Consumers around the globe were quick to snatch up gold versions of the new iPhone 5s – it was the first color to sell out in each of the 11 countries that participated in the handset’s launch. Backorders won’t ship until sometime in October, which just so happens to be the same month that Apple is expected to unveil a new line of iPad and iPad Mini tablets. The Cupertino tech giant would be crazy not to produce at least one of them in the popular new champagne finish.
Chinese tech blog DoNews was the first to leak photos of a gold iPad Mini 2. One image showed the gilded back, and another showed the bottom of the front panel – complete with a fingerprint-scanning TouchID sensor.
Prolific Apple leaker Sonny Dickson, who leaked the most reliable photos of the gold iPhone 5s prior to its official announcement, also confirmed that the new iPad Mini 2 will come with the same color options as the iPhone 5s: gold, silver and Space Gray.
Dickson added that the new Apple slates will include A7 chips, 64-bit architecture, an M7 motion coprocessor, and TouchID. The iPad Mini 2 will sport 1GB of RAM while the full-sized iPad 5 will be equipped with 2GB.
What makes the gold iPhones, and potential gold iPad Mini 2, so popular in the first place?
“The demand is driven by prestige,” said Forbes. “It’s the only model that is obviously an iPhone 5s at first glance. The black iPhone 5s looks essentially identical to a black iPhone 5, and the white with silver iPhone 5s looks basically identical to a white with silver iPhone 5. The one way to make sure everyone knows you absolutely have an iPhone 5s is to choose the white with gold model.”
While Apple has yet to make a formal announcement or distribute invitations to a press event, October 15 and 22 have been suggested for the next generation iPad release. International Business Times, however, stated that supply chain issues may push the iPad Mini back to the first quarter of 2014 – citing concerns over the purported inclusion of a retina display.