Do we really get to see a double release date for the Retina-laced iPad Mini 2 and the reportedly slimmed down iPad 5 in Oct 2013?

Such scenario is highly likely, that is if Apple would be alarmed enough to halt the supposed market momentum being gained by Android tablets - both in the full-size and the compact segments.

Market research firm ABI Research, according to Apple Insider, is sending out some warning signs for the tech giant to ponder on. One of Apple's biggest milking cows, a report of the firm said, is looking at snowballing threats from Android tablet makers.

Figures from ABI showed that as of June 2013, Apple has successfully cornered some 50 per cent of the nearly $13 billion of total revenues that tablet computers have generated in the second quarters of the same year.

Now if the iPad maker is dominating the competition, eating up the lion's share of the global tablet cash inflows while leaving the rest for the challengers to fight over with, why Apple CEO Tim Cook should be losing some sleep?

ABI noted on its report that registering significant market share climbs and pocketing higher revenues in a given quarter is a first for the Android system. The date signified that Samsung and Google are fast-gaining on the territories that Apple seems unlikely to cede just a few quarters ago.

The average sale price for all iPad models, Apple Insider said, saw bleedings of up to 17 per cent in the June 2013 quarter. At the same time, slates in the Google mobile platform gathered considerable steam, clocking 17 per cent ASP traction during the April to June stretch of the same period.

Despite losing some grounds, ABI clarified that Apple remains the King of Tablets, noting as well that the iPad Mini proved as the iOS tablet juggernaut since it was introduced in Q4 2012.

In Q2 2013, the first Mini accounted for about half of the tablet revenues that Apple has pocketed with ABI stressing that of 10 iPad ship outs in the same quarter, six of them were iPad Minis.

Nonetheless, there is no reason for the tech titan to be complacent as Android tablet makers are clearly roaring their way into consumers' attention and hearts, which in end could bring a huge pinch on Apple's cash vault when left unchecked.

And the best way for the company to halt the competition's gains is to let out the two iPads as soon as possible, likely a few weeks or days after the reported Apple media event on Oct 15, in which the iPad 5 and the iPad Mini are expected to be unveiled.

If only to make a stronger statement on its stature, releasing both iPads, powered by iOS 7, on the day they are launched is not an impossible move for Apple. In doing so, the tech firm will easily reverse the supposed declines of its tablet lines then look forward to record numbers in closing the year 2013, Apple watchers said.

Apple is expected to scoop up most of the tablet buys in the final three months of the year by issuing the refreshed iPads - with the 9.7-inch becoming more sleek and compact like the first Mini and the 7.9-inch model gaining more computing power and finally acquiring the high-resolution Retina display panel.

Release date for the iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2, according to analysts, will take place shortly after the Oct 15 event that Apple is hosting.