Apple has sent out invitations to a press event happening on Oct. 22. The company gave no other details as to what it would be sharing with the public at this event but, thanks to leaks from the rumor mill many in the tech industry have a pretty good idea of what the company will be showcasing.
Basically, the event will mostly be about unveiling new additions to the iPad and iPad mini families. The standard-size iPad 5 will sport a redesigned image based on some leaked pictures, one of which is featured above. It will also come with at least the "space gray" color option found on the new iPhone 5S. It's unclear if the other new color option, the gold "champagne" color will make its debut on the iPad or not.
Hardware-wise, the next iPad will ikely sport the same 64-bit A7 processor found in the new iPhone. This follows a trend from the company to put iPhone innovations into the next generation of iPads, according to CNET.
Meanwhile, the iPad mini 2 is expected by many to come with an upgraded Retina display. However, that's still up in the air as no one is sure if Apple can push out the innovation and not make it a drain on the small tablet's battery life. The mini's closest competitor, the Nexus 7, already sports a high-resolution display of 1,920 x 1,200-pixels. Not matching that will make the iPad mini look bad and outdated by comparison. So, the company will likely need to keep up.
Many analysts believe the next iPads will be launched sometime in early November with starting retail prices of $329 for WiFi and $459 for the LTE version in the U.S.
As for other announcements from the company, release dates on the OS X Mavericks software update as well as the new Mac Pro will likely be announced. In addition, Apple typically likes to have "just one more thing" to show people before finishing major press events like this. Perhaps the company will finally acknowledge the existence of the highly rumored iWatch wearable technology device.
