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The most detailed look at the coming soon (October?) iPad 5, including the slimmer bezels and thinner body. Yes, Apple’s full-size 2013 tablet will be noticeably smaller than earlier iterations, but the display will remain the same beefy 9.7 inches. Add in a faster A7X processor and iOS 7, a major mobile operating system rewrite, and the iPad 5 starts to come clearly into view.

But, before we bury the lede too deeply, let’s get back to the newest and most revealing to date pictures of the iPad 5, courtesy of noneother than Sonny Dickson, Apple’s newest teen bete noir.

As you can see in the image above, the iPad 5’s bezel is significantly slimmer than 2012’s iPad 4. In a similar vein, the profile view (below) shows that the the 2013 Apple slab will be noticeably thinner, as well.

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And, again, the iPad 5’s display will be the same generous 9.7 inches as earlier models. Unchanged, however, is the device’s height.

The headphone jack, power button and home button all remain the same, as well.

iPad 5: Parsing the Details

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Unlike the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5S, there hasn’t been much talk about the iPad 5’s specs. That said, a little informed speculation can fill out the rest of the picture:

• Display resolution will remain the same 2048 pixels
• Camera sensor likely will increase to 8MP vs last year’s 5MP chip
• A7X system-on-chip processor, inline with the iPhone 5S upgrade
• RAM allotment could increase to 1.5 or 2 GB, though Apple is notoriously cheap vis-a-vis system memory
• Storage capacity could increase across the board to 32, 64 and 128 GB models. Again, Apple has been consistently cheap vis-a-vis storage

Some have speculated that Apple will deliver the iPad 5 in new colors (i.e. champagne, graphite) a la the iPhone 5S. However, given the above improvements, I would be surprised if Apple offered these colors to tablet buyers this year — perhaps 2014.

Liking what you see? Is the iPad 5 a must-have upgrade or were you hoping for more?

Sound off in the comments below…

Via SlashGear