Apple ‘iPad Air 3’ Release Date: Coming in 2017; Low Cost iPad Pro 9.7 is the New ‘iPad Air 3’?

It's been two years since the iPad Air 2 released and Apple loyal fans are patiently waiting for its successor. "iPad Air 3" announcement was highly anticipated during the Apple Event but no clues are disclosed. However, rumors suggesting that the Apple has killed off the iPad Air series to give way to iPad Pro 9.7 variant.

Apple allegedly killed off iPad Air

Back in August, analyst Ming-Chi Kou predicted about the three new iPads to be launched by Apple in 2017. These three variants are 12.9-inch, 10.6-inch and the low-cost 9.7-inch which is believed to be the "iPad Air 3" that adopted Apple's proprietary chipset A9X processor according to PC Advisor. Apple has not mentioned anything about killing off the iPad Air in favor of iPad Pro. No leaks have ever pointed to the release date which according to speculations within next year's first quarter for the reason of having low sales of tablets in the market for the past years.

iPad Air 3 speculated specs

Nevertheless, Vine Report listed some of 'iPad Air 3' specs that are circulating the internet after Apple made a debut on iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and Apple Watch 2 last September 7.

It is believed that iPad Air 3 will be thinner in a 6.1 mm aluminum chassis, a 9.7 inches display screen with 2048 x 1538 pixels resolution and home button with integrated fingerprint scanner.

The three variants base model are expected to come in 64GB storage, followed by 128 GB and 256 GB as the largest. A9X chipset is utilized for the processor, added with support for Apple pencil and audio system with four-speaker.

Another wild speculation is the inclusion of AMOLED display which will eventually become the selling points for Apple iPad subsequent models.

"iPad Air 3" pricing is believe to start at $599 for the base model however, it is expected to lower down as the new iPad is considered to be a low cost one.