new iPad 5

Update 15/10/2013: the list of things that we have a fairly good indication of has grown these past two and a half weeks and the post has been updated to indicate as much.

With the year drawing to an end, some of you may be falsely mislead into thinking that there's nothing left to look forward to as the holidays approach. This is one of thew few times that you're lucky to be wrong, for if nothing else – we still have the iPad 5 on our radar.

Apple hasn't been doing so well on the rumors front lately, having their iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s leaked in great detail long before the actual unveiling. The same didn't necessarily apply to the iPad 5 in the beginning – we had a pretty good idea of what the tablet will look like, but much of the rest has remained shrouded in mystery. With October 22nd approaching fast (the new release date-apparent), things have changed and we now have a bunch of extra information that we didn't just a few short weeks back.

Here's what we do know

For starters, we do have a pretty good (and quite extensive) idea of what the 9.7-inch tablet will end up looking like, which is, arguably, one of the most important aspects. As you're witnessing for yourself, the new iPad 5 is set to come bearing quite a resemblance to the iPad mini as far as design goes. This probably falls into the “well, duh!” category, but we also have a very good reason to believe that the new iPad will be thinner, lighter, with slimmer bezels, and just generally more compact. That's a very welcome change, and we're sure we're talking for most of you – the iPad 4 sure could use some dieting.

But the similarities between the design of the iPad 5 and the iPad mini don't end with an almost identical-looking outer shell. Instead, they go deeper – the leaks so far indicate that the new Apple slate will also feature a set of stereo speakers on the bottom, and a slight redesign of the volume keys, which are now separated, in tune with the design of the iPad mini and the (newer) iPhones. Speaking of the new iPhones, we've also had our first indication that a golden iPad 5 may make an appearance, though this one may not necessarily take after the iPhone 5s'  champagne looks.

We finally have a tentative release date for the iPad 5 -- October 22, on Tuesday. The rumor courtesy of AllThingsD informants fits nicely with how Apple went about their iPad release last year: first the iPhone 5 was introduced on September 12th and the iPad 4 followed 6 weeks later, on October 23rd. This time around, Apple announced the iPhone 5s on September 10th, meaning that an October 22nd date makes a lot of sense. It's interesting to note that this date will coincide with both Nokia World and Microsoft's official launch of the new Surfaces. Ouch!

What's even more, we've also finally gotten a more robust confirmation that our suspicion that Apple's proprietary Touch ID fingerprint sensor will indeed make an appearance with the iPad 5. Not a big surprise here.

But, wait! There's more: KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (who's fairly good with Apple predictions) also claims that the new iPad 5 will feature an upgraded, 8-megapixel camera with a larger aperture, up from the largely outdated 5-megapixel f/2.4 snapper that's been on iPads big and small since the iPad 3. Whether we're talking the unit on the iPhone 5s, or the one found on the iPhone 5/5c remains to be seen though. Whilst talking about analysts, it's probably also worth mentioning that due to the dimension changes that the iPad 5 will introduce, a new Smart Cover is guaranteed to be in the works, and as much has been hinted by Cantor Fitzgerald's Brian J. White.

Here's what we don't really know for sure

Not everything is as clear cut as the design of the new iPad 5, however. For example, we like to think that the iPad 5 will see an October announcement, but at the same time similar predictions, at least in the case of Apple's tab, have been wildly inaccurate. That being said, it does however appear that most Apple watchers are coming together on an October unveiling.

iPad 5: price

Moving past the iPad 5's speculated release date, the next most popular question involves the iPad 5's price. This seems a tad easier to predict, as Apple has been pretty uniform when it comes to pricing their iPads. If history proves to be a good reference point, then we should expect to see the iPad 5 come with a price tag starting at $499 for the 16GB, Wi-Fi only version, going all the way up to $929 for the 128GB Wi-Fi + LTE model.

There's an alternative theory, however. Namely, since its a high time for Apple to retire the iPad 2, the company is said to be looking to fill that $399 slot. What that means is that the new iPad 5 may end up with a price tag that reads a $100 less, so a fair bit more enticing and competitive. This does stand to reason, unfortunately however, it also sounds a fair bit more like wishful thinking to us.

iPad 5: display 

The plethora of shells that have been leaked into the wild have stood as a testament to Apple's intent to make the iPad 5 slimmer. Considering all the hardware that goes into a tablet, however, it usually involves some kind of a tradeoff, or an evolution of some sorts that allows manufacturers to do more with less. This has sprung all kinds of rumors on how Apple is planning to achieve that. Probably the most prevalent of all is that Apple will be using IGZO displays from Sharp that require less power among other things, meaning that Cupertino can then cut on the size of the battery – by far the bulkiest component in a tablet.

Another rumor, courtesy of KGI Securities Ming-Chi Kuo, claims that Apple will be using the same “GF Ditto” technology, which has made the iPad mini 23% thinner than its 9.7-inch sibling.

iPad 5: processor and other features

As far as the processor on the iPad 5 goes, we're obviously expecting Apple to continue the evolution of its in-house designed family of SoCs – the A5X in the iPad 3 and the A6X in the iPad 4. Could we see an A7X in the iPad 5? Certainly sounds plausible, and if that's the case, you can probably rest assured that it will be Apple's South Korean archrival that will be manufacturing it.