Apple rumored to debut new Mac mini in October alongside iPad refresh

Apple's headless Mac mini desktop has been left untouched for nearly two years, but the company may be priming a refresh that could debut next month, reports MacRumors.

While fans of the pint-sized desktop have been waiting for a long overdue refresh, Apple has pushed out numerous iterations of other products in its lineup, including the redesigned Mac Pro.

In spite of having a much lower Mac marketshare compared to the iMac and MacBook lineup, there has been no shortage of Mac mini rumors since the machine received its minor spec bump in 2012. For example, at the tail end of that year, reports claimed Apple would move production of the tiny desktop to the U.S.

More recently, rumors in July pointed to a Support Pages document regarding Boot Camp that referenced a "mid-2014" Mac mini, though with summer come and gone, it seems likely that post was made in error. At the time, Apple had just released the MacBook Pro with Retina display, leading some to believe the update was meant for those machines instead.

The veracity of today's rumor is murky, as the Apple blog recently whiffed on claims that the iPhone 6 would launch on Oct. 14 as part of a "busy month." Apple's latest iPhone was announced on Sept. 9 and saw wide release last week.