Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I am just hoping I find a good deal this Black Friday. I think the hardware in the Air 2 is even suitable for many years to come, let alone anything new they will do with the Air 3. Adopting LDDR4 over LDDR3 would be nice, and the obvious architecture improvements/clock speed increases would make this new iPad unstoppable xD Anyway, I'm just hoping they don't increase the resolution, because it could be disastrous. Looking at how things are now with the Air 2 it would destroy the battery (given that they can't really fit too much more battery inside the current housing).

If they don't increase the resolution and wreck things, I really would like an Air 3 64GB. Last time I went Black Friday shopping for electronics, I only came across THE LOWEST storage models being discounted. Super disappointed. I'm living with 16GB just fine but my photo library is ever-growing and I sort of am sick of worrying about things. I wish they would change to a 32GB/64GB/128GB configuration. 16GB is simply greedy nowadays. Apple countered that with iCloud being an option, but that hardly is useful for off loading things... All it does is make storage taken up on ALL your devices. Besides, you have to pay if you want anything more than the measly 5GB they give you for free. Sad.
 
Honestly I just want the iPad Air 3 to start at $499 for 32GB.

You and everybody else. :)

As for the Air 3.... I can't see them adding more RAM. My Air runs fine on the latest OS and since I only tend to actively use a few tabs at a time in safari I'd never realize much performance gain with the Air 2. What I'm getting at is that owners of the Air 2 can very likely skip the Air 3 and not lose out on much at all. I doubt I'll even bite on the next iPad. Just not enough tangible upgrades.

I also hated the thinness of the Air 2 and the obnoxious vibrating chassis if you dare use the speakers. That's the main reason I skipped the Air 2. If they fixed that in the next gen then I could be swayed but they won't. Thin is IN at all costs. Whatever.
 
Buy the air 2 now from the refurb store , if the next air 3 in November has 4gb of ram ,sell the air 2 '& buy the air 3

But I would say there's an 80% chance the air 3 will have the same 2gb ram as the air 2
80%? There is a 100% chance the ipad 3 stays at 2Gigs of RAM. Stingy apple only upgrades RAM in a device, when it is shamed into doing such. They are not going to go from 1 gig to 4 Gig in 2 generations of a device. That is NOT the Apple way.

Now if we are talking the iPad Pro, then they have to find something to differentiate. RAM could be it. But the regular iPad 3? That is 10000000% guaranteed to have 2 Gigs of RAM
 
  • Like
Reactions: Billy95Tech
You and everybody else. :)

As for the Air 3.... I can't see them adding more RAM. My Air runs fine on the latest OS and since I only tend to actively use a few tabs at a time in safari I'd never realize much performance gain with the Air 2. What I'm getting at is that owners of the Air 2 can very likely skip the Air 3 and not lose out on much at all. I doubt I'll even bite on the next iPad. Just not enough tangible upgrades.

I also hated the thinness of the Air 2 and the obnoxious vibrating chassis if you dare use the speakers. That's the main reason I skipped the Air 2. If they fixed that in the next gen then I could be swayed but they won't. Thin is IN at all costs. Whatever.
Of course yours runs fine. You never have tab reload issues, like everyone else has on the Air with only "a few tabs". So your "runs fine" claims are to be taken with a grain of salt, IMHO
 
I am just hoping I find a good deal this Black Friday. I think the hardware in the Air 2 is even suitable for many years to come, let alone anything new they will do with the Air 3. Adopting LDDR4 over LDDR3 would be nice, and the obvious architecture improvements/clock speed increases would make this new iPad unstoppable xD Anyway, I'm just hoping they don't increase the resolution, because it could be disastrous. Looking at how things are now with the Air 2 it would destroy the battery (given that they can't really fit too much more battery inside the current housing).

If they don't increase the resolution and wreck things, I really would like an Air 3 64GB. Last time I went Black Friday shopping for electronics, I only came across THE LOWEST storage models being discounted. Super disappointed. I'm living with 16GB just fine but my photo library is ever-growing and I sort of am sick of worrying about things. I wish they would change to a 32GB/64GB/128GB configuration. 16GB is simply greedy nowadays. Apple countered that with iCloud being an option, but that hardly is useful for off loading things... All it does is make storage taken up on ALL your devices. Besides, you have to pay if you want anything more than the measly 5GB they give you for free. Sad.
Honestly I just want the iPad Air 3 to start at $499 for 32GB.

This. Please! I guess it's too late since I just got a 64GB Air 2, but I'm thinking of getting an iPhone this year and I really want there to me a model which is both affordable and has substantial storage. I've said it many times and I'm going to say it again. Move. On. 16GB for the entry-level phone, starting at 32GB for every other phone. This isn't 2009
 
Haha Apple will include only 2 GB RAM for Air 3. Apple is such a miser in RAM department that they could include just 1 GB RAM in Air 3 if possible. They will announce super memory compression and some mumblo-jumbo memory optimisations. The iFans will lap it all up.

