Images of the rumoured iPad mini have surfaced online, showing off a backplate for the device, which is complete with a cut-out for Apple's new nine-pin dock connector.
The existence of the device has often been questioned, particularly considering comments made by the late Steve Jobs surrounding a smaller, seven-inch version of the acclaimed iPad.
When discussing Android based tablets in 2010, which incorporate seven-inch screens on its devices, Jobs said: "One naturally thinks that a 7-inch screen would offer 70 per cent of the benefits of the 10-inch screen. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. The screen measurements are diagonal, so that a 7-inch screen is only 45 per cent as large as iPad's 10-inch screen. You heard me right. Just 45 per cent as large."
"If you take an iPad and hold it upright in portrait view and draw an imaginary horizontal line halfway down the screen, the screens on a 7-inch tablet are a bit smaller than the bottom half of the iPad's display. The size isn't sufficient to create great tablet apps, in our opinion," he continued.
Chinese news site tech.163.com posted the images, claiming they were received from "informed sources".


Features of the backplate include a connector slot of a size appropriate for Apple's widely rumoured nine-pin connector, as well as cut-outs for a camera and volume and toggle controls, and even dual speakers on the plate's base.
The existence of such a device is still yet to be confirmed, but these images - unless part of an elaborate hoax - seem to look legitimate.
These images appear at an interesting time as Amazon announced just yesterday, its range of Kindle Fire HD tablets, which are available in both seven-inch and 8.9-inch models.

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