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They JUST upped the RAM to 2GB...

K

Kendo

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Apr 4, 2011
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There are rumors that iPad Air 3 will have 3GB of RAM. Do you think there is any truth to this? I'm a firm believer that odd numbered iPads (1, 3, Air) have been terrible compared to the even numbered ones (2, 4, Air 2) in terms of longevity.

Seeing as how they just upped the RAM for the first time, do you think iPad Air 3 will stay with 2GB and they will increase it to 3 or 4 with the Air 4? 3GB of RAM might be the only thing that makes me jump ship from the Air 2.
 
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Kendo said:
There are rumors that iPad Air 3 will have 3GB of RAM. Do you think there is any truth to this? I'm a firm believer that odd numbered iPads (1, 3, Air) have been terrible compared to the even numbered ones (2, 4, Air 2) in terms of longevity.

Seeing as how they just upped the RAM for the first time, do you think think iPad Air 3 will stay with 2GB and they increase it to 3 or 4 with the Air 4? 3GB of RAM might be the only thing that makes me jump ship from the Air 2.
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You have a good point. We'll see. :)
 
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As the thread title points out, 2GB has only just become the standard across iOS devices, I'd be surprised if the Air 3 has more than that. Most iOS devices currently in circulation still only have 1GB of RAM, and since Apple isn't going to close the door on so many of their customers, iOS is going to have to remain usable on just 1GB for at least another year. I just don't see a need for 3 or 4GB of RAM on iOS, except as a selling point for the Pro.
 
Kendo said:
There are rumors that iPad Air 3 will have 3GB of RAM. Do you think there is any truth to this? I'm a firm believer that odd numbered iPads (1, 3, Air) have been terrible compared to the even numbered ones (2, 4, Air 2) in terms of longevity.

Seeing as how they just upped the RAM for the first time, do you think iPad Air 3 will stay with 2GB and they will increase it to 3 or 4 with the Air 4? 3GB of RAM might be the only thing that makes me jump ship from the Air 2.
Click to expand...
But, since they didn't upgrade the iPad Air last year, you could say it's time again for a big upgrade.
 
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Channan said:
But, since they didn't upgrade the iPad Air last year, you could say it's time again for a big upgrade.
Click to expand...

It wasn't updated last year because they are shifting to a two year cycle on iPads. Because people don't upgrade iPads like they do phones. (Plus the Air 2 didn't need an update last year because with the A8X and 2GB of RAM it was still one of their most powerful iDevices benchmarking not very far behind the A9 in the new iPhones.)

This year will be the Air update only, 2017 will be Mini 5 and Pro 2, 2018 will be Air 4.

At least that what it appears to me that they are doing.
 
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lagwagon said:
It wasn't updated last year because they are shifting to a two year cycle on iPads. Because people don't upgrade iPads like they do phones. (Plus the Air 2 didn't need an update last year because with the A8X and 2GB of RAM it was still one of their most powerful iDevices benchmarking not very far behind the A9 in the new iPhones.)

This year will be the Air update only, 2017 will be Mini 5 and Pro 2, 2018 will be Air 4.

At least that what it appears to me that they are doing.
Click to expand...

I'm 100% sure Apple will update iPad Pro this year, absolutely. Even if it's only a speed bump to A10X. Not a chance that iPad Pro, the PC replacement, won't have the fastest chip possible, by some significant margin, at any point.

Even MacBooks, which are upgraded even less regularly than iPads, get yearly updates. iPad Air not getting the update was an anomaly, not the norm.
 
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Kendo said:
There are rumors that iPad Air 3 will have 3GB of RAM. Do you think there is any truth to this? I'm a firm believer that odd numbered iPads (1, 3, Air) have been terrible compared to the even numbered ones (2, 4, Air 2) in terms of longevity.

Seeing as how they just upped the RAM for the first time, do you think iPad Air 3 will stay with 2GB and they will increase it to 3 or 4 with the Air 4? 3GB of RAM might be the only thing that makes me jump ship from the Air 2.
Click to expand...

I have an iPad Air 2 and I think 2GB of RAM is plenty enough on the Air 2 for a least couple years yet.

But who knows I think Apple might surprise us and they might just bump up the RAM to 3/4GB of RAM in the iPad Air 3. :)
 
It's hard to say. Apple obviously has an idea that iPad can be a laptop replacement for many and are lightly pushing for a paradigm shift in what iPad can do for people. With the iPad pro, we were sold on the idea that the iPad can do more. I would speculate that iOS 10 will be huge for pro level APPS and if we were going to distribute those apps across iPads, I would think the iPad Air 3 and maybe even the mini will get more ram to be able to handle some of these apps. We don't want a hard limitation for what Apple can do in iOS 10 in the new iPad. We need more resources in iPad to do more fantastical things.

