A surplus of Apple (AAPL) rumors is always expected ahead of the company’s earnings reports, and the faucet is wide open on Tuesday. Apple is planning to release a smaller version of its wildly popular iPad tablet shortly after the next-generation iPhone launches this fall, one industry watcher believes. Plugged-in KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who purportedly shed some light on “iPhone 5″ specs recently, says that Apple’s next iPhone will launch in September followed closely by the release of the much-rumored “iPad mini.”