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12.2-Inch 'iPad Air Plus' May Launch Between April and June 2015 With A9 Processor

Cmdrx3 said:
I just can't see the point of it, well I can a little but just not so much for home consumers. The iPad is a good size, but why get a huge iPad when you can get a more powerful Macbook Air or Macbook Pro which will probably be around the same price point... at least they have a built in screen protector in the way of a foldable keyboard. Is it possible they are actually starting to run out of ideas because I'd hardly call the Apple Watch or Apple Pay great innovations and everything else just seems to be bigger, smaller or updated rehashes of the same thing.
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Apple Pay maybe not be a great innovation, but it will be a great money maker. And businesses exist to make money. We're in a general innovation lull. I'm sure there is all sorts of cool R&D being done that just isn't ready for prime time. Look how long it took to jump from command line to GUI. And mouse to touch. The next innovation will come. But right now you gotta make money.

I'm reserving judgment on the watch. But I think we're probably on the same page there. Personally, I don't get it. And I seriously doubt anything will convince me to buy it and start wearing a watch again. I wish they'd focus more on Apple TV, offer an App Store for TV, video game rentals, etc.
 
No memory card slot was not an issue with iPad 1, as it was a trailblazing device. Now it is no longer acceptable.

And design a proper GUI.
 
Tablet sales are slumping across the board:

http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/25/technology/ipad-tablet-sales/index.html

There's not much reason for people to upgrade, so something new will have to be thought up to get people to bite.

And to answer others previous comments about devices such as the Surface Pro 3 and the Lenovo Tablet 10... I'm an IT pro with a strong Windows background with 20 years experience in the business and the letters and certifications to go with it and 30 years experience from home PC's in the VERY early 80's to current.. I work for a $5 billion company that does NOT have a Microsoft EA agreement, so I can assure you there is nobody "pushing" anyone to any specific device due to any sweetheart licensing deals or such. We're just giving people what they want. Most people in our organization have gone to iPhones and a few Droids. People are now asking for more from a tablet and their iPads are getting overlooked for devices that can do more. From what I am hearing from others and reading in trade publications, it's the new trend and not just a small sample size.

It took Microsoft 3 generations of Surfaces to get it right and Windows 8.x is still a mess, but look to that architecture for growth regardless of vendor. Hell I'd get one for myself at home so I don't have to dedicate a spot in my house for a shiny new iMac. I just don't want to support Windows at home.
 
manu chao said:
  • A4 is 14.3",
  • 8x10" is 12.8"
But then for reading, both are too wide for single-column text.

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What is better, running OS X via a touchscreen interface, or running iOS with a keyboard and pointer device?
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A4 is 210mm by 297mm i.e. 8.27in by 11.69in
8x10 is 8in by 10in

Actually 8.5in by 11in is the US equivalent of A4, so I don't know why I listed 8x10 in the first place.

See this : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_216#A_series
 
Aluminum213 said:
No way they use an A9 chip before the iPhone 6S


The A8X chip is as powerful as a MacBook from a couple years ago
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Maybe it will coincide with an early 6s/6s+ release.

iPhone will pay an old trip down iPad 3 memory lane. And then I ride out my devices until they fall apart on principle, boycott, and hope another big dog comes along aside from apple and Google.

We need someone to step it up not just rattle the bee's nest slightly with back and forth copying and influencing.
 
It would be great for Apple to stagger their hardware releases again, I'd like to see a seasonal cycle regarding hardware releases: an iDevice or two in the Spring, Macs in Summer, the iPhone and more Macs in the Fall.

I know it's partly Intel and such, but...
 
TallManNY said:
Sure. And I've still got that iPad 3. And the retina screen still looked great until last week when the GF tripped on the stairs and dropped it. Now it is dinged up a bit on the edges.

Sometimes things advance quickly. I never regretted my iPad 3 purchase. It got largely replaced by the Mini (and the GF adopted it until its fateful fall). But it was a good device.
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That's the healthy way of looking at things. Too bad not too many customers share the same way of thinking. I never really understood this attitude when people went like "don't they dare discontinue/upgrade the [insert random product here], I've just purchased it"... :confused: It's exactly how a child would react if the boy next door got a better RC car for christmas than what he did... We are adults, we make rational decisions. If you think a particular product would serve your needs then buy it and don't go whining about it later if a better product becomes available sooner than what you expected.

I can completely understand the mass dissatisfaction of the people who WANTED to buy an iPad mini 3 and hoped for a major hardware upgrade, but as for the people who actually bought it it's quite pathetic from them to go mad about the fact that a refreshed model might bring some serious improvements quite soon. It's pure envy, in my opinion.
 
JackANSI said:
With the lack of upgrades in the mini3 and the hot-glued touchID (ifixit.com) I'd say that a mini4 replacing the mini3 so soon means they missed some deadlines on the mini4 and pushed out a "rush job" mini3 with touchID just to get touchID in there. Could always just be a rumor, no more, though...

If you add in 8.0.1, OS X wifi issues, so-called bendy iPhones, and not-so-scratch-resistant-that-there-is-doubt-it-is-gorrilla-glass screens I'd say Apple is really under some severe timeline pressures. Whether that pressure makes diamonds or crushes the company has yet to be seen. I think they are going to have to space out some development here soon. My guess is there will be a sizable shift in hardware/software release dates right around when the move to the new campus takes place that will be blamed solely on the move...
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Oh, right... The "bendy" phone non issue.. .and the who do you think supplied your 80M screens if not Corning? Huh! Nobody even has 1/2 the capacity to do so. I can accept they were under some pressure but you don't need to invent crap to prove it.
 
thadoggfather said:
Maybe it will coincide with an early 6s/6s+ release.

iPhone will pay an old trip down iPad 3 memory lane. And then I ride out my devices until they fall apart on principle, boycott, and hope another big dog comes along aside from apple and Google.

