iPad Mini 2 Rear Shells Displayed in New Photos

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, February 21, 2013

Photos of rear shells that could to be for the next generation iPad Mini showed up on a Chinese forum earlier this week.

The forum known as WeiPhone gave viewers a first look at these shells that appear to be a bit thicker than the ones used on the current iPad model. The thicker component in the photos led 9to5Mac to believe that these new shells are meant for a Retina iPad Mini.

"Obviously, if these truly are thicker, natural speculation points to these shells being supportive of a Retina display iPad mini. When Apple moved to a higher-resolution display in the third-generation, the product's casing was thicker to accommodate new graphics and battery components," wrote the site.

These casings also are quite similar to past leaks and the button layouts are almost the same as the current iPad Mini. The shells also feature a strange blue Apple logo on the back.

DigiTimes first reported that Apple was planning to increase the screen resolution of the already popular iPad Mini for its official successor back in Dec. of last year,

The company's main focus with the next iPad Mini is to makes its resolution on par with the high-end 4th generation iPad.

The addition of a retina display to the iPad Mini will require Apple to use a larger battery and a more robust processor. This is exactly what Apple had to do when it upgraded the display on the third-generation iPad. This has technology sites such as AnandTech predicting that Apple will have to find a different way to enhance the resolution on the iPad Mini.

DigiTimes also reported that the next-generation 9.7-inch iPad will be lighter due to new LED light bar technology that Apple will incorporated replacing the current technology featured in the third and fourth generation models.