“One of the more disappointing aspects of Apple’s December quarter earnings report was the nearly 25% y/y decline in iPad unit shipments. Apple has clearly needed to do more than introduce the iPad Pro,” Mark Hibben writes for Seeking Alpha. “Apple’s next-gen iPad Air will be part this effort.”
“Only, it won’t be called iPad Air 3, if rumors are correct. Instead, it will be identified as an iPad Pro model, but with a 9.7-inch screen,” Hibben writes. “Whatever the device is to be called, it will be considerably beefed up from the iPad Air 2. Rumor has it that it will receive the A9x SOC from the iPad Pro, and feature support for a detachable keyboard and Apple Pencil as well.”
“The rumor indicates that Apple is moving out fairly aggressively to enhance the utility of iPad. There have been rumors for some time of a March event, and it’s now thought that the new iPad will make its debut then,” Hibben writes. “Why the lag time between the large-sized iPad Pro and this new mid-sized version? I really think it was just due to A9x availability. The A9x is thought to be fabricated exclusively by TSMC (NYSE:TSM). TSMC was still ramping their 16nm FinFET process as of the end of the year, and there just weren’t enough of the A9x processors to go around.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: That 9.7-inch iPad Pro is quickly going to become the best-selling iPad model with millions of units in users hands by WWDC 2016 and millions of Apple Pencils sold to accompany them at $99 a pop.
Oh man yeah. Success is written all over this iPad Pro move.
The ever fertile pipeline continues to deliver the hits.
Until here is software that rivals desktop software iPad sales will not explode. Make the iPad a true laptop replacement and sales will increase significantly.
Personally I don’t see that happening until Apple finally gives us OS X for the iPad.
Go over an buy a Microsoft Surface Pro and see how that’s going.
Not osx… But iOS-PRO…. AS an upgrade toios for a fee… iOSPRO will be more robust with a core file management system.
Ill pay in a blink of an eye to get that.
iOS already has a core file management system: it’s the same as the Mac. It’s only the UI and a layer of permissions management that are different.
Come on.. You cant be serious..
There is no core user manageable file sys….( maybe me leaving out ‘user manageable’ is what confused you )….and ui is everything… Being able to organize ones resourse as one likes is everything.. Being able to copy/move/delete/paste / name and rename files… The ability to lock or unlock files and folders..the ability look into a files information, transfering files around easly…they are all key …..none of them are available in ios at a core and consistant /coherent level.
.. There are 3rd party inconsistant file management systems.. But they each have different ui… And are not compatible with all apps across the board. Core is key .
Yes ios has this abstract file system hidden frim the user… But its quite useless to someone trying to do complex content creation with large number of resourse …where organizing files according to users workflow is critical to efficiency.
icloud drive comes close, bit is useless offline… And it also costs( cloud storage , data streaming..)
iOS does not have a core user manageable file system… It has this inconsistant abstraction it tries to replace an actual file sys with.
My suggestion is an iOS-PRO . … With all the bells and whistles… For an upgrade fee.
Great I’m sure, though just a shame they didn’t pull their finger out a good year earlier. When corporate decisions like holding back on iPad development so it doesn’t compete with their profit churning Mac laptops. They do need to not fall into the same trap Microsoft did by indifference to new trends (potential or real) and therefore in all honesty it should have been Apple who initiated the tablet/laptop combo rather than introducing it by stealth to try o escape comparison to others efforts. After all the idea was in their thinking and I suspect Labs, years ago judging by patent applications but the will to push it or even more ‘pro’ features generally on the iPad this past couple years takes us back to the Corporate lack of vision and Puritan vision at important moments this comment started with.
There is no such thing as “pro” features on an iOS platform. They are accessories to the true professional lineup, the Mac.
Sad that Apple is marketing its hobbled iOS as if it could ever replace the real thing.
Wow, amazing blinders. Apple takes the iPad Air 3, slaps a “pro” label on it, and suddenly it’s the the greatest thing ever.
Maybe I’ll take my bike, call it “bike pro” and pretend it’s a car.
It will just be called iPad. They’re dropping “Air” from both the iPad and MacBook.
Considering the rationale for how the MacBook Air got it’s name, applying “Air” to any iPad model is just descriptively redundant. All iPad models are “Air” models.
I know the MacBook’s weight was a factor, but it was really every other descriptive that was really emphasized when it was announced. Is the iPad Air really that much lighter than a regular iPad?
great article
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