Leaked pictures of Apple's next big product – the iPad mini tablet computer – have surfaced online this morning.

According to PC Advisor, the pictures were placed on the Twitter feed of Sonny Dickson, a researcher at the website 9to5mac.com, which specialises in Apple product industry news.

One picture shows one of the new devices laid directly on top of a regular iPad showing a direct size comparison. It's been reported that the 7.85-inch screen of the iPad Mini will put it directly up against Amazon's Kindle Fire and the Google Nexus 7.

And PC Advisor's Chris Martin says that, while the device had been expected to share the spotlight with the iPhone 5 at a joint launch last month, the strong rumours currently point to a release date of next Thursday, October 17 for the Mini.

A Wall Street Journal report earlier revealed that Apple had ordered its suppliers to build 10 million of the new devices by the end of the year.