Mass production of the redesigned iPad 5 is scheduled to commence between July and August this year, en route to a likely late September release date, new reports said.

Yet while the launch date for the 9.7-inch iOS 7 tablet is within schedule, consumers the world over may have to wait a bit more to get a hold of the 7.9-inch iPad Mini 2, with Retina and a faster processor as its main selling points.

Build up of the smaller Apple tablet will not begin until November, according to Taiwan-based publication DigiTimes, giving the slate a delivery window time that would actually start moving by January 2014.

It appears that the delay was deliberate on Apple's part, DigiTimes said, as the tech giant aims to lure more buys for the iPad 5 by giving it the spotlight for a few more months before unleashing its smaller sibling.

Apparently, the tech giant wishes to steer away the iPad 5 from the same fate that struck its predecessor, the iPad 4, last year. Without too much effort, the iPad Mini stole the thunder from its bigger brother and went on to register rampaging sales figures of more than 20 million units.

But it could be that the iPad Mini 2 pushback was caused by development issues, as earlier asserted by KGI Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo. He offered that Apple engineers encountered problems in scaling down the Retina display specs for the smaller profile of the Mini 2.

At any rate, Apple is eyeing an initial iPad 5 shipment of at least eight million units by the latter part of Q3 2013 with plans for a significant ramp up in time for the holiday quarter, the season in which gadget products move in volumes.

In lieu of the Retina-laced iPad Mini 2, it is possible that Apple would release a cheaper version of the hit tablet, as suggested earlier by Mr Kuo, if only to counter the flood of cheaper Android slates to arrive in the same season.

Google and Samsung are expected to tough it out with Apple by issuing the Nexus 7 2 and various Galaxy Tab 3 models beginning the next quarter. The major come-on of these iPad rivals are powerful specs - quad-core processors and Full HD display screen - plus cheaper tag price.