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The pencil's technology allows for force sensitivity. Not sure if you could do both the pencil and force touch without creating some conflicts. I therefore imagine that bringing the pencil to the Air makes more sense than force touch. However, Apple does tend to surprise us from time to time so who knows what it will bring.
 
don't just release **** for the sake of releasing a new model. wait until you can make it something worth buying.

Well, it's still a rumor. How often did we rage against Apple just for nothing. I ask myself rather if they can support both the pencil and 3D touch.
 
Apple has been in FAIL mode for some time, and now its product pipeline is proving it. The iPad Pro is useless without being able to run Mac OS and full Mac apps. It's not a "pro" device if I still need a desktop to finish off that Photoshop illustration that I can only start on the iPad Pro using gimped iOS apps from Adobe. Maybe Apple's Board of Directors should put a visionary into the CEO position - someone who actually cares about the products?
 
A new iPad hasn't been released in March since 2012....with the awful underpowered iPad 3.

However I see little point in them throwing the A9X chip in a new iPad and calling it a day. That would be stupid as software is the new bottleneck. In 2012 it was processor bottleneck because the A5X was garbage so they release the iPad 4 6 months later. The next bottleneck was RAM in the iPad Air 1 so then we got the insanely powerful Air 2. Now the bottleneck is software as even the iPad Pro running iOS 9 had animation stutter (trust me its there even if some don't have the eye for it so lets not start that debate). Software is whats holding iPads back now. More apps need split screen support (music app and facebook would be nice.......) and some apps just look goofy as hell on the iPad pro and may never get updated or take years(tweet bot, ahem!).
 
I really want to shift away from my iPad Mini 2, but I’d also like to graduate to everything with 3D touch; I’m due a new MacBook this year anyway…
 
Yeah, that's the announcement, but what about release date? Since the iPad 4, release dates have shifted to the Autumn.
Well, thats is true, the announcement of the first iPad was in March and i bought my second generation iPad in April, the same goes for my third generation iPad, but thats when it started shifting to autumn, i remember it pretty well since i was kinda disappointed that Apple released a new iPad the same year as i bought my 3rd gen, Apple usually release them once a year but the 3rd and 4th gen iPad was release same year, 3rd in March and 4th in the autumn, think it was just a lightning port update and the usual specbump too. Since then the iPad launch seems to have been in October.
 
Apple has been in FAIL mode for some time, and now its product pipeline is proving it. The iPad Pro is useless without being able to run Mac OS and full Mac apps. It's not a "pro" device if I still need a desktop to finish off that Photoshop illustration that I can only start on the iPad Pro using gimped iOS apps from Adobe. Maybe Apple's Board of Directors should put a visionary into the CEO position - someone who actually cares about the products?
This crap again.
 
I have the iPhone 6s Plus, but it's getting to the point of asking yourself what's the point of upgrading a device every year or two? I feel sorry for people who pay extra money per year to be able to upgrade every year. There's really no point. Apple's "innovations" are slowing down to a crawl.
 
Apple has been in FAIL mode for some time, and now its product pipeline is proving it. The iPad Pro is useless without being able to run Mac OS and full Mac apps. It's not a "pro" device if I still need a desktop to finish off that Photoshop illustration that I can only start on the iPad Pro using gimped iOS apps from Adobe. Maybe Apple's Board of Directors should put a visionary into the CEO position - someone who actually cares about the products?

Your problem is with the apps, not the hardware or OS.
 
Why release the iPad Air 3 then. Why not wait unit next fall.

Apple may be heading to an 18 month upgrade cycle on the iPad. Consumers aren't upgrading them often and (maybe more importantly) Enterprise and Education won't upgrade as often. Specs are not getting that much better that fast anymore.

But, heck, I'm just guessing. So there is that.... :D
 
I hate the way Apple holds lines back to sell their new, more expensive line. If it wasn't for the iPad Pro we'd already have an Air 3 with an A9 and 3D Touch.
I love Apple and I own so many stuff from this company, but I also believe in a healthy market. At the moment, the market of smartphones and tablets is not that healthy because Apple is too strong. I wish someday an equal strong competitor appears in the market and stops Apple from holding back new technologies. Competion it's ALWAYS better for consumers.
 
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Apple has been in FAIL mode for some time, and now its product pipeline is proving it. The iPad Pro is useless without being able to run Mac OS and full Mac apps. It's not a "pro" device if I still need a desktop to finish off that Photoshop illustration that I can only start on the iPad Pro using gimped iOS apps from Adobe. Maybe Apple's Board of Directors should put a visionary into the CEO position - someone who actually cares about the products?

You are not the pro the iPad Pro is aimed at. Coaches, nurses, artists, lawyers, real estate agents, building inspectors, i.e. anyone who needs a large screen portable computing device are the customers. The device is far from useless.
 
Why does the analyst believe Apple will be releasing a new iPad in the first half of the year? Isn't their usual iPad release time in the second half of the year?

Maybe because iPad hasn't seen an update since Oct 2014 (iPad Air 2 release). If Apple waited until 2nd half of 2016 to release the iPad Air 3, that'd be a 2 year gap. Bad move, IMO, unless Apple wants to see sales fall more than they already are.

Stick an A9 (or A9x?) chip in it, up the minimum storage to 32GB, and up the RAM if there isn't going to be a 3D Touch screen and call it a day.
 
The pencil's technology allows for force sensitivity. Not sure if you could do both the pencil and force touch without creating some conflicts. I therefore imagine that bringing the pencil to the Air makes more sense than force touch. However, Apple does tend to surprise us from time to time so who knows what it will bring.
In that Bloomberg article on 3D Touch Jony Ive said things are released whe they're ready, not held back. I'm sure cynics would never believe that but honestly if 3D Touch was ready for iPad Pro why leave it off? It's not like iPad Pro with 3D Touch would cannibalize iPhone sales. And intentionally leaving it off to have something for 2nd gen doesn't really make sense. I'm sure there are a number of people holding off buying an iPad until it gets 3D Touch. Wouldn't Apple rather get that sale now rather than hope they'll get it a year or two from now?

It could be possible that Apple is still figuring out how to implement 3D Touch on a much larger display. Perhaps it added too much weight to the device. Maybe there is a shortage of the Taptic Engine and iPhone gets first priority. Maybe getting 3D Touch to play nice with Apple pencil is a difficult engineering challenge. It seems any one of these is more likely than Phil Schiller saying leave it out so I have something to sell next year.
 
I agree, the next iPad Air needs to have some good updates to be worthwhile over the current model.

Which is probably why we didn't see an iPad Air 3 this October(other than the fact of the iPad Pro's release, of course.)

I mean, the iPad Air 2's A8X and 2GB of RAM is beating 99% of tablets on the market in performance, and the combined package of performance, size, weight, and battery life is still unmatched. Samsung made a good try with the Tab S2, but it turned out to be nothing more than an Air 2 clone with poor battery life.

There's not really much Apple could do at this point other than give it a faster processor and it add 3D Touch and Pencil support.
 
I'm not sure I'm interested in one, then. I've got an iPad Air, and was really looking forward to 3D Touch on an iPad. But if the third gen Air doesn't have it, even Pencil support isn't enough to make me want to upgrade. Disappointing, really.
 
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I'd rather them wait until Fall 2016 to release the Air 3, with 3D Touch, than release it without it in March 2016. Then again, Apple may release Air 3 (Without 3D Touch in March) and Air 4 (With 3D Touch in Fall) in the same year.
 
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