Apple will launch the iPad mini in October, a month after the expected iPhone 5 launch but still in time for Christmas. So say sources talking to All Things Digital, the tech blog of The Wall Street Journal, .

"Apple's next-generation iPhone and its so-called 'iPad mini' will debut at two separate events this fall, rather than a single one as has been widely speculated, according to several sources," reports the site.

According to All Things D, Apple will announce the smaller iPad, which is expected to have a 7-inch screen, after it has got its new iPhone launch out of the way in September.

It's worth noting that All Things Digital also broke the news, correctly, about the iPad 3 launch in March this year. 


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The news comes after some Apple bloggers theorised that Apple could struggle to launch two products at the same event.

That makes logical sense not, as some have suggested, because Apple wouldn't want reviews of the new iPhone 5 and the new iPad mini appearing at the same time, but because it won't want to be in a situation that means people will have to choose which Apple product to buy.

The last thing Apple would want would be for potential customers to have to choose and perhaps not buy both devices.

A staggered two event approach over two months would mean that people would be able to upgrade to the iPhone 5 in September (if that is to be the launch date) and then a month later have had the chance to find the additional cash to buy an iPad mini.

Apple has declined to comment on the rumours.