The iPad Air 3 might not see the light of day at all as it is reportedly one of the products that Apple has to forgo if it goes all "Pro" on its tablets.
Rumor has it that the iPad Air lineup has long ended with the iPad Air 2 from two years ago. The Cupertino-based tech titan could be looking to downgrade the tablet into a low-priced iPad offering.
Reputable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, whose predictions on Apple's future offerings have, so far, been accurate, claims that Apple will release a low-cost iPad with a 9.7-inch display, powered by an A9X processor.
He did not refer to it as the iPad Air 3, but it might as well be as it has the size of the iPad Air display, and the choice of processor would serve as an upgrade the A8X chipset keeping the lights on its predecessor.
Additionally, it would not make sense for Apple to release a separate iPad Air 3 if the expected characteristics of such device are already in the "low-cost" 9.7-inch iPad.
The iPad Air lineup has not been refreshed since 2014. The iPad Air 3 was expected to show up last year with the iPhone 6S. This obviously did not happen.
This year, however, there was no expectation at all about the tablet being unveiled during Apple's September and October events, where it unveiled new iPhones and MacBooks among others.
That being said, the iPad Air 3 might show up next year as an economic iPad option. As far as the specifications and features go, it is expected to be thinner but more durable.
If the iPad Air 3 and the low-cost iPad Kuo was referring to are one and the same, it should arrive spring next year along with the iPad Pro 2, which will come in a 12.9-inch version and a 10.5-inch model.
