Photos of alleged iPad mini dummy unit

Now that the iPhone 5 announcement has come and gone, the rumor mill has turned its sights back to the iPad mini. Yesterday, we heard the tablet is already in mass production. And today, this.

There’s a new set of photos floating around the web this morning of a purported iPad mini dummy unit. And the non-working model is believed to be indicative of what the tablet will look like…

Nowhereelse.fr posts the pictures, which were originally discovered on BoLoPad. The tablet in the shots is obviously not a real iPad mini, but it’s said to be made up of real iPad mini parts.

Admittedly, it looks similar to other recent part leaks, with a thin aluminum shell, a Lightning port and an opening for a rear camera. It also has a hole for what’s believed to be a rear mic.

But as always, with these types of things, it’s impossible to determine legitimacy. The parts look pretty sketchy, so they could either be cheap knockoffs, or early prototypes. It’s hard to tell.

Details regarding the iPad mini are still fairly scarce at this point. Most reports agree that the tablet will have a 7.85-inch display and be priced somewhere south of $300, but that’s about it.

Speaking of price, a lot of folks have brought up the fact that the new iPod touch starts at $299. So that begs the question, how could Apple price an iPad mini less than that without worrying about cannibalizing their own products? Who would pay as much for, or more, an iPod touch than an iPad mini?

These are good questions, and ones that we may not know the answers to until Apple itself reveals the product. Luckily, it’s expected to do that at an event in the first few weeks of October.

So, how do you think the iPad mini is shaping up so far? Look good?