Now that the Internet has pretty much speculated the rumored 4-inch iPhone 5se to death, it seems that it’s time to turn attention to Apple’s upcoming iPad Air 3. A new report has surfaced, claiming that Apple’s iPad Air 3 will ship with a variety of specification improvements, including the potential integration of a 4K display and a significant improvement to the internal battery. As you would expect, the publication is citing the usual anonymous “supply chain sources” as providers of the information.
The upgrade to the iPad Air line is expected to be officially introduced during Apple’s dedicated March 2016 media event, alongside the 4-inch iPhone 5se and new Apple Watch accessories. The report is reinforcing the suggestion that the tablet will indeed be unveiled in March, and that the hardware will go into full production at the start of the second quarter.
There’s undoubtedly going to be improvements across the board with the iPad Air 3, but the interesting thing here is that if the hardware does ship with a 4K display panel as reported, then it would offer a higher resolution than Apple’s top-of-the-range iPad Pro. It seems highly unlikely that Apple would look to top the iPad Pro with an iPad Air.
The report even goes as far as to name the companies that will be involved in the production of the components that will ultimately make up the speculated 4K display. General Interface Solutions (GIS) will reportedly be charged with providing the LCD panels and along with a certain quota of touch panels, while Taiwan-based TPK Holdings will provide inventory backup to that support line by stocking Apple up with additional touch panels. There’s also a lingering suggestion that the iPad Air 3 could benefit from more than just a display revamp.
The third-generation iPad Air could ship with 4GB of RAM and a significantly improved battery performance, achieved by integrating a larger battery cell. The power performance of the current iPad Air 2 is certainly nothing to complain about, so it would seem a lot more likely that Apple would prefer to make the device slimmer and maintain the existing device performance rather than try and solve a problem that doesn’t exist for the majority of users, however an improved battery could be in the works to support the additional performance improvements.
Apple’s last earnings report noted that the company has seen a 25-percent year-on-year decrease in iPad sales. It’s time for Apple to utilize some of that $216 billion cash reserve to make something truly special for tablet fans.
(Source: DigiTimes)
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