A premature release on Apple's iTunes store has revealed the official names of the company's next iPads: The iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 3. The reveal comes as part of the company's iPad User Guide For iOS 8, which seems to have gone live a full day in advanced of Apple's iPad and Mac event.
The guide also reveals that both tablets will have Touch ID sensors in their Home buttons, along with Burst Mode for the iPad Air 2. The guide also confirms that Apple plans to launch iOS 8.1 in the very near future. We will be on the ground at Apple's Cupertino, California headquarters for the official reveal of the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, along with a possible introduction of new iMacs.
Meanwhile, check out the upcoming iPads and let me know what you think!
Source: Apple iTunes via 9to5Mac
Reader comments
iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 accidentally revealed by iBooks ahead of launch
Great, finally an iPad mini with touch ID! Hopefully with retina display and faster processor too.
Gonna most likely skip these iPads. I think my 6+ will serve me well for the next couple of years.
Any idea when Yosemite will finally go public?
WHAT!?!?! WHO LEAKED THESE IMAGES!! If I was an apple exec, this would definitely go on the person's performance review.
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I would bet that this was a controlled leak, to take today's attention away from Android 5.0, the Nexus 6 & particularly the Nexus 9.
As for me, I'm more excited about tomorrow's Mac announcements, than I am about any updates to the iPad.
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..what is this, kindergarten? Apple and Google don't need to do stuff like that..
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I have an iPad 3 so may be time to change. A lot depends on what is under the hood. If you already have an iPad mini retina, I do no see going for the three. Was hoping for an iPad pro. New iMacs, pricing is close enough to a Mac Pro, might as well save up, and get the pro. All depends on needs.
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I can imagine that Tim Cook speech from 2013: "People are complaining that iPad is losing steam, market share is shrinking, interest is waning and we have forgotten our tablet or how to innovate but I have a solution. After some thought I've decided that next year we shall do .....nothing (cue sinister music)". Jony Ive: "Brilliant plan boss, that will surprise them".
I will be happy if the mini and the air have exactly the same screen colours.
The mini retina had a slight yellow tint to it and I noticed it every time I looked at the screen. Edit photos on the iPad mini and they looked different when on any other device. Plus it didn't look nearly as vibrant as the air screen and apparently they were all like that and it wasn't just a faulty model.
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I don't have that problem on my retina mini.
No. Everybody has that screen, its gamut is lower than the Air's. But it's not a big thing if you don't compare them directly.
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"Accidentally"
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Wow... I see the usual negativity in the comments. Might as well get it a day early since it leaked right? Seriously, everything here says "I wanted," "I would've," etc indicating personal taste on everything. No company can taylor your tablet to your exact wants! LOL! Fact is, until tomorrow, nobody knows what's going to be on the inside and how iOS 8 may be different for these devices compared to the iPhone.
So, new hardware and iOS 8.1 and iPads still fit fewer icons per page than than the iPhone 6? Really?! The amount of spacing between icons was always a bit silly but even more so since the new iPhones.
Almost makes you wonder if anyone inside Apple (with any kind of say) uses an iPad...
I would love it if the new iPad case design was similar to the iPhone 6 / 6 Plus. Ever since I have gotten my 6 Plus, I appreciate the design of it even more. I'm way overdue on a replacement for my long standing soldier, the iPad 2 in 64 GB form.
I know current models are long overdue for an update and after being spoiled by the razor sharp clarity of the full HD display on my iPhone, reading text on my fossil of tablets (which Apple really gave it some lasting power) it's time to move on.
Small image, but I swear I see shiny chamfers. : (
Did you really want to buy another overpriced case this year?
That naming.... Why not just iPad and the generation..
Maybe those names are only for this document.
Meh. Guess I'll be holding off for an iPad another year. But with the 6+ I'm seeing less and less reason to even contemplate it.
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I don't see anything wrong with the mini now. Apples innovation is creating a product and improving it . Nothing is wrong with the mini.
Still waiting for Liquid Metal chassis Apple.
Or the in-palm phone implant from the new Total Recall.
Or the Eye-Phone from Futurama.
Not that it'll hurt sales, but it's just another screwup at Apple. Nonetheless, I hope to get a mini 3 soon!
I'm sure the mini 3 will be a great device. So many people here seem to think that the moment *any* criticism is raised that this equates to ... "hate it!"
It would be nice to have TouchID (IMO it should have been added *last* year). But if you've already got either the original mini or the retina mini, there is really no point to buying this third one.
I agree. I have the iPad mini retina and I have no desire to upgrade this year. I'll upgrade when the rMini can't upgrade to the latest iOS update.
