No 3D Touch for iPad Air 3 Due in First Half of 2016, iPhone 7’s 3D Touch Tech Similar to iPhone 6s

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

PEN-CIL!!! I just was at the apple store and tried it out on the pro and loved it. The Pro's too big for me though!

Not gonna happen. If they make the Pencil work with other iPads then there is little reason for people to spend a premium for the iPad Pro. It would kill sales for them there.

I'd be willing to bet money they won't add Pencil support to the next iPad. Not this soon.

 

[Rogifan]

Maybe my point was not clear enough. If you get essentially the same thing through the pencil or through force touch, then maybe you don't need both. If you are going to provide both, then you need to solve the potential conflicts. Personally I would be good without the 3D/Force Touch and just stick with the pencil, but I am sure there are those that would prefer the Touchy thingy. So Apple will figure out how to integrate both and surprise us.

Hope that makes my statement a bit clearer.

Yes. And I was responding more broadly to those who believe Apple intentionally leaves stuff out which I think is nonsense. Once 3D Touch is ready for a larger screen and the components are available we'll get it.

 

[teslo]

tangential question for those presently using 3d touch (i had to go back to my iPhone 4 after the 5s 'accident') - does the BT button in control center pop and give you recent BT devices to connect to? i just can't grapple with the notion that they still haven't implemented a 1-2 tap solution. sooooo tired of general settings for BT actions

 

[puma1552]

To those expecting pencil support on the Air 3, you'll never get it on anything less than the Pro.

If you want to use a pencil, Apple wants to sell you the Pro and will force you into it to get that support.

The Pencil is specifically designed to be used with a large screen per Apple's vision of the Pro and who it targets, so don't hold your breath.

 

[CE3]

The iPad Air 3.

"Everything from last year, just with a new processor."

Seriously, Apple's upgrades in the tablet sector are just... Terrible.

They slapped a fingerprint scanner on the mini 3 and basically said it's worth a $100 upgrade over the mini 2.

Get real, Apple. Build a better tablet. We get the same exact thing year after year.

I don't know what tablet you're using but my iPad Air 2 is an excellent device. The RAM and processor upgrades made it a solid step up from the Air 1. I fail to see how a rumor about the next iPad not supporting 3D Touch means the Air 3 will be "everything from last year, just with a new processor." But yes, give it the iPad Pro's processor, 4GB of RAM, pencil support, and maybe a speaker on each side (i.e. improved sound) and I'll be happy.

 

[Serban]

So march event will be pretty big since we will get new Apple Watch, new Macbook, new iphone 4" and new ipad air 3

 

[dan110]

I wouldn't buy any new iPads until they're completely on par with the 6S. I was going to buy a Mini 4 last night and did a thorough comparison. It's not worth it, to me at least, until probably Gen 5 or 6. Worst case scenario, I'll stick with my 2 until it's no longer upgradable.

 

[manu chao]

I feel like 3D Touch could be utilized much more. The best they can do is peek and pop?

It's used for peek & pop and for 'contextual menus'.

 

[_mdavenport]

I feel like 3D Touch could be utilized much more. The best they can do is peek and pop?

The keyboard-trackpad trick and the app switcher activation are both incredibly useful IMO. Peek/pop are just ok.

But, I am also eager to see some more clever uses of 3D Touch. I think it has tons of potential.

 

[blackcrayon]

I have a hard time believing that they would not incorporate this feature across the board as most apps will eventually implement it and its already in the Mac and their flagship product. I have 3D touch on my 6S and other then switching between apps, I barely use it. Until you can assign the shortcuts within the app that you want in that force touch menu, it will remain a feature that hasn't caught on for me.

3D Touch made the 6s thicker than the 6. Perhaps it would make something the size of the iPad even thicker and heavier in order for their current tech to work well.

 

[mdridwan47]

Which is exactly what the AAPL manipulators want you to say. You gladly play the roll of pawn in their strategy. Why do you think rumors like this pop up? It’s just a rumor but you have swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. The short sellers are rubbing their hands together in glee. Oh, and the next iPhone will ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack too. If you read it on the Internet it’s true, right?

Well. it's not just any random rumor from DigiTimes, it's from Ming-Chi Kuo, who has been solid 95% of the time.

 

[CE3]

To those expecting pencil support on the Air 3, you'll never get it on anything less than the Pro.

If you want to use a pencil, Apple wants to sell you the Pro and will force you into it to get that support.

The Pencil is specifically designed to be used with a large screen per Apple's vision of the Pro and who it targets, so don't hold your breath.

Apple's using it to sell the Pro right now, and maybe support won't be available for the Air 3 (which I'd be ok with), but it sounds like the pencil is a pretty awesome product, and I seriously doubt Apple will forever limit its support to one device. I guess we'll see what happens next year. The 9.7 display size is plenty large enough to make proper use of the pencil, and they'll lose a lot of money by not making it available to a larger market.