We need someone to step it up not just rattle the bee's nest slightly with back and forth copying and influencing.
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Maybe they just add some more cores... they're up to 3 now. And if they push the A8X to say 2GHZ and improve a bit the memory interface... You've got a powerhouse there. At least 25% more single core CPU score and a 65% higher multi core score. The GPU is way way underclocked right now, they could push it probably 100% faster if they wanted too.

They probably would give it 4 G of memory too. I'd expect the machine to go from 64G to 256G.
 
I might pass on the first gen iPad Pro. The main problem is that there won't be a lot of apps written for it the first year. Professional apps take time and there are already several that run well on the iPad Air 2. There will have to be the additional benefit. Besides, the next version will probably have twice the RAM.
 
"People don't want a tablet AND a laptop."

You may be right. I have no intention of giving up the desktop for heavy work, but a tablet would be better for light surfing that the laptop.
 
dysamoria said:
I don't see the value in this unless it is designed with a proper Wacom-style stylus for graphic designers and as a challenge to the art use of Windows tablets already sporting such screens (and challenging Wacom's own Cintique line of display+drawing tablet, and Windows/Android tablets).

If it's just a larger screen, I'm not interested. It's too big for what I want to do on an iPad (replace my iPhone 4 for Internet and reading use).

If it sports a legit professional Wacom stylus and digitizer, then I WILL feel a bit miffed when it comes out if I buy an iPad Air 2 this year.
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Same page, without something new it's just an even larger iPad and that's not enough for me personally. I would just go with the mini. Need some pressure sensitivity and wacom yet the odds of that are likely one in a billion because at the moment it's just the same thing over and over.

gmcalpin said:
Hopefully it'll have Wacom-level pressure sensitivity, too. I'd like to use one instead of a Cintiq… but I wouldn't hold my breath for that.
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That would be the most shocking thing Apple could do. Adding something new and functional, different. Mostly shocking because they just don't seem t add anything like that.
 
Digital Skunk said:
I agree. The sad part of it all is that the added screen space wouldn't yield us anything other than an added row of icons, or as the iPhone 6+ has shown, a blown up and pixelated UX.

I know the Devs will have to play catch up, but I'm crossing my fingers for a real workhorse tablet, one that may even trump the Surface Pro 3 which runs a full OS.

The iPad Pro won't run OS X, but it'd be nice to see some real advancements on the iOS side in terms of functionality.
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My iPhone 6 plus screen isn't blown up. I see more things on apps now. What are you talking about?
 
mrwag said:
Apple is going to have to innovate in this space soon. The corporate world is moving past tablets and what I am seeing is more and more people looking towards Surface Pro 3 type devices. Mobile and desktop are converging and this is where the growth will be. People don't want a tablet AND a laptop. They want one device that does both, especially if their computing needs are on the lighter end of the spectrum which is probably where 75% of people are.

My employer is moving our execs and mobile folks towards the Lenovo Tablet 10s and away from their iPads. I'm seeing it in other businesses as well. Someone is going to have to make the iOS world and OSX world play nice, and soon. The writing is on the wall.
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Actually, if there is ONE PLACE were tablets have actually not slowed down, it is in companies. It is in the retail space right now that there is flagging tablet sales.
 
gmcalpin said:
Okay, bye. Because that will never happen. You'll get iOS apps with desktop-level features eventually (some apps already have them) — and a bigger display will help enable that. But touch UIs and mouse UIs are fundamentally incompatible.
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Why shouldn't we want to connect a monitor keyboard and mouse to the tablet and have it act just like a MacBook air does now.? Between Bluetooth and airplay on the TV or whatever, you wouldn't even need to plug it into any docking station. I could even see them throwing in a reasonably powered chip that gets throttled heavily on battery and fully unleashed one plugged in at some point. One device that does everything. Just done better than something like the surface which sucks at everything.
 
People don't want a tablet AND a laptop.
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With the size of phone now days that's mostly true. I personally want an all in one device (Surface Pro) that works as both. However it's still possible for something like the mini to fit in there because the Surface is still a bit large for some tasks and a phone may be slightly too small.
 
Keirasplace said:
The Air 2 ALREADY has 2G of memory, 3 cores of CPU and 6 cores for the GPU... It is ALREADY a beast... So hey!
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Yeah, but I was talking about the iPhone 6S ;).


Anyway, I agree. iPad Air 2 is a beast, and iPad Mini 4 with that chip also will be a beast.

PVguy said:
"People don't want a tablet AND a laptop."

You may be right. I have no intention of giving up the desktop for heavy work, but a tablet would be better for light surfing that the laptop.
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Exactly. That's why im going to buy a desktop Mac, and iPad Mini 4. And now I have a MBP, and no tablet.
 
no interest in a larger iPad. The iPad has so much potential but they are crippling it with software, they need to kick it up a notch and realize that the iPad and iPhone are not the same and don't need to run the same user interface
 
Aluminum213 said:
No way they use an A9 chip before the iPhone 6S


The A8X chip is as powerful as a MacBook from a couple years ago
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I can see it happening if the iPhone 6s is released around the same time, like say June 2015. That is if Apple has plans to shift the iPhone release back to early summer. Maybe having both iPhones and iPads released in the Fall is getting to be too much for Apple.
 
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