Images of an alleged iPad Mini battery emerged online on Sunday, Oct. 14, showing Apple's much-rumored 7.85-inch slate may pack a 16.7 watt-hour battery.

A 16.7 watt-hour battery would provide the rumored iPad Mini with more energy than the cells found in Google's Nexus 7 tablet or Amazon's Kindle Fire HD. Keep in mind that Apple has not confirmed the iPad Mini's existence, so these images are rumors of a rumored device.

The leaked images acquired by MacRumors are reportedly a final or near-final version of the battery set to power the rumored iPad Mini. The purported unit bears the A1445 product number and an Apple product number (APN) of 616-0641.

The alleged iPad Mini battery appears to be a 3.72-volt, 16.7 watt-hour cell that holds a charge of 4,490 mAh. Apple's third-generation iPad packs a great 43 watt-hour battery at 11,560mAh, the iPad 2 has a 24.8 watt-hour cell, while the new iPhone 5 has a 4.45 watt-hour battery.

The alleged battery for the iPad Mini has incomplete markings and has placeholders for certain regulatory text, numbers and government regulation markings, which suggests it is not a production model yet. The general shape of the unit, however, falls in line with previously leaked components, including the front display assembly, LCD, and the rear shell.

Should this prove to be real, the 16.7 watt-hour unit could mean the iPad Mini's battery life would slightly overtake the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD, which pack a 16 watt-hour and a 16.43 watt-hour cell, respectively. On the other hand, the processor weighs heavily in calculating the runtime of any device, and in some cases it can reduce the performance by hours.

It is unclear at this point what processor Apple will pack on the alleged iPad Mini. The company's latest A-series system on chips (SoCs), however, are at least on par, if not more efficient that competing chips.

A report earlier in the month claimed that an unknown iPad, presumed to be the iPad Mini, appeared in an app developer's access logs, and the device operated an A6-series chip similar to the one found in the iPhone 5.

Until Apple makes it official, however, take all rumors with a grain of salt. The company is widely expected to unveil its smaller iPad at an event on Oct. 23.