Top secret Apple plans to launch an 'iPad Mini' late summer/early autumn look a little less outlandish after the unearthing of a Samsung Securities document that references the mythical slate.

As well as mentioning that Apple "plans in 1Q12 to launch the iPad 3", the document goes on to say that Apple will release "in 3Q12 a new 7-inch product temporarily referred to as the iPad mini".

This sits very nicely with previous rumours peddled by Digitimes that also posited that Apple will release a smaller iPad in Q3 (that's somewhere between July and September, fact fans).

Back track

Steve Jobs once famously slammed 7-inch tablets, describing them as of a size that "isn't sufficient to create great tablet apps" while requiring users to "sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size".

But with the Amazon Kindle Fire proving a low-cost, smaller-screened tablet competitor, there may well have been a rethink. Perhaps the iSander will come as an optional accessory.

Before we get to all this iPad nano nonsense, though, there's the small matter of the iPad 3 to contend with.

We'll be heading to Apple's iPad 3 event on Wednesday so keep your eyes trained on TechRadar.com for the news as it breaks, or join us on Twitter where we'll be tweeting along to the announcement as well.

In the meantime, check out what we want to see in the iPad 3 in our video below:

From OLED Display