When will the iPad Air 3 come out? And what new features should we expect from Apple's next 9.7-inch iPad?
Apple recently announced the latest addition to the iPad line-up, but it wasn't the new iPad Air 3 we were expecting. Instead, Apple has added a 9.7-inch iPad Pro to the mix, with improved specs, design tweaks and more. Does this mean Apple has finished with the iPad Air line, sticking to Pro branding for both 9.7- and 12.9-inch iPads in future? Or will it carry on releasing 9.7-inch iPads in both Pro and Air configurations, much as it does with the 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pro? It could go either way.
In this article we look at rumours about the the iPad Air 3's release date, and talk about possible new features and design changes to expect in Apple's mid-size iPad range. Bookmark this page and check back regularly for the latest information: as rumours circulate and news leaks out, we will update it with everything you need to know about the new iPad Air 3: design, features, size and specifications, the differences between the next-gen iPad Air 3 and the current iPad Air 2, the iPad Air 3's UK launch date and UK price, and much, much more.
If you're more interested in the current crop of iPads, read our 12.9-inch iPad Pro review, 9.7-inch iPad Pro review and iPad Air 2 review, and our iPad mini 4 review and iPad mini 2 review. And remember to check our iPad buyers' guide for 2016.
Sections in this article:
- iPad Air 3 launch date rumours
- iPad Air 3 design
- iPad Air 3 specs
- iPad Air 3 UK price rumours
- iPad Air 3 new features wishlist
iPad Air 3 release date rumours: When will the iPad Air 3 come out? (And will Apple kill off the Air range?)
We originally predicted an October 2015 launch for the iPad Air 3, based on past behaviour from Apple. The iPad Air 2 was unveiled to journalists on 16 October 2014; The iPad Air 1 was announced on 22 October 2013, and released at the start of November. This is Apple's standard iPad release schedule, and the announcement of iOS 9 at WWDC 2015 on 8 June, same as every year, suggested that things were proceeding as usual.
But 2015 was a surprising year for iPad announcements. At Apple's September press briefing, where we would traditionally expect to hear about iPhones, iPhones and more iPhones, the company risked overshadowing the first sighting of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus by unveiling the iPad Pro (and then slipping out the iPad mini 4, which is actually a far more valuable and appealing update than last year's iPad mini 3). But there was no sign of the next mid-size iPad Air. Apple instead refreshed its mid-size iPad range the following March, when it unveiled the iPad Pro 9.7in.
We think it's likely that Apple will launch new iPads of some kind in autumn 2016, quite possibly alongside the iPhone 7. But whether this will include new 9.7-inch models is harder to call: Apple may choose to split its tablet refreshes into two yearly events, just as we expect it to update the 4-inch iPhone in spring and the 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhones in autumn. September 2016 is the earliest we'd expect the iPad Air 3 to appear, but right now March 2017 seems likelier.
Some leftfield rumours suggest that Apple may have brought the Air line to an end, and will in future focus on the mini and Pro ranges. Now that the Pro brand encompasses 9.7-inch iPads, this previously crazy-sounding theory could just be right.
iPad Air 3 UK onsale date rumours
When will the iPad Air 3 go on sale in the UK? There's usually a delay of around 10 days between the announcement and the devices going on sale. If the Air 3 launches in mid-September 2016, for example, then expect it to hit UK shops in late September.
There are occasionally shortages when a major Apple product launches, so those who are desperate to get their hands on the Air 3 would be wise to place a pre-order if possible. (Pre-ordering using Apple's own Apple Store app rather than on the website often appears to give you a head start that could make all the difference.)
Read next: Best cheap iPad deals UK | iPad reviews | How to set up a new iPad | How to speed up a slow iPad
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The iPad Air 3 may arrive in autumn 2016, but by no means every iPad owner will make the upgrade. How often do you buy a new iPad?
iPad Air 3 release date rumours: Design
Let's look next at the iPad Air 3's physical design. What will the iPad Air 3 look like (and feel like)?
iPad Air 3 design rumours: Smart Connector for Smart Keyboard...
It's an obvious logical progression from the 12.9- and 9.7-inch iPad Pro models, but it seems likely that the iPad Air 3 will have a Smart Connector on the lefthand edge for attaching a Smart Keyboard Cover.
