There is still quite a bit of confusion regarding how exactly Apple plans to label and offer their latest generation tablets in the coming months. The main reason for this has been the addition of the iPad Pro line of tablets, which has somewhat cut into the market segment of the iPad Air and the iPad Mini. The new line's arrival now begs the question of whether or not Apple is going to be releasing a new iPad Air 3 or an iPad Mini 5 anytime soon.

Over the past few months, there have been reports that Apple was going to be offering three distinct variants of the iPad Pro tablet within the year or early next year. The screen sizes that will be offered will include a 12.9-inch, a 10.1-inch, and a 7.9-inch model. Some reports have claimed that the 7.9-inch model might be replacing the iPad Mini 5 altogether and that it would likely be called the iPad Mini Pro.

While Apple has yet to disclose any official information regarding the upcoming line-up, there is now a bit of uncertainly when it comes to the release of the iPad Mini 5. Some fans, however, are still clinging to the hope that a new version of the iPad Mini would be coming out this year or the next, regardless of what it might be called.

As for the rumored specs of the new compact iPad, reports have claimed that the iPad Mini 5 or iPad Mini Pro might be sporting the company's A9X chips which could be paired with 3 GB of RAM. The tablet is reportedly going to be offered with different internal memory capacities, with the base model having 32 GB of internal storage and the highest variant having 256 GB of internal storage.

The iPad Mini 5 or iPad Mini Pro is expected to be released either in the later part of this month or sometime in March of 2017.