A lot of Apple fans were disappointed not to hear anything about the next iteration of the iPad Mini at Apple's March event and at the recent WWDC. Rumors now say that the iPad Mini 5 is expected to be released before the end of 2016, around September.

According to Neurogadget, the iPad Mini has never been seen at any of Apple's March events as well as the WWDC event. As such, even with the upcoming press release, it's expected for Apple to withhold its device until its expected release date, before 2016 ends. Also, it's expected to launch once the company has finally revealed its new iPhones.

However, the same article states that there's no guarantee for Apple to even release the newest iPad mini before 2016, as there's no official announcement just yet. But the pattern has been true for years, and Apple seemed to prefer releasing their products before the holidays begin. With this, in order for this company's products to hit the shelves by December, they should launch it two or three months beforehand, which opens up a window between September and October 2016.

It's also possible that the iPad Mini 5 will be released along with iPad Air 3, since a lot of observant fans report that new iPad Mini models are always released with their more superior counterpart, the iPad Air. Once an official release date has been made for the newest iPad Air, a new iPad Mini is expected to follow.

As for features, Yibada points out that it's possible for the iPad Mini 5 to have a Lightning type audio port technology, since Apple has stated that the products they'll release this year will all have this feature. In any case, if it's true, fans can expect that the device's hardware will have a major update, especially for its thickness. With this new technology, its thickness could be reduced by 5mm.