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iPad What do you think the Air 3 will be like?...

Kal-037

Kal-037

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 7, 2015
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Depends on the day, but usually I live all over.
First, can I have a thread like this? (My apologies if not)

I am curious to know what people think Apple may do for the Air 3 iPad.
Will it have the iPhone 6 rounded design? A9 Processor, 8mp camera with True Tone Flash, or NFC built in for Apple Pay in stores? ;)


K.
 
Better camera, somehow manage to make it thinner, Force Touch? If Apple Pay NFC support is on I'm just think how impractical is whipping out a 9.7 inch tablet just to pay for something. Is that just me?
 
1. Absolutely.

2. I'm thinking an A9X, same camera, an even thinner profile due to the die shrink of the A9X to 14nm, and possibly the removal of a headphone jack in favor of using the lightining port with an adapter. More LTE bands, etc.
 
appleroid said:
Better camera, somehow manage to make it thinner, Force Touch? If Apple Pay NFC support is on I'm just think how impractical is whipping out a 9.7 inch tablet just to pay for something. Is that just me?
Click to expand...

all those things r not even practical
 
Kal-037 said:
First, can I have a thread like this? (My apologies if not)

I am curious to know what people think Apple may do for the Air 3 iPad.
Will it have the iPhone 6 rounded design? A9 Processor, 8mp camera with True Tone Flash, or NFC built in for Apple Pay in stores? ;)


K.
Click to expand...

Got my hands on the iPad Air 6. :D

ipad-concept-1.jpg
 
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what is need is a much better camera and support for styluses... thinner? oh god no, dont even say it! it is already too thin and sharp to let it to rest on your thumb while your other fingers are on the back. doesnt feel good to keep it on a one hand for a long..
 
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Hopefully a rounded glass design like the iPhone 6 and support for active styluses. Better battery life would be welcome too. There are days when the Air 2 doesn't last me through the day when every past iPad model would.
 
My #1 concern is better battery life.

Have a feeling a usb-c charger in the future to get us to upgrade our MacBooks.
 
Lloydbm41 said:
Got my hands on the iPad Air 6. :D
Click to expand...

Ooooo. I love that!

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Newtons Apple said:
I hope it is not any thinner. The battery is great but not as good as some of my older/thicker iPads.

I want to see the iPad 4!!!!!!!:)
Click to expand...

That was one of the biggest disappointments. Since my iPad 3 each iPad was slowing getting more battery life; up to 13 on the Air 1.

Then the Air 2 dropped to roughly 9 in many real world usages. I never had an issue with the thickness of my iPad 3, but I didn't like the weight. I'd be okay with an Air 1 design with a better screen, more efficient processor and 14 hours of battery life.
 
Kal-037 said:
First, can I have a thread like this? (My apologies if not)

I am curious to know what people think Apple may do for the Air 3 iPad.
Will it have the iPhone 6 rounded design? A9 Processor, 8mp camera with True Tone Flash, or NFC built in for Apple Pay in stores? ;)


K.
Click to expand...

The more iPad Air 3 threads the better!
I'm not sure what they can really do for the Air 3. Yes, it will very likely get the A9. I second true tone flash, but :apple: could have put flash on their first iPad with a camera (iPad 2 I think) yet they chose not to. But it could be good. This could be the iPad with Flash (True tone flash, flash players, flash storage).
As for NFC for :apple:Pay in stores, it's unlikely, but I would undergo 1000 facepalms in my head seeing someone whipping out a full sized iPad to pay for a chocolate bar.
I think the next step forward is better battery life. The iPad battery life is fair, but they've stuck with the same (alleged) 10 hours since the beginning. 18 hours and 2 months of standby this time?
 
I like the idea that future Watch bands will contain more battery. Maybe future Smart Cover will do the same. Then iPad can be thinner without compromise. But I do like the Air 2 naked without anything.

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Lloydbm41 said:
Got my hands on the iPad Air 6. :D

Image
Click to expand...

That would be cool. Add stereoscopic 3D and the ability for the whole screen to be opaque. Also, front lit screen for reading outside. And zero glare/reflection.
 
My fear is that this will be just another marginal upgrade. My hope is that Apple will give me a reason to upgrade. My wishlist:

1) USB 3.0. It takes way too long to transfer at USB 2.0 speeds. My Macbook Pro Retina has 2 USB 3.0 ports why are iPads still stuck on USB 2.0 speeds. The larger the storage space the worse the problem becomes. Especially if you do a major replacement of content on the tablet every week. It also limits my ability to use the iPad as a second display

2) H.265 HEVC. My 128gb iPad Air can hold more than enough video content for my longest flights but it's at the expense of the number of audio tracks. HEVC would allow me to be more efficient with the storage I have. And hardware decoding would have little to no impact on battery life

3) 256gb storage option. With HEVC and the additional storage, I would be able to store most of my music files in ALAC and have enough space for video content to last a week of travel.

4) Replacing the lightning connector with USB-C Rev 1 with the support for video out (DisplayPort, HDMI) with adapters.

5) 160kps has been the AAC standard for audio quality on MP4 video since my original iPad 1. Could you please increase this to 256kps and up the total bandwidth?

6) I would rather have better battery life than the device getting any thinner.

