iPad Mini And Bigger iPad Tipped With Faster Chargers

New versions of the longest lasting tablet brand in the world are rumored to appear in stores in the near future. As noted by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple's likely set to release a new 10.8-inch iPad in the second half of the year 2020. That'd be anywhere from June to December – and more likely earlier than later. It's not yet known if this will be an "iPad Air" model or not. It's possible this would be a replacement for the current 10.2-inch iPad (no Air, Mini, or Pro).

There's also a tip this week from Kuo that suggests there'll be an 8.5-inch iPad coming in the first half of the year 2021. This would likely be a replacement for the last iPad mini. The otherwise latest iPad mini was released in March of the year 2019, bringing with it the first "mini" device from Apple to work with an official Apple Pencil stylus.

These iPad models will likely adopt the same price points as whatever devices they replace. Apple's success with the iPad requires little effort on the price adaptation front, as no competing company has yet offered a device with near as much name recognition or staying power.

If a brand like Microsoft would start creating devices with a higher "cool" factor than the Surface lineup, they might have a chance to step to iPad, but we'd need to be moving beyond the age of the app – and we're not quite ready for that just yet. Apple's massive catalog of powerful apps continues to expand with the iPad, and it does not appear that brands like Adobe will be stopping investment into the platform any time soon.

The next couple of iPad releases will likely sport 20W chargers. That'd charge your iPad a bit faster than usual, as the until-now-standard charger for the iPad and iPhone was (and remains) a 12W USB power adapter.

Not a whole lot is known about the next couple of iPad units, but connecting to 5G data might well be on the table. The design of the larger iPad might stick with the same external dimensions while the display grows – that's something Apple's done with devices like this in the past.

Cross your fingers for some design cues from the latest iPad Pro. More flat sides, more chance of display panel protection due to... you know... physics. Release dates are not yet revealed, but we'll likely see one new iPad by the end of 2020, and another in the first half of 2021.