iPad Pro is what iPad Air 3 should have been

[Ghost31]

It'll be interesting to see if the Pro even gets an upgrade next year. I wouldn't be too terribly surprised if they go to an 18/24 month upgrade cycle for the iPads seeing as their sales have slowed due to people not upgrading as often.

Might make more sense to stagger the updates so they keep the sales bumps more or less steady year-on-year for the iPads as they cater to the different iPad size users.

I completely agree with this. I think we have reached a certain peak with iPads where you can only have so many big name selling features every year. Now it's like a MacBook in which it's just processor and hardware spec bumps. That's not enough to get most people excited to ditch their existing iPad in favor of a new one. So we probably won't see a new iPad pro this next year at all. I would guess iPad Air 3 with some nice little spec updates but nothing earth shattering and next next year (2017) We will see introduction of new technologies to iPads like maybe 3D Touch or something. I would bet the pro will be the iPad line to introduce new stuff and the air will follow the next year. Like with the pencil and maybe even smart connector. I could see it possibly being on the air 3 this year

 

[macguy360]

With an OS tailored for using the tablets to be productive, they could speed up phasing out OS X.



Battery life and heat dissipation should be considered.

Both battery life and heat dissipation are no longer an issue. The a9x is built on 16nm architecture with a TDP less than 5w. With that type of TDP and architecture there is zero issue with heat. Regarding battery life, Apple has consistently been able to decrease the thickness of both the iPad and mini due to lower power consuming processors. As die shrinks continue, battery life gets better and heat production decreases. Using older processors in the Air or the mini is counter intuitive to having better battery life and heat dissipation.

 

[bufffilm]

Exactly! Why not give all 3 tablets the same processor and then have the price difference affect the size of the screen. People can be pro and use the mini because they prefer the size for portability (i.e. business person who conducts power point presentations and uses the mini as the remote/note card).

This is Apple we're talking about here. Why would they put the same processor in all three models...no reason to and especially not, considering where each model sells to.

 

[bufffilm]

Using older processors in the Air or the mini is counter intuitive to having better battery life and heat dissipation.

As I said in the previous post, never will happen that the same cpu is in all three models. As if Apple cared about TDP...it's more about recouping the cost of designing/manufacturing each CPU generation and placing it in the right device to maximize cost savings and profit margins.

As for battery life, let's fervently hope that the Air3 and the iPP2 have larger batteries in them.

It's a big, big reason why I'm still using an ipad2...very disappointed that the Air2 had less battery run time than the Air1.

 

[maflynn]

the Air 3 should have come out when the iPad Pro did, but instead it was delayed to allow the Pro release

Yep and many folks were a bit disappointed in not seeing a new Air, but I think Apple wanted to give the IPP every opportunity to succeed, and having the Air 3 roll out, may pull customers to that tablet as opposed to the IPP. I think we'll see what apple does in October.

I think we're going to see the Air have the same processor as the phone of the same year, the mini have the previous, and the X just for the Pro.

That's my guess

 

[Sparky2012]

I think we're going to see the Air have the same processor as the phone of the same year, the mini have the previous, and the X just for the Pro.

I can understand the reasoning for that but it actually wouldn't be much/any faster than the A8X used in the Air 2. Sure single core performance would be better but overall Multi-core CPU and GPU performance in the A9 is very similar to the A8X. I guess they could clock the regular A9 higher to provide better performance but the better option imo would be to give it a slightly slower clocked A9X chip.

 

[Rogifan]

Everyone I've shown the Pencil to so far loves it. Like Apple introduced Touch ID to iPhone first and then brought it to iPad a year later I have a feeling the iPad Pro is where Apple decided to test the Pencil first and it will make its way to other iPads (not sure about iPhones). Maybe there are things Apple will do software wise that are iPad Pro only. Personally I enjoy split screen on the iPad Pro much more than the Air 2.

 

[bniu]

isn't the Air 2 massively overpowered already? Plus, isn't the A8X basically on-par speed wise with the A9? If Apple was going to put an A9 chip into the "Air 3", then what would be the point? Might as well keep the A8X around for a bit longer.

I could see the Air 3 and the Mini 5 both having smart connectors and apple pencil support.

 

[bniu]

isn't the Air 2 massively overpowered already? Plus, isn't the A8X basically on-par speed wise with the A9? If Apple was going to put an A9 chip into the "Air 3", then what would be the point? Might as well keep the A8X around for a bit longer.

I could see the Air 3 and the Mini 5 both having smart connectors and apple pencil support.

 

[kiranmk2]

The way I see it the iPad Air 2 got a tricore CPU as the A8 was an underperformer (a bad per-clock performer that generated too much heat to be clocked higher). This is why the A9X went 'back' to a dual core. The next iPad Air will need to have some pretty big improvements to justify a release - Apple has already deviated from its once-a-year updates. I would imagine because an update now would be a weak upgrade. We've heard that 3D touch can't be scaled to the iPad-sized screens in its current form. As has been pointed out the A9 chip only matches the A8X chip in multicore and even if Apple could control the thermals of the A9X in the Air frame, it is 'only' 20-30% faster than the A8X. I can't see Apple upping the RAM to match the flagship given the iPhone has only just made the leap to 2 GB. With all this in mind, why Apple launch an Air 3? There are regular deals of the Air 2 to keep sales going and a 'pointless' Air 3 at full price would be unlikely to attract many takers beyond the hardcore Apple fans.

 

[jamesrick80]

The way I see it the iPad Air 2 got a tricore CPU as the A8 was an underperformer (a bad per-clock performer that generated too much heat to be clocked higher). This is why the A9X went 'back' to a dual core. The next iPad Air will need to have some pretty big improvements to justify a release - Apple has already deviated from its once-a-year updates. I would imagine because an update now would be a weak upgrade. We've heard that 3D touch can't be scaled to the iPad-sized screens in its current form. As has been pointed out the A9 chip only matches the A8X chip in multicore and even if Apple could control the thermals of the A9X in the Air frame, it is 'only' 20-30% faster than the A8X. I can't see Apple upping the RAM to match the flagship given the iPhone has only just made the leap to 2 GB. With all this in mind, why Apple launch an Air 3? There are regular deals of the Air 2 to keep sales going and a 'pointless' Air 3 at full price would be unlikely to attract many takers beyond the hardcore Apple fans.

It's true, l think releasing an Air 3 is pointless right now. The air 2 is fine and what are people really gonna do with the Air 3 that they can't do with the air 2. Unless they release pencil support on the air 3, there is no need for an air 3 this year. Some of you guys want 4K displays and higher PPI displays but you will be the same ones complaining about battery life so that's not important either. You already know 3D Touch is not coming to iPads this year so it would be a lost cause.