iPad 5 coming in April

Rene Ritchie from iMore reported today that Apple plans to debut the iPhone 5S in August and the next iPads could arrive as soon as next month. Our sources have also confirmed that Apple is planning an iPad event for April, but the iPad mini won’t be updated until the Fall. Our source also stated that Apple’s next iPhone should debut in August, but he wouldn’t be surprised if it was pushed up to July.

This seems a little strange and would mean that the iPad 5 would come only 6 months after the iPad 4. However, the iPad 4 was only a slight update to the iPad 3 and was released ahead of the one year cycle to have the complete iOS lineup with the Lightning port. The iPad 4 could have been called an iPad 3L to indicate it was an iPad 3 with a Lightning port.

The iPad 5 will be the first iPad to have a different shape since the iPad 2. The iPad 5 will be thinner and have slimmer side bevels similar to the iPad mini. The iPad 5 may also be the first iOS device to include fingerprint detection in the home button as an alternative to using a password.

iPad mini sales are said to be outpacing the full-sized iPad more rapidly than Apple expected. By staggering the release dates could be a brilliant marketing move by Apple.

Originally posted 2013-03-05 17:18:32.