DigiTimes Says iPad Air 3 Will Have 4K Display and Up to 4GB RAM

[LCPepper]

This all sounds a little iffy to me...

I can't imagine that Apple would even bother just sticking a 4K screen onto the iPad Air, especially when they are more bothered about PPI than resolution. Which, of course, really makes perfect sense.

Now, on Macs, that's a different kettle of iFish.

 

[Gudi]

Call me naive, but when Steve Jobs explained, why they call this resolution Retina and that you can't improve on it, because your eyes wouldn't see a difference, I believed him. It was super exciting when everything in Apples lineup got Retina, but now even higher resolution are pointless.

 

[profets]

Something funny about all these iPad Air 3 rumours. A bit conflicting between Gurman saying it's coming for the March event, and now Digitimes saying it'll go into production mid year.

Either way, I hope it's not something where Apple originally planned for the fall, but are trying to rush or push it up earlier because of weakening iPad sales. I'd hate to see a repeat of 2012 where we get a rushed iPad Air 3 and then an updated model in the fall.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Yeah, I am not buying it. And Digitimes, well, not buying it at all.

I don't care about 4K, and I am fine with the current battery time, but 4GB RAM would be nice as it will make the iPad Air 3 more future proof (Look at his iPad 2 which iOS9 complete executed due to low RAM).

Edit: And pencil support would be awesome.

 

[Razeus]

Still won't sell.

I like the iPad, but frankly I'm about to put my iPad Air 2 on eBay.

 

[cdmoore74]

Not interested really. Would it really provide a different experience vs my iPad Air 2? Sure text will be sharper but I never had any complaints with what I'm using now. Actually the retina iPad mini would give me more dpi in a smaller package at over half the cost. Knowing Apple their going to keep 16GB around in the base model and force people to the $600 64GB model.

 

[MillieWales]

Apple is doomed, this is surely the final straw for Tim, how dare he consider upgrading a premium product. Disgraceful, disgusting behaviour, I'm going to storm off and pretend to sell some Apple shares that I don't actually own, and will slam the door behind me...


This place never changes, I've been here a fair few years now and I don't think there has ever been a 'rumour' that has not seen people get so cross over something that really shouldn't matter to them.

Of course it shouldn't matter to me either, except I hope the new Air is seriously upgraded as I have an Air 2. This Air replaced a iPad mini, which replaced a MacBook Air - not used a desktop or laptop in nearly 3 years now, people say that can't be done as the iPad can't do so much stuff. I ran a company on an iPad just fine, it did everything I needed and stuff I probably didn't need. The new iPad Pro is a bit too big for me, the mini a bit too small, the Air is just the right size. I hope it gets supercharged and comes with things we haven't even thought of - although that will really upset a few people.

It's a funny old place this!

 

[The Game 161]

Yeah, but will you be able to use the Apple Pencil with the iPad Air 3?!!

I'm sure if you could it would of been mentioned

 

[macfacts]

If all these iPad rumors are true, then it would be a better product than the iPad pro. No way Apple would do that. All the big features of the iPad pro and cheaper? Lol

 

[iReality85]

If true, I hope they settle on the common 4096x2160 resolution across all the iPad models. They finally gave the iPhone a 1920x1080 screen with the Plus models, so there's hope going forward that they'll use more standard sizes.

An iPad Air 3 with 4K resolution would clock in at a nice 477ppi.

 

[Elbon]

I just want an updated Mini with Pencil support.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

DigiTimes is wrong with their "source" info more than 90% of the time.

 

[Vanilla35]

So the Air is going to get 4K support before the Pro? And the iPad is going to have top of the line display before iPhone? Call me very skeptical.

iPad Air and Air 2 have/had higher res and debate ably "better" displays than iPhone's during release. 4k simply means the apple version of 4k, which will be slightly lower than 4k. Similar to how the iPad air has a "2k" display, but isn't exactly 2k.

