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

[Ades911]

If it supports the Apple Pencil I will definitely be buying this.

Hear, hear!

 

[trifid]

I hope iPad 3 gets more than just more resolution and RAM, the device is practically outdated, it's been unchanged since 2010, same 16gb base storage and pricing has been limiting this severely, no pen input has also limited this in places like education, and lastly no expandability/ports is also a factor. It's been 6 years, will the iPad keep dying as we've seen, or will Apple do something radical?

 

[ph001bi]

Taiwanese touch panel makers General Interface Solution and TPK will share production of a third-generation "4K" iPad Air set to debut in March, according to sources out of the China supply chain (via DigiTimes).

The same sources claim that in addition to a 4K resolution touch panel, Apple's new 9.7-inch tablet will feature up to 4GB RAM and improved battery life, and is scheduled to enter mass production in the second quarter of 2016.

The report goes on to state that both display makers expect a slight on-year increase in demand for touch panel products from Apple in the first half of 2016 due to orders of products equipped with 3D Touch. This comes despite previous rumors suggesting the iPad Air 3 will not adopt the pressure-sensitive display technology due to the production difficulties involved with scaling it up for a larger display.

Taiwan-based website DigiTimes has a mixed track record at reporting on Apple's upcoming product plans, but its sources within the upstream supply chain have proven reliable in the past. However, the term "4K" may simply refer to the new iPad Air adopting features included in the iPad Pro, which inherited the oxide thin film transistor from the 5K Retina iMac, along with a UV-based photo alignment technique that ensures uniform color and brightness in the display. It also included a variable refresh rate that preserves battery life by cutting the refresh rate in half whenever there's static content on the screen.

Based on details from leaked design drawings, the next-generation iPad Air may be set to adopt the iPad Pro's four-speaker design and gain an LED flash next to the rear-facing camera. Other updates that would make sense include a faster A9 or A9X processor, Smart Connector, and improved cameras.

According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who often accurately predicts Apple's plans, the iPad Air 3 will launch in the first half of 2016. Apple is rumored to be planning a media event for March of 2016, which is said to be the event where the iPad Air 3 will launch alongside a new 4-inch iPhone and Apple Watch updates.

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

 

[trifid]

I hope Apple releases this iPad at 16GB $500, just to see how ridiculous, greedy and out of touch Apple has gotten. And would guarantee another year of iPad sale declines.

 

[ph001bi]

4k resolution and Pencil support? and just like that maybe I should have waited before buying my Ipad Pro..
One thing though.
This new type of screen is a fingerprint magnet and it's impossible to keep it clean. I never had this issue with my iPad Air or my iPad Air 2.

 

[apolloa]

Hahahahaha good ol Digitimes. So Apple are going to launch a better device then the iPad Pro for half the price? Haha...

And a big 4K screen but with improved battery life, don't believe that's possible with current battery tech surely?

 

[jonnyb098]

I'm admittedly not expert when it comes to displays and software adaptations. But why would a higher iPad necessarily require an adaptation of existing apps? I personally don't think the iPad will have an actual 4k display, I was more hoping that it would have significantly more than the current 264 DPI. Take iPhones for example. The 6S has 326 DPI and the 6S+ has 401 DPI and yet apps don't need to be specifically adapted to the different resolutions, do they? (Screen real estate is different matter, of course.)

I'm not going to get into the full explanation, you can look that up. It's the same way when iPhones went to retina in 2010. Many developers still aren't programming apps to be scalable. Games will look fuzzy, as will movies.

 

[braintumor]

No to the 4k screen. it's an iPad Air with iPad pro features. To be expected. I'm sure both this and next iPhone will support Apple pencil because they want to sell more of them.

So the iPad border of play now is:

iPad Pro - first with new features
iPad Air - gets iPad Pro's features a year later
iPad Mini - gets iPad Pro's features 2 years later.

This is exactly how its gonna be, anything else would be a complete change of strategy that we are used from Apple...

Also I don't see the need for a 4K display in an ipad, the resolution is just fine as it is and I would not see the difference anyway, but it will cost performance and battery-life and that is something everybody will notice.

