iPad Mini: camera-free rear a pain the rear?

Although the iPhone 5 has had most of the pre-launch glory thus far, one question I’ve previously asked is when fuzzy pictures of iPad mini cases would start appearing, and finally, this has happened, revealing that the iPad mini might not have a rear-facing camera.

If you thought the iPad mini would basically just be like a smaller iPad, or even a bigger iPod touch, we may only be half right.

If you remember with the original iPad, it had no cameras at all – none on the front, and none on the back. However, while the iPad 2 and new iPad 3rd-gen did indeed finally come with cameras and the ability to do Facetime, the iPad mini may well break part of the mould – and even “copy” what Google and Asus have done with the Nexus 7.

That’s because the “first” images of anything iPad mini have finally been leaked on China’s “Weibo” microblogging service, and reported on by Apple.Pro (in Chinese, English translation via Google here), where we see what appears to be the rear case of what is assumed to be the already famous and still very mysterious 7.85-inch iPad mini – without a suitable hole for a rear-facing camera, let alone any LED flash.

Apple.Pro is careful to note that the rear casings may be prototypes, or it may be Apple trying to cost-cut in the same manner that Google and Asus have done.

Or, it may be Apple’s way of guaranteeing plenty of iPad Mini 2 purchases just to get that camera when the iPad Mini 2 is presumably launched in 2013, just as Apple has done with plenty of its other products, delivering “good” reasons to want to upgrade to the next model.

Still, it’s good to see that an image of the iPad Mini has leaked, even if it’s not real, as people were expecting this to happen and wondered when it would.

Now that it has, is the case real? Is it an elaborate hoax? Is there truly no camera, or is Apple going for a front-facing camera for Facetime only?

Sadly, the answers to these questions remain unknown, and will presumably only fully answered come September 12, when Apple’s great iReveal is expected to iHappen.

So, sit tight, and keep scanning the Internets for rumours and leaks until then, because until the true launch, all we can truly do is iSpeculate!