 

[kemal]

They will have to add some feature like pen support cause you know they will add an A9 CPU that will be slower than the 3x core A8x. Can't just release a new model because it is thinner and slower.

 

[manu chao]

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.

A9? Very likely. 3D Touch? Doubt it. It's not as if they have reserved 3D Touch for the iPad Pro, it doesn't have it either. The reasons for the latter can be multiple: 3D Touch harder to implement consistently on large screens, making the iPad (Pro) screen pencil-capable more important than adding pressure sensitivity to iPads, iPhones being more important than iPads (meaning new technology, as it was the case for TouchID, gets there first, ie, development starts first for iPhones and when it works there, development and production resources are diverted to the iPad, note that the average selling price, ASP, for the iPhone is still around $650 but has dropped below $450 for the iPad).

 

[bpeeps]

Because they may make 2 sales instead of just one then
Apple are not stupid.

Apple is not stupid, but they better make a March iPad Air 3 worth upgrading to.

The iPad Air 3.

"Everything from last year, just with a new processor."

Seriously, Apple's upgrades in the tablet sector are just... Terrible.

They slapped a fingerprint scanner on the mini 3 and basically said it's worth a $100 upgrade over the mini 2.

Get real, Apple. Build a better tablet. We get the same exact thing year after year.

Because people buy it. Soccer Mom Annie knows no difference between the mini 2 and 3.

 

[NMBob]

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.

AND then they make a big deal about not caring if they cannibalize their own products. Bull-ony.

 

[macnewbie91]

I fail to see how a rumor about the next iPad not supporting 3D Touch means the Air 3 will be "everything from last year, just with a new processor." .

Because it will be the same tablet, with just a new processor, and without 3D touch.

 

[Radon87000]

They at least need to up the screen resolution to make it a worthwhile buy as the Air 2 has ZERO difficulties running ANY app on the store.No way will Air 2 owners upgrade without 3d touch

 

[pat500000]

I would like to see how people react when iPad Air Co,Es out with spec improve the only and new colors.

 

[Cyloncat]

An upgraded display for an Air 3 would also be a good idea; display technology keeps improving fairly quickly. I did a side-by-side comparison between an Air 2 and the Surface Book, using the same photo (taken with iPhone 6+) and both devices at 100% brightness. The new Surface displays are brighter and more saturated. Pixel density is equivalent (264 ppi vs 267). The Air 2 was distinctly second best.

 

[Andres Cantu]

So in other words, the only thing that stopped them from releasing the iPad Air 3 in the Fall was the iPad Pro (so they could sell more of those). Sounds about right...

Holding back on 3D touch for the iPad Air 4 (possibly the new iPad 4 if released in the Fall). Also sounds about right...

 

[navaira]

Maybe Apple's Board of Directors should put a visionary into the CEO position - someone who actually cares about the products?

Now hiring

VISIONARY

A large electronics and fashion company looking for a visionary.

REQUIREMENTS:
– must be visionarious
– ability to predict future
– previous track record of revolutionary inventions
– at least 1000 patents to their name

RESPONDS TO:
– Jony Ive (revolutions must be thinner)
– Eddy Cue (revolutions must be badly dressed)
– Dr. Dre (revolutions must be hip)
– Angela Ahrendts (revolutions must be very expensive)
– Tim Cook (revolutions must start at 16GB storage and/or have 5400rpm hard drives)

HOW TO APPLY:
– send an e-mail to tcook@apple.com, subject "Visionary", attach CV and motivational letter
– obviously when we say all that we don't mean it, do something visionarious, land in the conference room with a jetpack, whatever it is that visionaries do, and you better have a revolutionary idea or two on you.

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To avoid post deletion by moderators (which will happen anyway, I'm sorry mods, I'm not really a troll) I'll add a bit on topic: I do not see how 3D Touch or pencil on Air 3 would cannibalise iPad Pro sales. It's a bit like saying that copybook sales will cannibalise canvas sales. Air is half the size of Pro. That should really be enough difference. Some people would love a Pencil but have no use for a huge screen. Some people need the huge screen and a Pencil to go with it.

I can't wait for Respected Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo to make some Macbook related predictions, I'm dying to find out what the future holds. But I guess it's easier to say iPhone 7 will be released in the fall.

 

[EvilEvil]

Apple holding back features once again!

 

[CFreymarc]

Err, nope. These predictions come around every year - "new iPhone / iPad first half of 20xx" -

Never happens.

I do not see anything named the "iPhone 7" out next year. The next major revision, iOS 10, supposedtly is way behind schedule. It is also running into a marketing bind over the name as it is too similar to "OS X." There at be a change in naming convention giving an title suffix or even a year assignment such as "iOS 2016"

 

[MH01]

Must take a genius to predict a new iPhone each year....around September.

Expect the iPad Air 3 to be a spec bump, can't really fault my air 2. Mind you I would not upgrade for 3D Touch .