor? That will then determine which one I'd get :apple:

I was going to purchase the iPad 5, but I've cancelled those plans due to iOS 7.

I don't care how powerful or sexy the hardware is, I'm not going to use an OS that OFFENDS me.

Offends you? Offends? Called you meanie names? Stole your lunch money? Tried to murder your mommy?

There's no way that the iPad will be lacking the Touch ID because if they do include Touch ID on iPads, people would have more faith in the technology as they'll realize Apple's intentions to make this technology really big and expand it to other products and services. This way, more people would end up buying the iPhone 5S.

Image (http://i.imgur.com/7NKvjTV.jpg)

Ahhh, the ol' G5 PowerBook. The one that got away...

via apple - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHguQP3WLrtMo24J1GlTDDWdbIlEQ&url=http://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/20/apples-media-event-predicted-to-see-retina-ipad-mini-and-thinner-ipad-but-no-touch-id-or-gold-option/