With Apple having launched the iPad 4 alongside the iPad mini back in November – only eight months after introducing the new iPad to the world it's clear that the company is now looking to take on Samsung and Google in the budget market as well as the premium arena.
Naturally with technology moving at such a quick pace it's unsurprising that talk has already turned to the new specs, features and of course the design of Apple's upcoming iPad 5.
iPad 5 - release date
With the likes of the Google Nexus 10 both nailing the specs sheet and offering a tablet that's as light as it is powerful Apple will no doubt be looking to reinvent the iPad as something that is as premium as it is portable without sacrificing the build-quality.
Current rumours certainly point to a mid-2013 release date with AppleInsider reporting that Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst for KGI Securities, reportedly wrote to insiders to suggest Apple felt the pressure of launching a new 9.7-inch iPad 5 to retain its lead in the tablet market.
"Though the iPad mini is expected to be successful, we think launching a lighter, thinner 9.7-inch iPad as quickly as possible matters more for Apple strategically," Kuo wrote.
What this means is that we could a lighter iPad 5 before we see an iPad Mini with Retina Display as Apple will be looking to regain as much of the larger tablet market share as possible from Google and Microsoft.
iPad 5 – specifications and design
With no official confirmation on specs and only leaks to go on it's believed that Apple will be looking to move its products over to the same design language as the iPad Mini and the iPhone 5 by offering darker metals with the black version whilst leaving the aluminium finish for the white versions.
There have been reports that Apple is working with Sharp on a completely new screen for the iPad 5 featuring the ability to work even when the user is wearing gloves whilst also drastically reducing the thickness of the display itself. So far this level of tech has only been found in a few Nokia Lumia handsets and on the new Samsung Galaxy S4.
iPad 5 – pricing
Taking into account the fact that Apple almost never changes the price when they update a product it would be logical to assume that the iPad 5 will launch in three different models: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB with the current prices of £399, £479 and £559 for the Wi-fi only version and £499, £579 and £659 for the Wifi/3G variants.
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