Hours after Apple released its newest version of iOS for iPhones, iPads and iPods – the all new iOS 7.1, people who dug deep into the core of the new software came up with some startling facts. The code has references to two new hitherto unheard of devices in the list of hardware that iOS 7.1 supports. The new devices appear in the list as iPad4,3 and iPad4,6. These model numbers are internal code names for product variants and were not known to have existed on any document in the public domain, until today that is.
While excited bloggers have already talked about the possibility of these being entirely new iPad variants that could be launched soon, experts are of the opinion that these references within iOS 7.1 are more likely to be minor upgrades to the hardware over the existing iPad models. These revisions usually involve internal components and do not affect the product performance in a noticeable way. In short, these might be inconsequential “upgrades” that might be of little value to the end consumer.
In case you are unaware, here’s what folks from over at iPhoneHacks have to say about the internal code names for the current iPad versions. According to them, the existing iPad Air models bear internal model numbers iPad4,1 and iPad 4,2. The Retina iPad Mini models are known internally as the iPad4,4 and iPad 4,5. It is therefore highly plausible that the “new” iPad 4,3 could be a slightly tweaked iPad Air while the iPad 4,6 could be a tweaked Retina iPad mini. Of course, these are just calculated guesses at this point of time. In the past, there have been instances like these where a products internal codename was changed midway through its life-cycle after it received a minor update. Case in point, the Third generation Apple TV, which was initially labelled “3,1”, – an updated version with a smaller chip was added later with the model number changed to “3.2”.
Meanwhile, a commenter on MacRumors has talked about the possibility of these new models being new iPad Mini with Retina Display with an upgraded speaker unit. There were some complaints about the volume levels on the iPad Minis soon after their launch. Here is an Apple Discussions Forum thread discussing the same issue.
Anyway, at this point of time, we can only guess as to what these “new” iPad models would turn out to be. Why then don’t you guys let us know what you think this would be? Do you see a new iPad model being launched very soon?
[Image Via: MacRumors]
