It"s been almost two years since Apple released a new iPad Mini, and rumors from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has already predicted a nine-inch model for this year. If a leak from xleaks7 and published by Pigtou is to be believed, Apple is set to make some strange design choices with it.
According to the report, the screen size will be 9.15 inches, and unsurprisingly, Apple is aiming to put it in a same-sized chassis; otherwise, it would be around the same size that the full-size iPad used to be. The size of the new chassis is 203.2x134.8x6.25mm. So yes, that means that the chassis"s dimensions are identical, except it"s just a bit thicker than the 6.1mm iPad Mini 5.
The images show hole-punch cut-outs for both the front camera and for Touch ID, which is apparently remaining while iPhone and iPad Pro have switched to Face ID. The text in the report is a bit more ambiguous though, saying that the fingerprint sensor is inside the display. It"s possible that the dedicated sensor is only shown in the mock-up to demonstrate where an in-display sensor might be, and if you remove the cut-out, it looks a lot more like what we"d expect from an iPad Mini.
As for when it"s coming, the report didn"t say. It did speculate that Apple will use an A14 Bionic processor, and that adds up since the last one had an A12. Perhaps we"ll hear more about this in the spring.