7-inch iPad Mini Rear Shell Surface with No Camera Hole

The Internet rumor mill has been in overdrive since past two weeks, with many Mini iPad and iPhone 5 photos doing the rounds. Today another set of iPad mini pictures have been posted on Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo purportedly showing the 7-inch back cover of the iPad mini, but surprisingly the back cover doesn’t have the hole to accommodate the camera lens. Does Apple really want to castrate off the rear lens?

The part doesn’t sits well with the iPad mini cases we’ve seen over the past few weeks, which have all had camera openings, making us to believe that these parts could be fake. But it could be possible that this Mini iPad shell is just a prototype which got rejected before cutting out a hole for camera lens.

The appearance of the shell can be seen in the picture above making us believe that the inside part of the end plug will be turned into a new 19-Pin interface instead the original 30-Pin. Apple is already prepared to sell the adapter Dock Connector to Mini Dock Connector Converter.

Until Apple actually shows off the 7-inch mini iPad model, however, the photos shouldn’t be taken as legit. And assuming that the miniature version of iPad is launched looking just like the pictures above, is everyone happy with the changes made by Apple to the design of the tablet? [Apple.pro]