 

[dazzer21-2]

So, my guess is that the iPad is going to get a 4K display just because it's something that can be done, not because it needs it. However, I'm currently sitting in front of a 27" 5K iMac and can't see any pixels at all. Albeit up closer, the iPad will, I'm guessing, have four fifths the number of pixels on its screen. A screen that measures in at under 10 inches! So if the current Air has a ppi count of 260-odd, what will it be on the Air 3? Does it NEED that many pixels on-screen? What will the visible difference be? I think I'd prefer even more extra battery life than they are promising.

 

[Vanilla35]

4k Display AND better battery life (plus the rumors of it having 4 speakers like the Pro)? Either this iPad is going to get thicker than the Air 2 or it is not going to happen.

Display is getting thinner. My guess is slightly thicker, but generally the same.

 

[Elbon]

If true, I hope they settle on the common 4096x2160 resolution across all the iPad models.

Highly unlikely, since all iPads have a 4:3 aspect ratio.

 

[Gudi]

Apple is doomed, this is surely the final straw for Tim, how dare he consider upgrading a premium product. ... This place never changes, I've been here a fair few years now and I don't think there has ever been a 'rumour' that has not seen people get so cross over something that really shouldn't matter to them.

Nobody here said "Apple is doomed" or that the iPad Air 3 shouldn't be upgraded at all. We are discussing the pros and cons of a specific rumor and if you're not interested in it, maybe you should visit another website?

 

[Eric5273]

I really doubt they are going to add higher specs to the iPad Air than exists in the current iPad Pro. That would be totally backwards.

 

[BvizioN]

Having owned a note 4 in the past, taking notes hand writing works better with a pencil than using ur finger or typing. It's like writing v finger painting
.

Seriously, with swipe/ SwiftKey keyboard I can't really bother having a pencil just for that. Works quicker for me.

 

[sinsin07]

This is how they save the iPad and stop the plummeting sales. The Apple Pencil is a great drawing experience, but it is limited to a $900 tablet. Make it available on the smaller, more portable $500 version and it will sell like hotcakes to the digital artist community. Also would give a boost to the iPad for students who want a device for taking notes.

And immediately kill off sales of iPad Pro which they probably spent some time and money developing.

Sound nice but not likely in first year of pencil availability.

 

[boraski]

If true, I hope they settle on the common 4096x2160 resolution across all the iPad models. They finally gave the iPhone a 1920x1080 screen with the Plus models, so there's hope going forward that they'll use more standard sizes.

An iPad Air 3 with 4K resolution would clock in at a nice 477ppi.

They've already settled on a 2732x2048 resolution for the iPad Pro. The Apple development tools and app store are set up to use this, and some apps are already optimized for this resolution. Given Apple's past history of reusing the same pixel resolutions in differently sized devices when possible (original iPad mini = original iPad resolution; retina iPad mini = retina iPad resolution), I think the most likely thing is that they will use this same resolution in the iPad 3, which results in 352 PPI. This will also encourage many more developers to optimize for this resolution which will improve the app experience for iPad Pro.

 

[Jsameds]

So the Air is going to get 4K support before the Pro? And the iPad is going to have top of the line display before iPhone? Call me very skeptical.

Regarding the phone comment, if you look at the PPI of each device the iPad Air line currently sits at 264, iPhone 6s is 326 and 6s+ is 401, so iPhone is and has been ahead of iPad for some time now, pixel density wise.

I agree about the Pro comment though, but Apple has made some strange moves in the past so I wouldn't put it past them.

 

[Dwalls90]

So the Air is going to get 4K support before the Pro? And the iPad is going to have top of the line display before iPhone? Call me very skeptical.

I agree that seems odd. But maybe Apple finally has decided to beef up the iPad upgrades since it's coming a few months later than usual, and the iPad is facing stiffer competition and declining sales.

 

[dantracht]

All I had to see was Digitimes, and I rolled my eyes. Just upgraded to the Air 2 last month and couldn't be happier.

 

[joeblow7777]

It doesn't make sense to me for Apple to jump to 4GB of RAM so soon given that the vast majority of iOS devices that they continue to support only have 1GB. The latest iPhones and iPad Mini only just got 2GB a few months ago. Until iOS features more desktop like functionality, I don't even see how that much RAM would be a benefit to most users.