2 GB RAM in Air 2 is a result of all the public shaming.

Don't expect 3 GB RAM upgrade for another 4-5 years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Count Blah
i think that best buy off apple products is when they increase the ram or increase the cores of cpu... buying a product after too many years of not improvement in ram capacity is too risky (ipad air, iphone 6).

i think ipad air 2 is a solid product that perfomed well with ios8, will do the same with ios9 i think... i don't see any need to upgrade and i'm glad i bought it last november.

even if they add force taouch, i don't see any good reason to upgrade. every next product is in some ways better than the previous but the air 2 as no weak points at the moment.

battery is fine (in line with previous ipad - i had a 3 - maybe little less but always near 10 h with any kind of usage. sometimes i reach 15-16 hours).
no reloading issues, it's fast, thin (little vibration when speakers work but i get used to it and it has better sound quality than any other ios device, especially if put on a wood surface... try it!), good camera for a tablet (despite the fact i use the iphone one), touch id.

very very good product. i didn't have the same feeling after short time with ipad 3 in 2012.

considering that ipad air 2 is very performing under every aspect, i don't think air 3 will ger significant boost... they will focus on design (maybe bigger screen) and screen resolution (not sure it would be a good thing) in my opinion.
 
That's not the point. They are at the stage where if they make it thinner, they would be missing out. So what better than to take advantage of that, and make a killer battery life?

Killer battery life would be great… then again my 3.5 year old iPad 2 goes for 16 hours easily.

My Dad's iPad 2 (launch day) can get 24 hours of usage.

Not sure if the newer devices get this sort of battery life…..

I'm going to buy a new iPad when the ram increases next time. (I assume iPad Air 4). So far every 2nd iPad has been the better buy. The iPad 1 was underpowered, the iPad 2 was great, the iPad 3 was underpowered, the iPad 4 was great, the iPad Air had too little ram and the iPad Air 2 is great.
 
I personally think that if Apple is going to release an iPad Pro then it needs something to differentiate it from the iPad Air and mini range, let's not forget that Apple have not long announced the 12" Macbook with retina.

I currently have the iPad Air 2 and i'm happy with it, i'm even more happy now that iOS 9 has been announced with split screen and multitasking. My point is the rumoured iPad Pro will need something different in order to make people buy it. I own a Macbook Pro 2011 and if Apple made the iPad Pro so that it could replace that, then i would get one and simply replace both my now 4 year old Macbook Pro and my iPad Air 2 in one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Billy95Tech
The iPad Air 2 May not have changed the iPad much visually, the biggest improvements were internal. I owned the iPad Air and it was a wonderful iPad but when compared to the iPad air 2 it was night and day! The added gig of ram and the a8x processor made the air 2, a screamer. Sure the Air 3 will better ,every year an iPad gets better and better, but how much. the iPad pro would be cool for some, but I lovee the size of the 9.7" iPad, for me, it's the perfect size. I'd rather a laptop then a 13" iPad. It's gonna be interesting whatahapppens in the fall, we are still 5 months away.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Billy95Tech
Looking at the new rumors of the new "iPad Pro" having a resolution of 2732x2048, I think it's safe to say that the iPad Air 3 will stay at 2048x1536 resolution, THANK GOD. People have suggested the Air 3 would move to an @3x resolution rather than @2x. The current retina display resolution has already been especially problematic to the iPad 3, and somewhat to the iPad 4 and Air ("retina" resolution translucency effects have been stuttery). The next resolution increase would probably cause battery issues and/or performance issues, which I don't want to have happen with my next iPad.
 
Why would you say that without knowing what the Air 3 will wield to us? I've had my Air 2 for nearly a week, and so far, I'm more than satisfied. In short, the iPad does not need more memory. What it does need is longer battery life, and maybe Force Touch if all the other devices are getting it. Those sorts of things will persuade people to upgrade. Besides, people don't generally upgrade between generations, especially with iPads.

Because the iPad 2 Air has all the horsepower you need for iOS 9. What is holding it back is that Apple insists on putting in too little RAM.

It's like having a new Corvette Stingray, and then putting little tires from a Prius in it... You still have the muscle, but it isn't going to be able to make full use of it...
 
Because the iPad 2 Air has all the horsepower you need for iOS 9. What is holding it back is that Apple insists on putting in too little RAM.

It's like having a new Corvette Stingray, and then putting little tires from a Prius in it... You still have the muscle, but it isn't going to be able to make full use of it...