7) With the USB 3.1-C Rev 1 speed and connector it would have the bandwidth and response time needed to use the iPad as an extra screen for my MacBook while traveling. It would be great if Apple included this functionality, but I'd be happy to buy an application to get this functionality

I don't believe that anything on my wish list that would be difficult Apple to implement. There is no technology barrier to implement any of this and it would make the entire ecosystem more valuable.
 
As long as they get rid of the speaker vibration "issue" I will get one.

Other than that I think:

1. A9 or A9X processor
2. 1080p face time camera
3. Forcetouch glass.
 
Holy crap if they do any of the following things some of you guys mentioned:

1.) Make it thinner
2.) Remove headphone jack
3.) Swap lightning port for USB C

I will be buying an iPad Air 2.
 
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nbourbaki said:
My fear is that this will be just another marginal upgrade. My hope is that Apple will give me a reason to upgrade. My wishlist:

1) USB 3.0. It takes way too long to transfer at USB 2.0 speeds. My Macbook Pro Retina has 2 USB 3.0 ports why are iPads still stuck on USB 2.0 speeds. The larger the storage space the worse the problem becomes. Especially if you do a major replacement of content on the tablet every week. It also limits my ability to use the iPad as a second display

2) H.265 HEVC. My 128gb iPad Air can hold more than enough video content for my longest flights but it's at the expense of the number of audio tracks. HEVC would allow me to be more efficient with the storage I have. And hardware decoding would have little to no impact on battery life

3) 256gb storage option. With HEVC and the additional storage, I would be able to store most of my music files in ALAC and have enough space for video content to last a week of travel.

4) Replacing the lightning connector with USB-C Rev 1 with the support for video out (DisplayPort, HDMI) with adapters.

5) 160kps has been the AAC standard for audio quality on MP4 video since my original iPad 1. Could you please increase this to 256kps and up the total bandwidth?

6) I would rather have better battery life than the device getting any thinner.

7) With the USB 3.1-C Rev 1 speed and connector it would have the bandwidth and response time needed to use the iPad as an extra screen for my MacBook while traveling. It would be great if Apple included this functionality, but I'd be happy to buy an application to get this functionality

I don't believe that anything on my wish list that would be difficult Apple to implement. There is no technology barrier to implement any of this and it would make the entire ecosystem more valuable.
Click to expand...

I can predict you'll be highly disappointed. :) I hope you don't mind me playing devils advocate.

1) Wifi AC.

2) Not until iTunes utilizes it will Apple support it. Hell, the h264 hardware decoder in the Air 2 is subpar.

3) Thats something I don't see a reason why they wouldn't aside from whether they determine there is a demand.

4) Not until Apple is absolutely forced too. Again $$$ from licensing fees and accessory sales.

5) Be nice but I feel this would fall into a "but your average user" debate.

6) I think 99% of people feel that way. Now we just need to convince Apple. Apple is obsessed with thin and light and they use hardware optimization to maintain battery life. Sometimes it gets slightly better, sometimes it gets slightly worse. It seems they do everything possible to try to maintain the standard they already set which most of us feel is lackluster.

7) That would be awesome actually.

I feel a lot of your points are focusing on faster/better wired connections while Apple is pushing for more wireless solutions. I could see Apple going as far as no ports on the device if they could make a good wireless dock that supported fast charging and data transfer rates. This hypothetic dock would just charge when plugged into the wall and data/charge when plugged into a computer. We are already at the point where we don't need to use a cable for data if you are on wifi. I only plug in to do a local backup but also utilize iCloud backups.
 
nbourbaki said:
3) 256gb storage option. With HEVC and the additional storage, I would be able to store most of my music files in ALAC and have enough space for video content to last a week of travel.
Click to expand...

cynics said:
3) Thats something I don't see a reason why they wouldn't aside from whether they determine there is a demand.
Click to expand...
Would certainly like to see this option and hey, since there's already precedent, Apple can just put this as their $799 (WiFi)/$929 (WiFi+Cellular) model. There was a market for $799/929 128GB iPads. I'm guessing a 256GB model would likely appeal to the same crowd even if we are an edge case. That said, are there even 256GB eMMC/NAND modules yet?
 
-A9 chip. Apple will reserve the A9X for the iPad Pro and make it an absolute beast.
-Force Touch. This new tech seems the next big thing Apple will focus on.
-Still a Lightning port, but at USB 3 speeds.
-Dropping the 16GB base model in favor of a 32GB, adding a 256GB version so we have 32/64/128/256GB models.
 
soupcan said:
-A9 chip. Apple will reserve the A9X for the iPad Pro and make it an absolute beast.
-Force Touch. This new tech seems the next big thing Apple will focus on.
-Still a Lightning port, but at USB 3 speeds.
-Dropping the 16GB base model in favor of a 32GB, adding a 256GB version so we have 32/64/128/256GB models.
Click to expand...

Agree, apart from the 256GB option, which I think will be saved for the Pro. They might do an iPad 4 and introduce a 256GB model halfway through the cycle though. Also hoping for a better battery life, something like 14 hours and 60 days of standby.
I think when they announce it, it will be more focused on the Mini 4. They'll make a big deal about putting the great power of the Air 2 into a smaller iPad. Then they'll just do what they did with the Mini 2 with the Air 3 and just go through the new features.
 
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