Apple has not launched a new iteration to its iPad Air this year which was meant more as a strategy in order to give the floor and the market to its giant tablet, the iPad Pro.
The iPad Pro was launched by the American tech giant on September 9 along with its latest flagship iPhones of Apple – the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus – the iPad mini 4, and the Apple TV. But it was only in November that the iPad Pro made it to the retail markets.
What was evidently missing during the launching event was the iPad Air 3 as Apple has never been remiss in launching a new regular-sized tablet over the last five years.
Fans and critics were actually wondering whether Apple would still launch an iPad Air 3 or no longer at all. Latest reports had come out after the official rollout of the iPad Pro last month indicating that the Cupertino-based tech company will indeed push through with the launching of the iPad Air 3 next year.
According to reports, the iPad Air 3 will be launched in the first half of next year, which seems consistent with rumors that Apple will have a launching event in March next year where it plans to roll out several devices including the Apple Watch 2, the 2016 MacBook Air, the 2016 MacBook Pro, and the iPad Air 3.
Significant upgrade or not?
The biggest question now is whether Apple will have a significant upgrade on the iPad Air 3 compared to the iPad Air 2 when it finally comes out next year.
Prior to the September launching event of Apple this year, there were also reports that came out stating that the company has decided not to release the iPad Air 3 because it offered only minimal upgrades to the almost flawless iPad Air 2.
Apparently, Apple realized that any attempt to come out with the latest iteration of an existing product line should always offer significant changes or face the ire of techno-savvy consumers who know if they are being played for a fool by device manufacturers.
Samsung was the biggest casualty of such pitfall when it came out last year with the Galaxy S5 that offered a very little upgrade from the Galaxy S4. As a result, consumer backlash swept the Korean tech giant and resulted to the company recording three consecutive quarters of falling revenues last year.
The same situation also happened to Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC when it launched the HTC One M9 this year with very little changes from the HTC One M8. As a result, the HTC One M9 did not only came out as a disappointment sales-wise, it was widely criticized by users and critics for a number of its sub-par features.
Another case is that of the OnePlus Two. Following the release of the OnePlus One last year, it came out as the most exciting Android smartphone of 2014. Because of its high-end specifications and affordability, OnePlus One was referred to as the flagship killer of 2014.
The same hype was transposed to the OnePlus Two prior to its launching in July this year. But when OnePlus Two came out and offered very little improvements from OnePlus One, consumers knew right away what to do, a number of whom actually pulled out their online pre-orders on the device.
The real news
More than the upcoming release of the iPad Air 3 next year, the bigger news is what features it shall possess that will make it a significant upgrade from the iPad Air 2.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, whose track record with respect to upcoming Apple product details is generally excellent, came out on December 15 to discuss the specifications and features of the upcoming iPad Air 3, reports The Motley Fool.
The most interesting revelation that Kuo disclosed about the upcoming iPad Air 3 is that the next generation iPad Air will already do away with the 3D Touch technology that the company first debuted this year on the iPhone 6S, the iPhone 6S Plus, and the iPad Pro in September.
Without the 3D Touch technology, critics are now wondering whether the upcoming tablet would have enough features to catalyze a significant upgrade cycle on the Apple iPad Air line.