An iPad 1 and an iPad 2.

While the original iPad might have been the longest rumored Apple product before its official announcement in 2010, the 7-inch iPad might soon claim that honor.

Reports of the so-called iPad Mini have surfaced again, with Bloomberg reporting that Apple may release the smaller size tablet by October.

According to Bloomberg's sources, the smaller iPad will have a screen that's "7 inches to 8 inches diagonally" but won't have a Retina Display, like the one on the new iPad. It will also be less expensive than the current iPad, according to Bloomberg.

Recently, technology sites such as iMore have said that the smaller iPad would have a 7.85-inch display, which rumors pointed to a few months ago.

Apple's Trudy Muller declined to comment on the iPad Mini rumors.

Rumors of the a 7-inch iPad have persisted over the past few years, despite Steve Jobs' opinions on smaller tablets. During one earnings call he even went so far as to say that a 7-inch tablet would be "dead on arrival." On that same call Jobs said, "While one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference, it is meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size."

The 7-inch tablet size, however, has since been popularized by Android tablet makers, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. And just last week, Google released the 7-inch, $200 Nexus 7 tablet as Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee & Leach Inc., told Bloomberg: "It [the iPad Mini] would be the competitors' worst nightmare."