The things we can expect for the ipad are A9X chip, display that support apple pencil, touch-id gen2...

The big innovation potential in the apple tablet products is with the software! The ipad hardware can already compete with entry level macs, but the software can not!

I hate to say it, but when it comes to this, apple can learn a lot from microsoft lately (= surface pro)... Its just a question of time that tablets will replace most notebook/macbook use-cases.

I hope that iOS10 makes the first big step in the direction of a true hybrid OS.

 

[ke-iron]

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.

Exactly what I was thinking. No way the iPad Air will get a better display than the current iPad pro.

 

[Casiotone]

Because of the way iOS development works regarding to scaling for different screen sizes, the logical pixel resolution of the iPad Air 3 needs to be an integer multiple of the current resolution (or very close to).

At 2x (or 4x if you count the retina transition) the resolution would be 4096x3072 at 528ppi which is 1.5x the number of pixels of a standard 4K TV and would be a huge overkill for a 9.7" screen.

Now they could do a different physical pixel density than the logical resolution like they did with the 6+, for example 3072x2304 (395ppi) but that means the GPU would still have to push as many pixels as a 4096x3072 screen.

In either case it would result in lower battery life and reduced performance, all of this for something that 90%+ of the population wouldn't really notice.

 

[jedifaka]

ipads need a boost in sales. iPad pro is a niche product for many. If they produce an iPad Air with some really nice features, people will buy it. It's probably the line that is struggling the most, from what was a must have product.

I think that's actually the big question. If they produce an iPad Air with really nice features, will people actually buy it? Sure, some will, but Apple is constantly under tremendous investor pressure. Pressure that requires they continue to release products that people crave in ways they don't crave competitors' products. Can Apple reignite 2010 desire with some new iPad features? I don't think that's certain.
http://www.wired.com/2015/01/nobody-knows-ipad-good-anymore/
The iPhone is really key to Apple's success. If iPad falters, iPhone might only become more so.

 

[profets]

Because of the way iOS development works regarding to scaling for different screen sizes, the logical pixel resolution of the iPad Air 3 needs to be an integer multiple of the current resolution (or very close to).

At 2x (or 4x if you count the retina transition) the resolution would be 4096x3072 at 528ppi which is 1.5x the number of pixels of a standard 4K TV and would be a huge overkill for a 9.7" screen.

Now they could do a different physical pixel density than the logical resolution like they did with the 6+, for example 3072x2304 (395ppi) but that means the GPU would still have to push as many pixels as a 4096x3072 screen.

In either case it would result in lower battery life and reduced performance, all of this for something that 90%+ of the population wouldn't really notice.

Maybe a native resolution of 3072x2304 is an option? The UI would be rendered @3x instead of @2x like the current 9.7" iPads? Seems a bit more reasonable compared to 4096x3072 that the rumour mentions. Crazy either way.

 

[milo]

4 gigs of ram is way more exciting to me than 4k display. Not that either is that likely to actually happen.

 

[Vanilla35]

Well, you won't get both 4k AND battery life. The problem with too many pixels is it sucks battery life, especially when you need more processing power to render and display games at 4K along with the amount of energy the display needs, AND, if the new iPad Air is any thinner than it is.

Yeah but apple magic

 

[boraski]

I'm admittedly not expert when it comes to displays and software adaptations. But why would a higher iPad necessarily require an adaptation of existing apps? I personally don't think the iPad will have an actual 4k display, I was more hoping that it would have significantly more than the current 264 DPI. Take iPhones for example. The 6S has 326 DPI and the 6S+ has 401 DPI and yet apps don't need to be specifically adapted to the different resolutions, do they? (Screen real estate is different matter, of course.)

I'm an app developer so I know. Without making changes, older iPhone apps will run on the 6S and 6S+ by scaling everything up. However, to optimize for these sizes, code changes need to be made. For the 6S+, you will ideally create higher resolution versions of all the images you use in the app as well, which are 50% larger than the original retina images. If you don't do this, the older images will be scaled up and will not be a sharp as they could be.

