Original Article – 10:49AM, 22 August 2022: Back in June of 2021, reports of Apple stopping production of the iPhone 12 mini ahead of schedule put the fate of compact devices in question. With that, the iPhone 13 mini was thought to be the second and last mini phone that the company would be making. But a recent leak puts that into question, suggesting that the company’s launch event next month may indeed feature an iPhone 14 mini. Via 91mobiles, prominent leakster Evan Blass claims that one of Apple’s “top-tier channel partners” in the Asia-Pacific region has started preparing the sale of new iPhone and iPad models. On the list for the former category are the base model iPhone 14, its Pro and Pro Max variants, as well as a mini model. As for the latter, the list includes the base model iPad 10.2, the 6th generation iPad Pro 12.9 and 4th generation iPad Pro 11.
On one hand, Evan Blass has had a pretty strong record when it comes to accurate leaks. This time, he claims that his source is a major channel partner in the Asia-Pacific market, which reinforces his claims. But on the other, this contradicts a prediction by industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who predicted back in April of last year that Apple will instead have two 6.1-inch and two 6.7-inch iPhone models instead. Either way, as with any other leak, it’s best to take these with a pinch of salt regardless of the reliability of the sources. Though one would hope that this time, if Apple is indeed going to announce an iPhone 14 mini, the company would do right by it. The unpopularity of the iPhone 12 mini was not helped by the fact that only the Pro Max model of that generation got the sensor-shift tech. And while this was rectified in the iPhone 13 generation, else is an incremental upgrade, which probably isn’t enticing enough for those who bit the bullet for the previous generation mini model. (Source: 91Mobiles via TechRadar, 9to5Mac, NotebookCheck)
