After the successful launch of the iPhone 6 and the jumbo-sized iPhone 6 Plus Apple could potentially be planning to bring additional product updates to the market during the month of October.
That’s according to the Taiwanese Commercial Times website. Many analysts expected Apple’s September 9th media event to have some hint of the possible future of the iPad, which of course didn’t happen as Tim Cook clearly didn’t want to detract from the importance of the iPhone 6, Apple Pay and the highly-anticipated Apple Watch. If the reports coming out of Taiwan materialize into fact then production of the second-generation iPad Air could start this month.
As part of the move from the current iPad Air to its successor Apple is expect to furnish the hardware with the recently announced A8 chip that provides the raw processing power to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. In addition to that internet upgrade, any announced iPad Air 2 model would also feature a dramatically improved camera module along with the introduction of Apple’s biometric Touch ID sensor for user authentication. Of course, the introduction of Touch ID to the iPad would also allow developers to create a new wave of powerful apps for the tablet now that the Touch ID APIs are available to third-party developers.
The same report from Taiwan is also speculating that Apple will go through the process of upgrading the iPad mini, but delay the launch of the that product until early 2015, possibly alongside the Apple Watch. Like it’s bigger brother, any new iPad mini will feature a processor upgrade and will potentially fall in line with the iPhone and be offered to consumers as Space Gray, Silver or Gold color options.
To finish off the report, the Commercial Times is breathing life into a number of dated rumors by suggesting that 2015 could see the introduction of a larger, 12.9-inch iPad Pro model. It’s currently unknown what the differentiating features of such a device would be, other than its screen size, but this isn’t the first time that we’ve heard this rumor.
If the Cupertino company is planning on revamping and refreshing the iPad lineup in time for the festive market then it can’t be long until we can expect an official invitation for the media event to surface.
What’s your thoughts on the subject? Would you be interested in a 12.9-inch Apple tablet?
(Source: CommercialTimes [Google Translate])
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