Oh please, no more car analogies :p
No, seriously though, the Air 2 doesn't have insufficient memory. The iPhone 6 or iPad Air I can understand. But this is a device running iOS. I'm not saying iOS is unsuitable for professional use, but it is super-efficient compared to, say OS X. Forgive me if you weren't comparing to a laptop or something, but I'm just saying. It sounds to me as if you don't have an iPad Air 2, and have not tried one (again, forgive me if you do), and if you do, you will be surprised. This thing is an absolute beast.
 
It's possible that the Air 3 could include new hardware capabilities such as an active digitizer. After watching the demo of multiwindow/Splitview, etc. in iOS9, I wouldn't be surprised if there is no larger "Pro" iPad coming this year. If Apple were to provide an active digitizer and/or support for Bluetooth pointing devices, that could provide a serious bump for "Pro" users.

Some sort of active digitizer is far more likely then any sort of pointer device. A mouse cursor just doesn't work on a touch screen only OS like iOS. Even if modified to work then its a severe handicap. Its too obvious with windows and even more so with Android.
 
3 iOS upgrades will have no value to you if each upgrade degrades performance and stability. My iPad 1 running iOS 5.1 performs better than my iPad 2 and iPad 4 running iOS 8.x.

The Air 2 will be a year old by the time iOS 9 is released. That's 1 year off the effective lifespan of the device. There is the possibility of hardware improvements in the next gen iPad over the Air 2. Even if the amount of RAM is not increased, there are other components that may be improved.

I suggest waiting until the next gen is announced/released. If there is little advantage, then the Air 2 will most likely drop in price (as the iPad Mini 2 dropped with the announce of the Mini 3).

I'm sitting tight with my iPad 2 and 4 waiting to see what unfolds later this year. I'll make a decision then as to what to do.

I disagree to an extent.

iOS 9 for the most part improves performance and appears to have similar performance on older devices. The Air 2 is a large jump in performance and the first 2 gb RAM iDevice.

Those 2 things insure its longevity in 2 ways. 1) Its first iOS update isn't degrading performance leaving room for further updates. 2) iOS has to support 1 gb RAM devices for 3-4 more updates before the Air 2 is minimum specs.

Point is I feel the Air 2 is probably the iPad to get because of the way the hardware and software finally came together for once.

Waiting for Apple products leaves you perpetually waiting because they are always incremental and the next one is always better. I only feel waiting is a good idea that if you want the Air 2 and want to save 100 bucks like you mentioned.
 
I'm going to finally be looking to update my iPad (original), and have considered iPad Air 2. However, I'm not in a rush and with the changes coming in ios9, I want to future proof as much as possible.
Does anyone think Air 3 (or whatever it's called) will have significant changes. I haven't really followed the upgrade cycle on iPads as I have been satisfied with my current.
$$ isn't really an issue, but if there's no big change in the 3, then I would consider, at this point, just getting a refurb 2. I know the major difference will be a new chip.
Comments?
The difference will be just the design, and a little more powerful chip,with the same 2GB of RAM..
 
I would expect the Air 3 to stay at 2GB with screen improvements and force touch. I want to believe a digitizer is coming, but I can't see that happening on the regular iPad. Maybe on a 'pro' version, but what I'm starting to suspect will happen is that Apple is going to integrate force touch into all of these devices, and between that and some smart software, make that their solution instead of adding a true digitizer layer. It will be interesting to see if Apple can make that work acceptably compared to a real digitizer. Solid stylus support is the #1 thing I am waiting for, and probably the only major thing that will get me to upgrade my Air 2.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sracer
I would expect the Air 3 to stay at 2GB with screen improvements and force touch. I want to believe a digitizer is coming, but I can't see that happening on the regular iPad. Maybe on a 'pro' version, but what I'm starting to suspect will happen is that Apple is going to integrate force touch into all of these devices, and between that and some smart software, make that their solution instead of adding a true digitizer layer. It will be interesting to see if Apple can make that work acceptably compared to a real digitizer. Solid stylus support is the #1 thing I am waiting for, and probably the only major thing that will get me to upgrade my Air 2.
I'd love to see support for an active digitizer but I'm beginning to think that Apple will end up doing something more like... adding support for bluetooth stylus within iOS itself (rather than rely on individual applications including APIs to support specific brands of stylus) to make it universal to all apps.
 
Of course yours runs fine. You never have tab reload issues, like everyone else has on the Air with only "a few tabs". So your "runs fine" claims are to be taken with a grain of salt, IMHO

Count, I know. I did mention that in my post! My use case doesn't reveal any safari problems. IMO, most people use safari as I do versus some of you guys that crank up the tab count. That's all.
 
Count, I know. I did mention that in my post! My use case doesn't reveal any safari problems. IMO, most people use safari as I do versus some of you guys that crank up the tab count. That's all.
I had the video of tab refresh with two tabs, and no other apps running. I would not call 2 tabs "cranking up the tab count".
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.