We'll see. But I wouldn't be surprised if apple gave the air more ram
 
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I'd say they'd more likely go 4 GB than 3 GB as odd amounts of memory don't work in dual channel configuration.

They'd get more bandwidth with 2 GB or 4 GB than 3 GB (unless they went triple channel but that would be a lot more expensive) and memory bandwidth for 3d is important.
 
throAU said:
I'd say they'd more likely go 4 GB than 3 GB as odd amounts of memory don't work in dual channel configuration.

They'd get more bandwidth with 2 GB or 4 GB than 3 GB (unless they went triple channel but that would be a lot more expensive) and memory bandwidth for 3d is important.
Click to expand...

No. They can easily implement two 1.5GB channels working in dual channel. There's no limit there. A lot of android devices also have 3GB dual channel RAM.
 
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Kendo said:
There are rumors that iPad Air 3 will have 3GB of RAM. Do you think there is any truth to this? I'm a firm believer that odd numbered iPads (1, 3, Air) have been terrible compared to the even numbered ones (2, 4, Air 2) in terms of longevity.

Seeing as how they just upped the RAM for the first time, do you think iPad Air 3 will stay with 2GB and they will increase it to 3 or 4 with the Air 4? 3GB of RAM might be the only thing that makes me jump ship from the Air 2.
Click to expand...

iPad Air 3 Specs: 1.8GHz - 2.0GHz A9X, 2GB DDR4 (vs 2GB DDR3 on the Air 2), Same screen......
 
I doubt they're going to make it nearly as good as the iPP considering it's a new product line that just came out. They want to get that install base settled in for the larger model. So I don't think that the iPA3 will have a 4k display or quad speakers, as nice as that would be.

I think it's a tossup on whether or not they put in the smart connector and Apple Pen support. It would make sense for a device this size, but it's just as likely they want to keep that an iPP exclusive feature. Force Touch should be making its way to the iPads now that the 6S and 6S+ have them. The Mini 4 probably didn't get it because Apple felt pressured to put out something better after the lacklustre Mini 3.

So in my opinion, we're probably going to see...

iPad Air 3: A9/A9X, 2-3 GB DDR4, Force Touch display, 7000-series aluminum.
 
KaliPaige said:
So in my opinion, we're probably going to see...

iPad Air 3: A9/A9X, 2-3 GB DDR4, Force Touch display, 7000-series aluminum.
Click to expand...

I feel this is the most accurate prediciation for the Air 3. The hardware of the Air 2 is not the bottleneck for the iPad lineup but in fact the software is.

3D Touch is unlikely given the complications associated with implementation on large screens. The additional flex in larger screens leads to many issues with 3D touch, I have my doubts Apple was able to rectify such issues.

Pencil support seems to be one of the defining features of the Pro line up, I don't see Apple investing the additional money into the iPad Air to incorporate the specific digitizer when the majority of Air users have no need for the pencil.
 
KaliPaige said:
I doubt they're going to make it nearly as good as the iPP considering it's a new product line that just came out. They want to get that install base settled in for the larger model. So I don't think that the iPA3 will have a 4k display or quad speakers, as nice as that would be.

I think it's a tossup on whether or not they put in the smart connector and Apple Pen support. It would make sense for a device this size, but it's just as likely they want to keep that an iPP exclusive feature. Force Touch should be making its way to the iPads now that the 6S and 6S+ have them. The Mini 4 probably didn't get it because Apple felt pressured to put out something better after the lacklustre Mini 3.

So in my opinion, we're probably going to see...

iPad Air 3: A9/A9X, 2-3 GB DDR4, Force Touch display, 7000-series aluminum.
Click to expand...

Early leaks from two case designs by some 3rd party accessory makers showed that the Air 3 will have the 4 speaker (though I highly doubt the same large chambers with carbon fibre caps like the Pro), it will have the smart connector and a flash for the back camera. This is all based on the cutouts those case leaks showed.

I doubt 3D Touch. No one knows if they can even implement the 3D Touch tech into the larger iPad screens yet. They use a much different panel design (iPads are laminated) than iPhones plus the size difference and lack of any kind of Taptic Engine to provide any sort of haptic feedback when peeking and popping.
 
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