Most iPad accessories are dependent on their own battery power - even the Apple Pencil has to be recharged, albeit very quickly, when it runs out of charge - but the Smart Connector allows a connected keyboard cover to draw power from the iPad's battery. In the larger iPad Pro's case, that means a very long usage time, since it has a monster battery; hopefully the iPad Air 3 will be able to offer something impressive in that department too.
iPad Air 3 design rumours: ...and Apple Pencil compatibility
When Apple launched the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, it was the only tablet that was compatible with the Apple Pencil. That made sense at the time - it was a unique selling point for Apple's most expensive tablet. But plenty of iPad Air owners have told us they would dearly love to be able to use the Pencil, one of the best styluses on the market, with their device, and it would be reasonable to add compatibility to a wider range of devices over the coming year.
Apple started that process with the 9.7-inch Pro, and we expect Pencil capabilities to diffuse downwards through the range.
iPad Air 3 design rumours: Thinner than the iPad Air 2
Physically, it's rumoured that the next iPad Air will be… wait for it… thinner than its predecessor.
It's generally a sound prediction to make, given that the iPad Air 1 was thinner than the iPad 4 and the iPad Air 2 was thinner than the iPad Air 1. The iPad Air 2 is already really thin, mind you, and we do sometimes wonder how much thinner tablets need to get before the compromises start to outweigh the benefits. The Air 2 is sturdy and has stood up to more than a year's heavy and frequent use, but we still recall the nervousness with which we handled it in the early days: it's hard to see an even more slender iPad Air 3 inspiring a great deal of confidence in its ability to withstand bending, chucking on a sofa, holding by one edge etc.
(Note that the iPad Pro 9.7in, which improves on the iPad Air 2 in most other respects, is the same thickness.)
If batteries are getting smaller, couldn't they just keep it the same size and incorporate a higher-capacity battery unit, and give us a few more hours away from the charger?
Indeed, one rumour suggests that the Air 3's thinner chassis will actually mean it has a lower-capacity battery unit than the Air, which seems crazy to us. (Even though improvements in battery technology could mean that this lower-capacity unit actually lasts for a comparable length of time in practice, it seems barmy to consciously choose not to improve battery life when simply keeping the same capacity unit would achieve this.)
iPad Air 3 design rumours: 7000-series aluminium body
We mentioned above our general nervousness that a thinner iPad Air 3 would also be less robust. But one other change to its physical design could help with that.
The Tampa Bay Review thinks the iPad Air 3 is likely to be made of 7000-series aluminium, like the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. There's a certain logic to this: spending the extra cash on stronger materials to make the newest iPhones more bend-proof than their predecessors was a popular move after the (possibly overstated) traumas of Bendgate. But it does raise the question of why the iPad Pro (which is more valuable) and the iPad mini 4 (which is more portable, and therefore more likely to get crammed into a pocket) missed out on this upgrade.
If the Air 3 is thinner than either of those devices then we have an answer, but that only poses another: what is it about the Air lineup in particular that makes it more deserving of a super-thin body than those other Apple tablets?
iPad Air 3 design rumours: iPad Air 3 colour options
Like the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, we'd expect the iPad Air 3 to be available in four colours: silver, gold, Space Grey and Rose Gold.
Every year someone suggests that the next iPad will come in the bright primary colours of the iPhone 5c and every year that person is disappointed. We don't expect the iPad Air 3 to be particularly colourful (except for the two fairly muted gold finishes).
iPad Air 3 rumours: Specs
It's time to look deeper into the iPad Air 3. What do the latest rumours say about the iPad Air 3's specs?
iPad Air 3 specs rumours: Processor and speed
The iPad Air 2 got a new processor chip, the A8X - a souped-up version of the iPhone 6's A8. This has three billion transistors and offers (Apple says) 40 percent faster performance than the iPad Air 1's A7 chip in most apps and up to 2.5x graphics performance.
It would be a big shock if Apple didn't upgrade the processor again when it launches the iPad Air 3, and it doesn't take a genius to predict that the iPad Air 3's chip will be an A9 or an A9X, and very speedy indeed. The iPad Pro 9.7in has an A9X.
One other thought based on the iOS 9 announcements: new multitasking capabilities are likely to be extremely demanding on processor power so a powerful chip wouldn't be wasted in the iPad Air 3.
iPad Air 3 specs rumours: Rear-facing camera gains LED flash
The iPad Pro 9.7in is the first iPad in history to feature a flash. This is attached to the rear-facing camera, but the front-facing camera also gets the Retina Flash feature, whereby the entire screen is induced to light up as a sort of substitute flash. We feel that the iPad Air 3 is likely to get one or both of these upgrades too.
