“Ever since rumors began to spread that Apple was planning a big product launch event in March, it seemed likely that an updated 9.7-inch iPad would be one of the new products being announced,” Adam Levine-Weinberg writes for The Motley Fool. “In the past couple of weeks, more details have emerged about Apple’s plans. It does appear that a new 9.7-inch iPad — presumably called the iPad Air 3 — will be unveiled next month. This event could catalyze a rapid return to sales growth for the iPad product line.”
“The new iPad is likely to bring Apple’s 9.7-inch tablet up to the standard the iPad Pro set last fall. In addition to the usual hardware updates like a faster processor, this could potentially entail making keyboard and stylus accessories compatible with the iPad Air 3,” Levine-Weinberg writes. “The iPad Air 3 is arguably the most important piece of Apple’s spring product launch plans. Getting iPad sales growing again would have a meaningful impact on Apple’s overall revenue growth.”
“There is a decent chance that the iPad Air 3 will catalyze a significant iPad replacement cycle,” Levine-Weinberg writes. “The first four iPad generations together continue to represent 40% of all iPad usage, implying a user base of up to 100 million people. Most of these devices are three to five years old, making them ripe for replacement, assuming that the iPad will follow a laptop-like replacement cycle.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’re ready for new iPad Air units (if they have enough RAM). Are you?
Frankly, mu iPadAir is still doing the job for me. Now, if it, too, worked with the Watch somehow, brought a new functionality that I need, yes, I could replace. But as long as my iPadAir works, why buy a new one? Nth at is what Apple needs to do, new, essential functionality with the he latest version.
The Air 3 will have:
Same amount of RAM
Slight speed bump
No 3D Touch
Maybe faster TouchID
Definitely no stylus support (what else would differentiate the giant, crippled iPad Pro)
Haven’t you all learned your lesson, as long as an incompetent is running Apple, don’t expect much!
In my case the iPad has been updated faster than I need for it to. I have a 4th gen and am considering upgrading to an iPad Air 2 when the 3 comes out.
Very happy with my iPad Pro (I love the size) but it would definitively be a good idea to bring the Apple Pencil to the iPad Air!
they better not muck this up. i really, really would like the stylus added to this model
My iPad (2nd gen) has seen reduced usage, with the iPhone 6+ taking some (screen big enough to read from) and the MacBook Air taking some (doesn’t take 30 seconds to wake up like the old one). However, if the new iPad Air does have most of the iPad Pro features, I’m going to upgrade.
If they have enough RAM and Apple stops price gouging for memory which dirt f-ing cheap.
My iPad 3 is primarily hampered by lack of RAM, often causing Safari to crash doing simple pinch ‘n zoom among other things. The problem has been RAM headroom and precious little of it in this older model. RAM is cheap, please be much more generous Apple with the iPad Air 3.
The current iPad Air 2 has 2GB of RAM which has been more than sufficient. Not that I’d complain if the Air 3 gets the same 4GB that the iPad Pro currently has though.
More RAM, more future proofing and longer useful life.
Bet the iPad Air 3 sells HUGE. I need a new one badly and I can’t be the only one. Have the first gen Retina one and a iPad Air2. The Air 2 still has life but the old one is annoying. it is the last device in the house that uses the 30 pin connector so, also 32 Gig on it is really getting aggravating when updating and reading. Buying the iPad Air3 as soon as its launched!
I already replaced my aging iPad 2 with new MacBook Air.
How nice it is to use a real computer that gets things done faster and more efficiently.
I think we will see major updating and sales for a new iPad Air 3 which will contradict and correct previous YOY declines.
I have an iPad Air. It works well enough for what I use it for, and I am unlikely to replace it for some years. But I don’t do a lot on my iPad – any real work is done on my Mac Pro or MacBook. That will probably never change – my work is text-intensive and using a finger as a pointer, or even a stylus, is just too clumsy. Besides I run accounting software, sales management software and trading software on my Mac (trading software in Win10 under parallels). Everything iPad is less capable than the Mac equivalent – even web browsing (ram limitations I guess).
I will need a lot of persuading that iPad will replace Mac. I think it is more likely to be the other way around and iOS will disappear and future tablets will run OS/X.
I am not a fan of Apple’s “simplification” approach. I like to see files; I like to put them where I want them; I want full functionality instead of cut-down versions (I abandoned pages and numbers for Office365); I want things to sync properly (iBooks won’t sync between my macs so I have switched to Kindle for all my PDF manuals etc). The more Apple makes things “easier” the more I replace Apple apps with 3rd party apps. Same with Final Cut Pro X – I switched to DaVinci Resolve.
This has not been a determined effort – I have resisted 3rd party replacements for Apple apps for many years. However, the next big change will probably be abandoning Apple Mail and moving away from an Apple-domained email address.
iPad is what it is. If it suits you then it’s brilliant – I have friends who ONLY use an iPad now. But some of us need a Mac and will probably always need a Mac.
My 3rd generation 64GB with wifi is working just fine for me. Sure it’s annoying that I’m still dealing with a 30 pin connector instead of lightning, but it’s not broken yet.
However, if the iPad Air 3 supports 3D touch and the pencil, I might just have to upgrade.