Apple's (News - Alert) latest i-device, the iPad Mini, hasn't quite captured the public's interest the way other new products have from the company in recent years — which sort of flies in the face of many analysts' predictions that it would be a hit among business users. There are many factors that have contributed to this, including much stronger competition from Android-based competitors like the Google (News - Alert) Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD, particularly in terms of pricing.

But it could be that Apple's own upgrade cycle could be the biggest factor in this case.

In other words, consumers that want a smaller iPad are probably waiting for the second iteration, which will probably feature a Retina display — that is to say a much higher resolution than 1024 x 768.

Indeed, rumors have surfaced recently that the next iPad Mini will, in fact, sport a Retina display.

While some have questioned the reliability of this rumor, which began with Digitimes, the site was among the first to claim, quite accurately, that Apple would launch a new MacBook Pro this year with a resolution of 2880 x 1800.

That said, it's not too hard to predict the addition of Retina displays in Apple products since the company tends to strive for uniformity in order to keep app compatibility to a maximum.

As such, it's pretty likely that the next iPad Mini will sport the same 2048 x 1536 resolution as the third and fourth-generation 9.7-inch iPad models.

Digitimes also claims that the next full-sized iPad will be lighter than the current generation model due to new LED light bar technology. While the third and fourth generation iPads both sport two LED light bars, the next iteration will apparently have only one, allowing for a lighter, and probably thinner, design as well as presumably equivalent backlight uniformity.

So for those waiting out for the next iteration of an Apple product, it may have been wise to do so, but at the same time, at the rate Apple churns out updates, it might be better to just take the plunge and not worry about what's to come.

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