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Best Buy's Canadian Site Lists October 23 Release Date for iPad Air

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Apple introduced the iPad Air at its September 15 event and at the time, said that the tablet would launch at some point in October. We're well into October, but Apple hasn't provided more information on when we might be seeing the new iPad Air models.

ipadair4bestbuy.jpg

Apple's website for the iPad Air still says "Available in October," but Best Buy's Canadian site is listing an October 23 release date, suggesting that the iPad Air could perhaps be available on the same day as the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro.

This date is not listed on Best Buy's website in the United States, nor are other retailers providing a release date at this time so it's possible that it's not accurate, but a launch date on the 23rd alongside the new iPhones makes sense. If October 23 is indeed accurate, pre-orders for the iPad Air could potentially be made available this Friday.

The fourth-generation iPad Air models feature an edge-to-edge display and the same A14 chip that's in the new iPhones, which could be why Apple is holding off on the iPad Air launch and waiting until the new iPhones become available. Apple may have wanted to prevent details about the A14 chip from leaking out before the iPhone 12 lineup was introduced, as the company typically introduces new chips in iPhones, not iPads.

Apple's new iPad Air models come in five colors that include rose gold, green, blue, space gray, and silver, and pricing starts at $599.

Article Link: Best Buy's Canadian Site Lists October 23 Release Date for iPad Air
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/10/15/ipad-air-4-october-23-best-buy/
If you exclude the A4 and original iPad it has never shipped with the “new” processor first. It makes sense apple is holding it back until the day when phones with A14 are in peoples hands.
 
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I really, really want this iPad but the long gap between announcement and release is making me realize that buying a new Air would be overkill for my casual use.

The 128GB 8th-gen is looking a better value with each passing day, and if it had a laminated display I would have settled for it already.
 
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so strange how this was announced like a month before the iPhone which takes pre-orders tomorrow and this does not even have an official release date.

I kind of want it because the battery on my 10.5 iPad Pro has taken a big hit (its at 81% capacity) but on the other hand, the iPhone 12 Pro Max will be expensive enough, especially in those uncertain COVID-19 times
 
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It will be the same day, or later, than the iPhone. They don't want the iPad with the A14 out in the wild getting benchmarked before the 12 ships. Even if the chip is great, that will take away a bit of hype and hurt sales.

This will ship with or later than the iPhones. And the reason we've had no date until now is that'd have given away iPhone dates.
 
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Has there ever been an Apple product release that has been 'lapped' by another in a later event? It's beyond ridiculous that 1 month later, we are STILL not able to pre-order the Air, whilst we can for the iPhone (announced just 36 hours ago) tomorrow.

If the reason is truly they don't want the their oh so precious A14 chip in the wild before the iPhone, either due to convention or supply chain, then why announce it in the first place? Nobody forced them to hold a September iPad event.

At this point, we're looking at a minimum of 2 months from launch before you can have one in hand. With each passing hour, my eyes cast a pragmatic glance at the 2020 iPad Pro 11" for almost the same price. Not directly from Apple of course, they're showing a mid-November delivery date. Laughable.
 
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Can't wait to see the bend test first, curious if it's more durable :) By the look of it, I don't think so.
 
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Kylo83 said:
Yeah it’s pointless I think the air, it’s a product for kids, the pro has promotion faceid slimmer bezels and is cheaper on some sites
Click to expand...

Plus if you look at it logically, based off the standard iPad which is £100 more to go from 64GB to 128GB, if you were to take the current iPP 128GB and shave £100 off it to get an idea of price if it was available in 64GB, it would be £669, a mere £90 more than the baseline iPad Air, and for that you are getting everything upgraded except the chip which will likely perform better in multi core anyway.

I really think the iPad Air should have been priced at 499 to make it a good buy especially with only 64GB storage.
 
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James Godfrey said:
Plus if you look at it logically, based off the standard iPad which is £100 more to go from 64GB to 128GB, if you were to take the current iPP 128GB and shave £100 off it to get an idea of price if it was available in 64GB, it would be £669, a mere £90 more than the baseline iPad Air, and for that you are getting everything upgraded except the chip which will likely perform better in multi core anyway.

I really think the iPad Air should have been priced at 499 to make it a good buy especially with only 64GB storage.
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Exactly
 
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I'm tempted to get one of these to replace my ageing iPad mini 4.
Is the drawing experience on the Airs any good despite the lack of Pro Motion?
 
Makes sense. I’ll wait to visit the local Best Buy until later in the month then to check out the Air and the Phone and hopefully get a cellular watch SE.

Wish I had an Apple store closer to me.
 
James Godfrey said:
Plus if you look at it logically, based off the standard iPad which is £100 more to go from 64GB to 128GB, if you were to take the current iPP 128GB and shave £100 off it to get an idea of price if it was available in 64GB, it would be £669, a mere £90 more than the baseline iPad Air, and for that you are getting everything upgraded except the chip which will likely perform better in multi core anyway.

I really think the iPad Air should have been priced at 499 to make it a good buy especially with only 64GB storage.
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Yes, they royally effed up the pricing on this it seems. The overlap is tangible. Well until they incrementally update the Pro with a less than incremental price hike. Still, the Air will sell in decent quantities as some will remain ignorant or just care more about its pretty colours and Pro-like form over minimum practical storage and being screwed.
 
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This would match up with the insider leaks on twitter that stated preorders would start this Friday, shipping on the 23rd.

Guessing the A14 production being for both the iphone and ipad, all from 1 single plant caused a slight bottleneck that needed extra time.
 
Akrapovic said:
It will be the same day, or later, than the iPhone. They don't want the iPad with the A14 out in the wild getting benchmarked before the 12 ships. Even if the chip is great, that will take away a bit of hype and hurt sales.

This will ship with or later than the iPhones. And the reason we've had no date until now is that'd have given away iPhone dates.
Click to expand...

Please! I'm not saying you're wrong about them not wanting to release it before the iPhone 12, but how much is that going to hurt sales? What percentage of buyers care or even know about benchmarks, and even for those who do, why would that make them less likely to buy, unless the benchmarks are really bad for some reason, which doesn't seem likely.
 
confusedpurple said:
This would match up with the insider leaks on twitter that stated preorders would start this Friday, shipping on the 23rd.

Guessing the A14 production being for both the iphone and ipad, all from 1 single plant caused a slight bottleneck that needed extra time.
Click to expand...

Pfft. The insider leaks that have been wrong about the release like 3 times already... Yes, they're probably right this time, but products usually launch on Fridays, and it's the second last Friday of October, so it's a pretty safe bet.
 
Kylo83 said:
Yeah it’s pointless I think the air, it’s a product for kids, the pro has promotion faceid slimmer bezels and is cheaper on some sites
Click to expand...
Why is that? I'm probably gonna buy the Air just for taking notes / drawing unless the 120hz is really that much of a difference in the pro (have to compare it in real life). But I would never edit pictures or cutting videos on it so I don't really know why people need so much power in a tablet. Sure not for gaming, because gamers would be on windows systems anyway. 64gb is also plenty enough, storage is in the cloud. If I would need the 128gb version then I would also tend to buy the pro but with 64gb price is allright.
 
Another thing to consider is that retailer sites are frequently just plain wrong. They use placeholder dates and sometimes just guess or infer. Not saying this is the case here, because I think that date is a safe bet, but it's entirely possible that whoever manages their site just saw that date online like the rest of us and took it to be official. There's already been stories here about retail sites reporting dates for the Air 4 that have obviously proven wrong.
 
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