 

[PunjabiSoorma24]

Excited to finally get my first iPad this March, But Two concerns:
1. If they come out an an Air 3 in March, I found feel screwed if they came out with an Air 4 in the fall with the Pro 2. But I think if the Air 3 has a A9X, the likelihood of an Air 4 with A10X in the Fall is unlikely because they wouldn't want the Air and Pro model to have the same new chip.

2. Bigger and more realistic concern- If Apple does up the resolution and bring it to 4k, will there be problems like in the iPad 3 in 2012 with the A5X chip? Or do you think that because the chips have advanced so much, that a display bump to 4k would be no problem for an A9 or A9X chip?
What are users thoughts on this? Please quote this and lemme know.

Side Note: The only way I would skip out again is if they did not bring Pencil support, but they would have to be stupid to not bring it. It would increase pencil sales.

 

[sinsin07]

Disagree and here is why:

The Pro is not a "mainstream" product. The "Pro" moniker rings true here. It fulfills a niche for people who need a large tablet to draw on or view pictures; i.e., artists, architects, photographers and such. People who buy the Pro buying because it's huge and because the Apple Pencil makes that big screen useful. But it is both of those features they are buying into. Without both they wouldn't be moved. OTOH it's too unwieldy and expensive for general use. It costs as much as a laptop but isn't as versatile or comfortable, even with a keyboard. (Keyboards have been available for iPads since the first one).

But there are still consumers that would like a product that is Pencil compatible so they can draw doodles and jot down notes as the brainstorm. iPad sales have slumped in past quarters because there is no new and fresh. The Pencil would give it that and wouldn't touch Pro sales -- though Apple is on the record saying it doesn't care or consider cannibalization. A speed/RAM bump is going to leave many Air and Air2 owners unmoved resulting in a continuing sales slump. The only question is whether Apple can get enough screens and at a cost to make Pencil access for the Air 3 cost effective. Otherwise there really is no reason not to include it.
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Yes, if they behave anything like the speakers on the Air 2 they'll out perform the Hitachi wand. Women will love it.

The only thing I see here you disagree with is the part in bold.

I'll let the course of time be the final judge if the pencil comes to a small screen and kills Pro sales.

 

[macduke]

3D Touch? Unlikely.
4GB RAM? Highly unlikely.
4K display? Ok now they're just high.

Oh wait—this is DigiTimes. You could literally come up with a better rumor by throwing darts at random tech words written on a wall.

 

[chukronos]

Not possible. According to what I read in the appleTV forum: "No 4k content. Nothing to see. 1080p is more than enough.Can't tell a difference unless it is a 120 inch screen. Apple has no reason to add 4k capabilities"

Will ANYONE get a 4K tv this year? Bueller....?Bueller....?

 

[dampfnudel]

You're naive. Steve Jobs was the ultimate salesman. I mean that in a complimentary way. Rule of thumb: marketing should always be taken with a grain of salt.

With Apple these days, it should be taken with a little more than a grain of salt. Unfortunately for Apple, Tim and Phil are not nearly as believable as Steve was.

 

[5-0-5-0]

Except the stiffer competition seems to be coming either from the iPhone or super cheap tablets, or people aren't updating because what they have works perfectly fine. On the first one I'm not sure it bothers Apple if iPad is being cannibalized by the higher margin iPhone.

⬆️ Right. If you recall Tim Cook's interview on 60 minutes. He stated that each product cannibalizes itself from another product. The iPhone is cannibalized by its predessors. Each device is meant to supersede each other in one form or another. Remember, this is Apple were talking about. They can throw curveballs when you least expect it and want to shake up the market. Knowingly, the iPad is actually overdue for a refresher. Not to mention, the iPad market has dropped significantly since the debut of phablets.

 

[Rogifan]

Exactly what I was thinking. No way the iPad Air will get a better display than the current iPad pro.

Also 4K would essentially be overkill and spec whoring that would just cause unnecessary tax on the CPU, GPU and battery.