The genie is clearly out of the bottle when it comes to iPad photography: as annoying as you find it when someone holds up their iPad to video a concert, the iPad range are being used as cameras, and Apple knows this. Just look at the hyperbole and feature list here. And a flash is a big gap to have in a device's photographic armour.
iPad Air 3 specs rumours: No 3D Touch
Ming-Chi Kuo, one of the most famous Apple pundits out there, predicted that 3D Touch wouldn't make an appearance in the iPad Pro 9.7in, and this proved correct.
In a research paper, Kuo predicted that the Pro (although referred to under another name) would launch in the first half of 2016 but wouldn't get the marquee feature from the flagship iPhones.
In the past, Apple has frequently introduced a new feature on the iPhone line and then dispersed it through other products - Retina displays, Siri, Touch ID - and plenty of analysts have made the obvious logical leap of assuming that 3D Touch will migrate to iPad at some point. Ming-Chi Kuo was the most authoritative voice to doubt this. It would seem strange to allow this popular if niche feature to appear on the iPad Air 3 if it isn't on the iPad Pro, so we assume 3D on iPad will have to wait for a while longer.
iPad Air 3 specs rumours: Screen resolution
Back in 2014, we wondered if the iPad Air 2 might get a screen upgrade from the Air 1, possibly gaining the Retina HD designation given to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. But its display is largely the same, with the same resolution and size. (One screen modification Apple did talk about was an anti-reflective coating: a nice - if unglamorous - upgrade.) And this idea has been floated again this year.
Back in September 2015 the Chinese-language site MyDrivers (link to translation) made some grand claims about the iPad Air 3's specifications. Most eye-catching among these is the unexpected prediction that Apple will increase the resolution and therefore pixel density of the screen on its next mid-size iPad.
MyDrivers reckons the Air 3 will get a bump up to 401 pixels per inch (matching the iPhone 6s Plus), which translates on a 9.7-inch screen into a resolution of 3112x2334. (This compares to 2048x1536 at 264ppi on both the Air 1 and Air 2.) We confirmed this figure using the handy PixelDensityCalculator website.
Pixel density is a measure of how tightly pixels are packed on a screen, and increasing it so much would result in an appreciably sharper screen - even though Apple used to maintain that 264ppi was more than enough on devices of this form factor.
Moving up to 401ppi on the Air 3 would be a major step forward for Apple, which has previously applied its Retina marketing label to 9.7-inch tablets rated at 264ppi on the basis that they are held further away from the eye than smartphones or even mini tablets (the Retina-rated mini 2 and mini 4 both have a pixel density of 326ppi, matching the non-Plus iPhones).
There is a simple reason why we don't think this is likely to happen. As well as smashing past the pixel density of half of Apple's smartphones, including the just-released and Retina HD-rated iPhone 6s (326ppi), all of which would be held far closer to the face than the iPad Air 3, it would also show up the iPad Pro, which has a pixel density of 264ppi. And the iPad Pro is a very expensive top-end device that is clearly positioned as Apple's flagship tablet. It's hard to imagine anyone happily paying top dollar for a 264ppi Pro when there's a 401ppi Air 3 for, presumably, about £200 less.
Oh, and we dread to think what such a large bump in resolution would do to battery life. The iPhone 6 Plus got round that because its larger size allowed it to include a bigger battery, but we're hearing that the Air 3 will be thinner than the Air 2.
iPad Air 3 UK price rumours: How much will the Apple iPad Air 3 cost?
We expect it to cost pretty much what the iPad Air 2 cost when it launched. The iPad Air 2's UK price starts at £399 for the 16GB model in Wi-Fi only, moving up to £479 for 64GB Wi-Fi (as with the recent iPhones, Apple removed the popular 32GB storage option) and £559 for 128GB Wi-Fi.
The 3G/cellular models cost £100 more at each configuration: £499 for the 16GB model, moving up to £579 for 64GB and £659 for 128GB.
With the iPad Air 3 filling in these price points, the iPad Air 2 will drop in price, most likely by around £80. The iPad Air 1 could get yet another price cut and remain on sale - much as Apple currently sells three versions of the iPad mini - but it's more likely to be discontinued. Apple usually tries to keep its range simple, and the main reason we can see for it keeping the iPad mini 1 around is that the iPad mini 2 and 3 are so similar.
iPad Air 3 features wish list
So much for the rumours concerning the iPad Air 3's design changes, specs and new features. But what new features would we add to the device if we were in Jony Ive's shoes?
Here's our iPad Air 3 feature wish list. Some are brand-new wishes: perhaps ideas triggered by issues with Apple's latest line of iPads. Others are features we've been asking for since before the iPad Air 2 but weren't included in that device.
Let us know what features you want to see in the iPad Air 3 in the comments, or let us know on Twitter.
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