By Stephen Schenck

Sure, by now the iPad mini feels almost like an inevitability; we’ve seen leaked component photos, and heard rumor after rumor looking to the device’s arrival this fall. For the moment, though, nothing’s guaranteed, and we’ve had big expectations from Apple before only to see the company release something else entirely. As we await official word, we’ve got a few new signs in favor of the tablet’s launch.

First up, Bloomberg has a new report that cites four separate sources as confirming new manufacturers for the iPad mini’s display. According to them, both LG and AU Optronics will be fabricating the screens that end up in this new, smaller tablet. They also reiterate the theory that the iPad mini will go up for sale sometime in October.

Then we have the developer logs. The guy behind Instapaper has spotted a couple new Apple models using his software, reporting themselves as the iPad2,5 and iPad2,6. Presumably, those would be the WiFi-only and cell-enabled versions of the iPad mini. Being numbered in that fashion may suggest that the iPad mini may more closely resemble a shrunken-down iPad 2 when it comes to its hardware specs, rather than something based off the iPad 3.

Source: Bloomberg, Marco Arment
Via: phoneArena, Redmond Pie