Apple is expected to announce new generations of the iPad devices – the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3. Alongside the new iPad lineups, the Cupertino giant is said to announce a new lineup of iMacs with higher resolution displays, more details on the OS X Yosemite and a host of other softwares. The new devices are expected to be made official on the 16th of October at an event in an auditorium at Apple’s headquarters.
Sources familiar with the designing and making of the iPad Air 2 has revealed the specs details. The iPad Air 2 is said to be 0.5mm thinner than the current iPad Air due to a ‘Fully Laminated Display’ (this is achieved by manufacturing the cover glass and the Retina LCD as a single unit) similar to what Apple did with the new iPhone models. The list of companies producing the displays includes TPK, GIS, Sharp, Samsung and LG.
As earlier mentioned the iPad Air 2 (7.0mm) would be 0.5mm thinner than the iPad Air (7.5mm). Sources say, Apple is ready to market the iPad Air 2 as the thinnest tablets on the market.
To actually embrace a more thinner profile the Vibration/Mute buttons on the iPad Air 2 had to be sacrificed; the speakers have been narrowed down; the volume controls has also been recessed; the microphones have also been relocated from the top of the iPad Air 2 to the left-hand and right-hand side of the device.
Moving to the camera department, the front facing camera has been upgraded to Facetime HD (with support for 720p video calling) and the rear 5MP camera has been upped to 8MP camera making way for a better picture quality. The iPad Air 2 is said to be powered by the A8 chipset (manufactured by TMSC), a step up from the previous A7 chipset. The 1GB RAM on the device has also been upgraded to 2GB; this makes the device run efficiently (better battery life).
Apple is set to ditch the 16GB options for the iPad Air 2, making available just the 32GB, 64GB and 128GB storage options only. The 16GB option might still be available for the iPad Mini 3. The iPad Air 2 will come with TouchID fingerprint scanner on the home button and NFC connectivity has also been added on the device to usher in the Apple Pay era.
Finally, the iPad Air 2 would be available in current Black, Silver colour options and Apple is adding a Gold coloured Edition of the device too. Also expected at the event, the iPad Mini 3 would come with the A8 chipset, TouchID, NFC and Apple Pay.
