Back in March of this year, Apple released the iPad 3, which features a Retina display and a faster processor than the previous version of the tablet. So when Apple held one of its special events in San Francisco two months ago, nobody saw the iPad 4 coming which was released together with the long-expected iPad Mini.

But a new report claims Apple may be launching the next iPad just three months from now. Is Apple changing its release schedule to a more faster one, to cope with the competition perhaps?

Japanese site Macotakara, which has provided accurate information in the past, reports that the successor of the iPad 4 will be thinner and lighter, possibly borrowing elements from the iPad Mini:

According to my inside source, iPad(5th) may be released in March, 2013. Source told that, design of this new iPad will be like iPad mini in detail, and be thinner and lightweight. (The expectation comes to have a small 4mm in height, 17mm in width, depth 2mm).p

The numbers above don't seem to represent the actual size, but the difference in size between the iPad 4 and 5. So presumably, the iPad 5 measures 237 mm by 169 mm by 7.4 mm, which is almost as thin as the iPad Mini.

Macotakara also reports that the iPad Mini 2 will have a Retina display with the same resolution and the same A6X processor as the iPad 4.