According to a report by BGR Media, Apple (AAPL) could launch a smaller iPad mini and an iPad 3 next year.

However, news reports conflict over the timing and the specifications of these devices. One report suggests that suppliers are already shipping millions of panels for the iPad 3. Another says that Apple will launch the iPad mini early next year and the more powerful iPad 3 by the second quarter.

We believe that irrespective of the specifications and timings, Apple will continue to dominate the tablet market despite competition from the likes of Amazon (AMZN), Research In Motion (RIMM) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) in the tablet market. The iPad accounts for around 12% of our $500 price estimate for Apple stock, and our price estimate is about 30% above market price.

See our complete analysis for Apple stock here

iPad mini competes on lower price

Recently, companies have introduced lower-priced tablets to compete with Apple in the tablet market. Amazon introduced a $199 tablet named Kindle Fire while RIM also slashed its basic tablet pricing to $199 a few days back. This $200 tablet price point has become a different segment altogether in which Apple would like to compete. The iPad mini might be introduced by Apple keeping this in mind.

iPad 3 to be more powerful?

We believe the iPad 3 will be a high-performance iPad with some attractive features such as voice recognition service Siri, presently an important feature of iPhone 4S. The new iPad might also have a high-resolution screen, as suggested by a few reports. Though unconfirmed, both the iPad mini and iPad 3 could ensure that Apple's dominance in the tablet market will continue and could provide a trigger for Apple's stock are more information emerges.