A much anticipated addition to its 9.7inch tablet lineup was announced by Apple but the new device isn’t called Apple iPad Air 3. The company is instead, classifying the tablet as the first in Apple flagship size group since 2014’s Apple iPad Air 2 as the new iPad Pro.
The device is simply a little smaller than 12.9-inch iPad Pro which was released last fall. The device comes with all the same kind of perks. It includes the Pencil and Smart Keyboard compatibility, boost to RAM and processor speed along with a four speaker audio system.
However, people are wondering whether this new device is an alternative to a more traditional 2-in-1 Microsoft Surface. Moreover, how does it stack up to cheaper iPad Air 2 or the higher end iPad Pro?
In the meantime, there is a great amount of ambiguity over what each of the iPads are capable of, what are its pros and what are its cons. This is exactly the place where figures do come in handy. There comes a time when you need to check out the specs in order to determine whether the tablet you are interested in is capable of being more than a simple consumption machine.
In other news, Apple is expected to reveal its third generation iPad Air tablet in the third month of 2016. This means that we will get to see the iPad Air 3 and the iPhone 5SE declared at a media event next month. In Apple’s iPad Range, iPad Air is the only tablet model which didn’t get refreshed during the past fall.
When the large format iPad Pro tablet was announced, Apple decided to update its iPad Mini slate. Therefore, you can expect to see some more interesting hardware updates. People who are fond of the iPad Pro features but don’t wish to handle a 12.9inch tablet, it is good news that iPad Pro will probably draw inspiration from the Pro.
However, it will retain its smaller 9.7inch size factor. Various rumors regarding the iPad Air 3 have already been released and they sound pretty satisfying to say the least. According to a leaked image obtained from Engadget, the iPad Air 3 is essentially be a shrunken iPad Pro. The iPad Air 3 will come with a quad-speaker array and this will provide stereo output in both portrait as well as landscape orientation.
At the same time, you will have to deal with a marginal increase to the dimensions of iPad Air 2, going to the third generation model. The iPad Air 3 will be 0.05 mm thicker and 0.1mm wider compared to the model it replaces.
Meanwhile, the slightly larger dimensions also mean that there will be some accessories like hard-fitted cases which might not properly accommodate the iPad Air 3. You will probably need to buy new accessories in order to accommodate the quad-speakers, new connectors as well as features of Apple’s latest and greatest tablet.
The iPad Air 3 will come with a smart connector which will most likely accommodate its own Smart Keyboard case and the touchscreen will further support Apple Pencil. Tablet sales have been shrinking for quite some time; therefore the Smart Keyboard does make sense at the moment.
With new features like that, the iPad Air 3 could be compared to the likes of Microsoft’s entry-level Windows 10-powered 10.8-inch Surface 3 tablet. The Apple Pencil will introduce support for inking, drawing, handwriting along with note-taking to a more travel-friendly form factor. Apple introduces the most wanted features from its iPad Pro line to the Air.