This is so disappointing! iPad mini remains pretty much exactly the same for the THIRD year! Argh!
How innovative of Apple to buck the trend and insist on NOT changing their products each year. How revolutionary!
At least the missing rotation lock rumour seems to be false.
I don't have one, so the Touch ID is enough to make me jump.
It is a square tablet, they aren't going to dramatically adjust the form factor every year. At the end of the day every phone is still a phone, despite their improvements. I think you lack perspective.
Why change the design for the sake of change?
I think you are right about that, (which is why it's not anything like what I actually said).
Would be nice though if it matched the new iPhone 6 design, with smooth edges and a curved edge to the screen. Would that be nicer to hold? Are shiny chamfers just so 2012 now?
I like the look of those mock-ups with the iPhone 6-esque rounded edges too, but I worry that it might not be as easy to keep from falling out of your hand. I guess we'll never know since it seems they haven't gone that way and if they were going to do that, it would be this year.
I like the chamfers. It makes the iPad (and the old iPhone) look more like a high end watch than a mass market telephone or tablet. The iPhone 6 is, to my eyes, just another phone, devoid of anything to make it stand out or look like a premium product. If it had a Samsung logo on it, it wouldn't look out of place.
What do you expect? I have an iPad mini and it's literally the perfect size and weight. All I want is the Touch ID. They could make it thinner but then there would be idiots making videos that the bend if you sit on them.
How would you innovate and improve the exterior then?
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@mister_grey
What did you expect? Why do you expect Apple to make you crap your pants with every iteration of their devices? I don't see any other tablets that have made me mess myself.
Sarcasm aside, what did you want to see in this version?
Besides a spec bump, and TouchID I wasn't really expecting much. There's really nothing more they can do with this form factor, that I can imagine, except a holgraphic screen that gives me bjs.
Well, you're all being so rude, I'm just going to follow up on my own comment instead of answering each of you.
There are many possible design changes that could be made, each have their pros and cons and a good designer could sit here for hours listing them all. The fact that one particular person can't think of any improvements (as some of you said) is meaningless.
I'm not going to list them all either, but I will say what my ideal device would be which is a 7" device (as opposed to the current 8"), with at least half of the side bezels shaved off, and stylus support so I can (finally!) draw on the silly thing.
I thumb type on my mini exclusively and get about 40wpm and since *most* folks also types with their thumbs, asymmetrical bezels on the top and bottom would help enormously with the ergonomics, although that isn't likely.
Maybe none of the things I want will ever happen, but there are literally hundreds of possible ways to go with a device like this and I just find it unbelievable that Apple has thought of all these things and then dismissed them as unworthy. I think it more likely that they just aren't really thinking about it.
It's quite a rare thing for Apple to get the design absolutely right on the very first go and then never change it again. Almost always with their products the first model is a bit of an outlier and the second or third iteration is the one that sticks around for years and years. Even then they typically re-think the entire product every five years or so.
With the iPad mini especially, what they seem to be telling us is that it was *perfect* to start with, and there is no reason to even think about changing it. I just don't buy it.
To quote Ive himself, "I think it's lazy, and it's bad design."
Actually, from an economic perspective, what would be the benefit of redesigning a product that seems to hit a wall with regards to consumer sales? Tablet sales are in decline as larger smart phone sales seems to be increasing. This release is an exercise in maintaining control over this section of the market. Nothing more.
Innovation used as a slam is just silly. How much can one change a popular device? Do you want a little steering wheel with a toy horn? Screen size, a little thinner, faster processor, really what else? I know more ram :) Touch ID is something no one else has, unless you consider the Samsung swipe as a working product, I don't. Tablet and phone market has matured very quickly mostly marketing hype from now on.
Huh? Do you seriously believe there are no differences between the ipad 4 and the iPad Air? How you manage to miss the dramatic size and weight difference, the massively quicker GPU, and the 64-bit CPU?
What do you want Apple to do with future iPads? Maybe add some pointless samsung gimmicks? An IR blaster perhaps, or maybe a TV tuner. I'm sure they could find something pointless to ram in there just to stop people moaning.
Why is it all "pointless", because Apple doesn't have it? Let's see. How about an SD card slot. Ohh, I guess that is pointless. How about real multi tasking that allows 2 windows side by side. Ohh yeah, pointless again.
How do people manage to miss the massively quicker GPU and CPU??! Because most people don't do such massively GPU/CPU intensive tasks, and therefore don't notice the difference.
Hey just hold on till tomorrow and you will find out
Any news on the so-called iPad Pro?
Maybe 2015.
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