Apple released two new iPad models last year, the iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 3. The mini model is the only one that got a Touch ID fingerprint sensor and extra color option, meaning that Apple would have significantly invested on the model and is likely to continue the series.
However, rumors persist that Apple might discontinue the mini line, as what was reported last year by Apple Insider. The company will instead replace it with a hybrid device designed to take on Microsoft's Surface Pro 3. The new device could be named the iPad Pro and will have a 12.2-inch display, a Surface-like keyboard cover, and a mobile version of Apple's Mac OS X.
Now that the Spring Forward event has gone with no new iPad announcements, the rumors about the new iPad Pro is reaching its crescendo. But what Apple watchers, such as market analyst Rhoda Alexander of IHS, sincerely believe is that Apple would launch the iPad Pro this year.
"It's a go for 2015," she said, as quoted by Fox News. "The release timing is fuzzy. It may not appear until Q4 with the other iPad updates. We are, however, getting input from both the component and [product] side that this is a real product, and part of Apple's 2015 building plan."
As to why Apple will not be releasing a new mini, Apple watcher Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities says that Apple will be focused instead on two products for a larger iPad.
He has this to say: "As such, more resources will be allocated to these two products, which will affect the progress of the development of the new iPad mini. All told, we think the chances of the debut of a new iPad mini slim."
