New iPad Air Models With M3 Chip Seemingly Confirmed by Leaker

[AND411]

You can do all those things with TouchID and always could, since the iPhone 5s.

I know that. I was referring to the guy whose iPhone 13's face ID stopped working. He claimed that you don't need face ID at all. Since the iPhone X, there is no longer a fingerprint sensor on iPhones!

 

[joecomo]

interesting - thought they wanted to get rid of the M3s ASAP

 

[Frantisekj]

Gotta offload them pesky M3s somewhere.

Also thinking that they have number of M3, maybe binned version, that they need to utilize otherwise it has little sense to use it or even produce it when it was pricier to produce. Second reason is to differentiate it from top of the line models.

 

[JPack]

Are there examples of that being the case in similar situations? I can’t think of one offhand, and it would surprise me.

iPadOS 18
iPad Pro 10.5 - A10X, 4GB
iPad 7 - A10, 3GB

Only one of these supports iPadOS 18. It’s not the one with the more powerful processor.

 

[joeblow7777]

I know that. I was referring to the guy whose iPhone 13's face ID stopped working. He claimed that you don't need face ID at all. Since the iPhone X, there is no longer a fingerprint sensor on iPhones!

I see. Sorry, I was lacking context.

 

[neomorpheus]

Bold emphasis mine.

I don't know to what extent if any the following 2 things had a bearing on the rather quick release of the M4 chip family:

1.) Artificial Intelligence was making the news big, and Apple Intelligence sounded half-baked with a slow roll out.

2.) Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips appeared ready to bring the Windows world similar benefit to those of Apple Silicon on Macs, and while the switch to an ARM processor with partial compatibility with software made for Intel (though apparently quite good) was a concern, Microsoft came out backing it, and 'Copilot' PCs were really making the news.

Since then, Intel brought out Lunar Lake, which if I understand correctly offered similar benefits while retaining full x86 chip-based software compatibility, so if I were shopping for a PC notebook right now, what to buy would be about as clear as mud.

All that major M4 series Mac buzz made the news at a convenient time, plus headed into the holiday shopping season.

Notice the sequence - iMac first, so everybody focused on the M4 chip without the Pro or Max stealing its thunder, then the iMac Mini so the M4 Pro got the spotlight, then finally the MacBooks with the M4 Max option. That's some 'buzz management' right there!

You do know that AMD makes really good CPUs, APU’s and even custom SOC’s superior to Intel and in some areas and cases, even Apple Silicon?

 

[drrich2]

You do know that AMD makes really good CPUs, APU’s and even custom SOC’s superior to Intel and in some areas and cases, even Apple Silicon?

I'm aware of them, though I have little reason to closely follow their line. They seem to be 'Pepsi' to Intel's 'Coke' in personal computer microprocessors, and to focus on the 'bang for buck' value segment in the discrete computer graphics space. I'm not familiar with their custom SOC offering; the news late last year tended to focus on Qualcomm and Apple in that regard.

Was anything going on with AMD you think might've pressured Apple to release the M4 series early?

 

[neomorpheus]

I'm aware of them, though I have little reason to closely follow their line. They seem to be 'Pepsi' to Intel's 'Coke' in personal computer microprocessors, and to focus on the 'bang for buck' value segment in the discrete computer graphics space. I'm not familiar with their custom SOC offering; the news late last year tended to focus on Qualcomm and Apple in that regard.

Was anything going on with AMD you think might've pressured Apple to release the M4 series early?

Let me put it like this, the only reason why intel is not dead is due to rabid fanbois and intel dirty bribes to the likes of Dell.

And dell just announced their plans in switching to AMD.

Apple dont have to worry about what AMD or intel are doing, they have their own issues with the M3 and thats why they moved so quickly to the M4.

Between Macs and PC’s, apple will always lose on price, but like i said before, there are people that will never switch.

Hell, i personally think that apple dont want a bigger market share and i dont understand why, because if they wanted it, all they have to do is drop the upgrades price gouging they are doing with the Mac Mini M4 and on the same boat, finally release the infamous Mac X that many of us want, the one with at least one expansion slot for discrete GPUs.

 

[PsykX]

Give the Air Face ID and the sales problem is fixed overnight.

I'd much rather have ProMotion than Face ID...