There’s been a lot of news lately about the recent leak of what appears to be a back plate meant for the new iPhone. Leaks like that are actually pretty common with Apple products – as production time nears, components start to find their way out into the open, providing tantalizing clues about what to expect next from Apple.

However common that sort of leak is for a new generation of a product that’s already been released – the iPhone or iPad, for example – it’s nearly unheard of for a brand new product. And yet, it seems that it just might have happened. There have been rumors for ages that Apple would introduce a smaller version of their hugely popular iPad tablet. This device, usually called the iPad Mini, is expected to have a 7.85-inch display and, according to the latest set of rumors, be coming sometime later this year. Now ZooGue is claiming to have images of the back panel of what they’re calling the iPad Nano.

Contrary to rumor, this iPad Nano is actually 7.58-inches. It also sports the same smaller dock connector and redesigned speakers found on the back panel of the new iPhone. Check out the images for yourself below:

While it’s possible that these images are real, pretty much everything about them screams “fake” to me. The blue Apple logo and lack of any apparent branding other than “iPad,” are hints. Also, the arrangement of dock connector and speakers is a little too like that on the new iPhone panel. If Apple follows the design of the current iPads, the speakers should be situated farther from the dock connector than they are – about halfway between the dock connector and the corners on either side.

All in all, this one belongs in the “I’ll eat my hat” file. Again, it’s possible that these images are legit, but extremely unlikely.