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gadget123

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 17, 2011
2,425
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United Kingdom
Will history repeat it self by announcing an Air 3 when they announce the Pro early next year? Same way they released Ipad 4 with Ipad mini?
 
I don't think so... I think the Air 2 will be a solid update for about maybe about a year. The Pro ... who knows, that one might be like the iPad 3, much more likely than the Air 2 being like the iPad 3.
 
There were really 2 and a half reasons the iPad 3 got such a short window:

The retina display was ready but the A6X chip wasn't - thus the iPad 3 launched with only half of these updates to fight off the Android tabs (remember, the retina display coming to iPad was widely rumoured and Apple wouldn't have wanted anyone else to get there first)

It was a way to quickly establish the Lightning connector across all the iOS devices quickly

(half) Apple wanted to move the iPad launch window to closer to Christmas

To be honest I see an iPad Pro as a new device rather than an Air 2 replacement. The whole lack of innovation in the tablet market at the moment surely suggests that there will be no point 'replacing' the Air 2 in a few months as there will be nothing to replace it with.
 
I think you've got it backwards. The Air 2 is *overpowered* for the rest of its hardware. It will likely have a very long lifespan like the iPad 2.

iPad Air 2 is like a last revision before an overhaul, meaning it's the most refined and competent. The iPad 3 was underpowered. A complete contrast to this device.

In the Mac/PC world we refer to this as Rev. A vs Last Revision. iPad 3 = Rev A: exciting but prone to flaws.

If the potential iPad Pro receives the exact same chipset as it likely will, it will be comparitively underpowered as it uses the same resources to power additional pixels.

The more appropriate comparison is iPad Air 2 = iPad 2 in terms of shelf life. This year the iPad Air 2 is the main attraction, but next year it will probably be the Mini and Pro that get the most exciting features.
 
I think you've got it backwards. The Air 2 is *overpowered* for the rest of its hardware. It will likely have a very long lifespan like the iPad 2.

iPad Air 2 is like a last revision before an overhaul, meaning it's the most refined and competent. The iPad 3 was underpowered. A complete contrast to this device.

In the Mac/PC world we refer to this as Rev. A vs Last Revision. iPad 3 = Rev A: exciting but prone to flaws.

If the potential iPad Pro receives the exact same chipset as it likely will, it will be comparitively underpowered as it uses the same resources to power additional pixels.

The more appropriate comparison is iPad Air 2 = iPad 2 in terms of shelf life. This year the iPad Air 2 is the main attraction, but next year it will probably be the Mini and Pro that get the most exciting features.

I couldn't agree more. This definitely feels like the iPad 2. Next year will bring iPad Pro and possibly retina HD displays that will probably lag the device down as the iPad 3 did.

iPad Air 2 definitely sounds overpowered and refined. 2.5x GPU increase? YES! Thinner than ever? Oh yes! I can't wait to pre-order tonight in fact. :D
 
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I think you've got it backwards. The Air 2 is *overpowered* for the rest of its hardware. It will likely have a very long lifespan like the iPad 2.

iPad Air 2 is like a last revision before an overhaul, meaning it's the most refined and competent. The iPad 3 was underpowered. A complete contrast to this device.

In the Mac/PC world we refer to this as Rev. A vs Last Revision. iPad 3 = Rev A: exciting but prone to flaws.

If the potential iPad Pro receives the exact same chipset as it likely will, it will be comparitively underpowered as it uses the same resources to power additional pixels.

The more appropriate comparison is iPad Air 2 = iPad 2 in terms of shelf life. This year the iPad Air 2 is the main attraction, but next year it will probably be the Mini and Pro that get the most exciting features.

I don't see any major overhaul for Ipad Air 3. Same design plus retina HD maybe a curved edge display that's it?
 
I don't see any major overhaul for Ipad Air 3. Same design plus retina HD maybe a curved edge display that's it?

Well I think many around here would consider that an "overhaul". I merely meant it was a conservative update, not pushing any boundaries that stress the system. Opposite would have been said if it jumped to a sharper "HD" display or offered split-screen multitasking.
 
Well I think many around here would consider that an "overhaul". I merely meant it was a conservative update, not pushing any boundaries that stress the system. Opposite would have been said if it jumped to a sharper "HD" display or offered split-screen multitasking.

Conservative update? Under the Tim Cook era? Nooooooooooo.....:rolleyes:
 
I can't see an iPad getting thinner than this. I would say this is what the ipad will be like for a long time! Only thing I can see is the bezels getting a little smaller, battery life going to 15 hours, 2gb of ram and 4k display! The mini will probably get the same update as the air 2 next October.
 
I can't see an iPad getting thinner than this. I would say this is what the ipad will be like for a long time! Only thing I can see is the bezels getting a little smaller, battery life going to 15 hours, 2gb of ram and 4k display! The mini will probably get the same update as the air 2 next October.

I expect they will keep getting thinner and thinner
 
I can't see an iPad getting thinner than this. I would say this is what the ipad will be like for a long time! Only thing I can see is the bezels getting a little smaller, battery life going to 15 hours, 2gb of ram and 4k display! The mini will probably get the same update as the air 2 next October.

Sure they will get thinner and lighter over time. They may not happen every year or two, but they will always get thinner and lighter. There are plenty of folks that'd love to have the full power of iPad in the casing of the kindle ebook reader.
 
Yes, every new IPad will be the next ipad 3. Deal with it
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iPad 3 was short-lived due to its interim release only 7-8 months before iPad 4. Also, the hardware of the iPad 3 was outdated the day it was released.
 
If it has 2gb RAM it will be long lived. Next iPad will likely be same ram (2gb using this example), much higher res, requiring much more powerful GPU (powerful enough?) and require more ram for the same assets. Heck, my long sold 32 bit iPad 3 handled tabs and refreshes better than my rMini albeit much more slowly.

Besides, with the exception of the iPad 1, I think the short livedness of iPads is exaggerated greatly. The only mistake, deliberate or not, is Apple giving an older iPad an update too far, and the onus is on the savvy user to decide whether to ignore it or not.

If it has 1gb RAM....it'll be a great tablet with all the same irritations of some/all of its predecessors.
 
The iPad 2 was a big upgrade over the iPad 1, but went obsolete pretty quickly due to the low RAM. The iPad 3 is holding its own. If the iPad Air 2 has 2GB of RAM, I expect it to hold its own for a long time, unless Apple really pushes the limits of multitasking in iOS. It's just overpowered for everything else .. the iPad Air is plenty fast already.
 
Yes. I think that both the Air 2 and the Mini Touch ID will be extremely obsolete by the time the new refresh comes out. Unless Air 2 has 2GB RAM, if it does, then it should last for a while. Otherwise, I bet it'll become real laggy in due time.

Of course, any new model will make the old obsolete, but I mean that it'll be worse than the normal jump.
 
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