Apple is reportedly working on a very thin next generation iPad Mini, according to a Taiwanese source.

GforGames reports that a tip coming from Asia suggests that the iPad Mini 3 will be controversially thin. Specifically, the next generation iPad Mini will allegedly come in 30% thinner than the current generation device. According to Mac Rumors, the said percentage would mean that the iPad Mini 3 will be more or less 5.25mm thin.

However, as Mac Rumors points out, the alleged 30% reduction in thickness is seemingly far off. The outlet remarks, "...how Apple would achieve such a reduction is unclear, especially given the increase in horsepower seen with the move to a Retina display last year."

It can be recalled that the first generation iPad Mini which measures 7.2mm in thickness, was bumped up .3mm to a 7.5mm iPad Mini 2 after the device got a Retina upgrade. BGR notes that the Retina display "requires more power and battery life than lower resolution screens," making a same sized iPad Mini 3 in terms of thickness more believable.

With the alleged 5.25mm thin iPad Mini 3, GforGames says that according to the Asian source, the device will allegedly be called the iPad Mini Air 3.

The next generation iPad Mini 3 has been rumored to sport a display with the same 7.9-inch size and 2048x1536 resolution, KDramaStars reported last month. Other rumored specs of the device include an A8 processor and a 64-bit system on a chip, the outlet says, citing KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. GforGames, reporting based on the Asian source, says that TSMC will be manufacturing the A8 processors.

Ming-Chi Kuo speculates that the iPad Mini 3 or the iPad Mini Air 3 will roll out this year, sometime in the third quarter, KDramaStars said in the same report.

We've earlier reported that the non-Retina or the original iPad Mini got a $100 slash off in price. White and space gray variants of the iPad Mini were available for only $199 at Best Buy last month. This could very well mean that a new version of the discounted device may be out anytime soon.

There is no news of the iPad Mini 3 price yet but KDramaStars reports that the current generation device got a $50 increase from the non-Retina model's price tag. Should the iPad Mini 3 get a price bump, it is safe to say that it may not be as much as $50 since the second version already sports Retina display.

But with news coming from the East that Apple is allegedly working on thinner iPad Mini models, could the Retina display be displaced by something newer? What do you think?