Yawn. Apple is taking the iPad nowhere and the world has responded with 12% fewer sales last quarter after an already steep slide in sales this past year. The reason is simple - you don't need a new iPad every year or two or three. But Apple has tried to fix that by creating bloated iOS updates that continue to use more memory and resources that make older iPads unusable. The other reason is that to create any real content, you need to go back to your laptop or desktop.

Apple had an amazing opportunity with the iPad Pro to turn the iPad into a content creation tool, but it blew that by saddling the iPad Pro with the decidedly non-pro iOS. Apple has no vision, because if they did, they would have adapted Mac OS X for use in the iPad Pro so that real pros could use it. If it can't run the full versions of the Adobe Creative Suite and give users access to all of the desktop functionality they've become accustomed to, then how can it possible be a "pro" product? Photoshop in iOS is a joke because if you want to do any real work, it still requires you to finish it on your real computer if you need to do more than the most basic of tasks.

And what kind of a "pro" computing product does not let you easily access a filing system or a way to get data into your computing product via a USB stick?

The world has grown tired of iPads and Apple's inability to grow it meaningfully into anything but a consumption platform.

Except tablet sales in general have been slowing down. Oh and come to think of it, so have PCs. Maybe what we're seeing is outside of work, where most people use company provided devices, people aren't really doing a lot of "work" on their computers so tablets fit the bill and because they're used more for consumption they don't need to be replaced as often. If you're using an iPad to watch video, check email, use Facebook and play some games you probably don't need a super powerful device with multitasking, file systems, ports etc.

 

[fourthtunz]

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

Though I admit I did not use it very often.

The stylus would be better than your finger for sure, but I use the mic for dictation,
thats my favorite for notes,,if you have to keep your voice down the earphones mic works well

 

[MH01]

Not possible. According to what I read in the appleTV forum: "No 4k content. Nothing to see. 1080p is more than enough.Can't tell a difference unless it is a 120 inch screen. Apple has no reason to add 4k capabilities"

Will ANYONE get a 4K tv this year? Bueller....?Bueller....?

Just educate yourself and Google tv viewing distances, 4K .

It's not just the crazies on the Apple TV forums, seems there are others on the inter webs that have worked out that while 4K tech is amazing tech, the weak link is the human eye.....

It's 65", the sweet spot for buying 4K. Unless you are in the markert for a really really big monitor.

 

[teslo]

I can't disagree. I personally bought it for drawing and sold my original Air and 17" MBP for it. Drawing on this thing is pretty sweet. Beyond that, I type on it and browse the web. Haven't been able to find much use beyond that. Really think they need to focus on getting some software out that classifies it "pro". Make it able to interface with a desktop (think FCPX). Those kind of things would enhance its uses.

agree re: FCPX (and hopefully Logic Pro) - but if they push more incentive on Adobe and get semi-pro apps to do a good portion of the basics that CS can accomplish, i'd see way more reason to buy one. i know people with 4gb RAM in their aging laptops who can still run at least photoshop/illustrator/indesign pretty well. i was pulling for an iPad pro with OSX (don't even start with me, people! i use a cintiq and it's PERFECTLY stylus-capable/touch-ready with current UI, especially at close to 13") - but i'll concede that mobile apps will start getting way more powerful. maybe not premiere or after effects, but if they could get a competent version of creative suite on the app store, i'd buy one in a heartbeat. until then, i can deal with not sketching/taking notes on an apple tablet.
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I bought it as well in 2012. I think then they were on an annual cycle that they didn't want to stop. But the iPad 4 with A6X is likely what they wanted to have ready for the iPad 3. It's true though, at this point these things are powerful enough to last many years. I wonder more about features that they'll skip on to get it out in spring instead of fall. All speculation though, they may have (very likely) had roadmap laid out for the Airs for several years.

i'm still rocking my ipad2 and it's seemingly no different in performance than when i got it 2011... it doesn't snap like it does on iPads i see nowadays, but i'll be damned if it's not totally useful on a daily basis with zero frustrations - maybe iOS 7.1.2 was the magic time to stop updating, but i have yet to see other brand-name tablets in the wild from 2011. and i do look for them..