I am having some difficulty reconciling three of the latest bits of news/rumors about next year's iPad Mini 7
Recent rumors have pointed to the iPad Mini 7 coming out in the second half of calendar year 2024. Those reporting this timeline have also started putting the A16 chip in this revision. Finally, there are the reports that next year's versions of iOS and iPadOS will be major updates.
These three pieces of information have set up a certain cognitive dissonance, as the rumors do not feel like they play well together.
First, why release a device that is often associated with university students after they would have planned or purchased (or have purchased for them) their new year's devices in the late spring/early summer rather than in the fall?
This question is doubly applicable for the education-bulk-purchase focused iPad.
It feels like an odd timeframe for such release. It feels even stranger if the chips being used in the iPad and the iPad Mini are of an older generation than the M-series and the 3 nanometer process chips going into the rest of the iPad line.
Second, Apple has a history of tying major software advances to their hardware development. Pundits and users alike are routinely surprised that the latest software developments can be run on older than anticipated hardware.
There are two obvious ways to dispel this cognitive dissonance. The first would be for Apple to release the Mini earlier than the rumors indicate. This would permit students to order and buy before the start of the fall semester and not feel like the chips were old, relative to what we are expecting to see in the iPads Pro and Air that are rumored to be released in the spring.
But that solution does not solve for my (self-imposed) criterion that the new hardware be ready to leverage whatever is coming in iOS and iPadOS.
There is another explanation, of course — one that may be more wish fulfillment on my part than reality.
But hear me out.
If the reason for the delayed timeline is to put a three nanometer chip (e.g.. the A17) into the Mini and an MI into the iPad, the entire line may be capable of running Stage Manager, unifying the multitasking approach across all of its iPad and Mac platforms in advance of the Vision Pro’s arrival.
It would also explain why the release is later. Given the stories about how low the yield rate is for the nanometer chips is, the longer timeline for the is iPad Mini makes more sense, as it gives Apple and TMC more time to produce the chips they need for iPhones and the Vision Pro.
There are other explanations that would make sense, including explanations that I have not imagined. Apple may want to clear stock (chips or devices) or better recoup development costs — both of which could be cleared with more time, for example.
I suspect there are better ways to do that. I also suspect I may be trying to wish something into existence rather than be entirely dispassionate about my theories.
But it still feels like there are some surprises in store for the next iterations of the iPad and iPad Mini.