Alleged 'iPad Air 3' case suggests Smart Connector coming to Apple's 9.7-inch tablet

Many of the features introduced in last year's iPad Pro, including the new Smart Connector magnetic port and four-speaker array, may be coming toon to the third-generation iPad Air, if third-party cases being manufactured in China are accurate.

Cases allegedly designed for a new 9.7-inch iPad were spotlighted on Sunday by Macotakara. They show a design largely in line with the iPad Pro, including a space for the Smart Connector, suggesting support for connected keyboard and other accessories could be expanded.

Aside from the Smart Connector space and holes for four speakers, the design looks largely unchanged from the iPad Air 2, which itself is very similar to the iPad Pro. That includes a headphone jack and lock button up top, volume buttons on the right side, and a camera on the back.

The hole cut out for the camera does extend downward, which some have taken to mean the new "iPad Air 3" could feature a rear camera flash. That's in line with design illustrations supposedly for a next-generation iPad Air that leaked online earlier this month.

The iPad Pro does not have a rear camera flash, so if the iPad Air lineup were to gain one, it would represent at least one specification where the smaller model offers more features.

Apple is widely expected to introduce an "iPad Air 3" in the first half of 2016, likely at a forthcoming March event where the company is also rumored to showcase a new 4-inch iPhone and more Apple Watch styles and bands. The company is also expected to introduce new MacBooks in the first half of the year, sporting Intel's latest-generation "Skylake" processors.

28 Comments

Niels Jørgen Kruse 2 comments · 8 Years

About 8 years ago

Why would a smaller iPad Pro be called the iPad Air 3? There is a $200 gap between the Air 2 and the Pro for a new product to slot into.

Mr_Grey 118 comments · 8 Years

This makes a lot of sense and not just for keyboards. Imagine charging stands and monitor support.

The iPad would be a more attractive value proposition if one could walk up to a desktop, click it into a keyboard/cradle that has OS X built in, and use it as the monitor. iOS while mobile, OS X when seated in the connector.

I wonder if they will do it for the iPad mini. The keyboard cases for iPad are bad enough, the ones for the mini are almost unusable. I suppose so though. If there is one thing Apple really likes to do it's make everything the same regardless of whether it makes any sense.

tmay 6455 comments · 11 Years

Mr_Grey said:

This makes a lot of sense and not just for keyboards. Imagine charging stands and monitor support.

The iPad would be a more attractive value proposition if one could walk up to a desktop, click it into a keyboard/cradle that has OS X built in, and use it as the monitor. iOS while mobile, OS X when seated in the connector.

I wonder if they will do it for the iPad mini. The keyboard cases for iPad are bad enough, the ones for the mini are almost unusable. I suppose so though. If there is one thing Apple really likes to do it's make everything the same regardless of whether it makes any sense.

It does make a lot of sense, iOS when mobile, and iDevices as input/output to Mac's when seated (but not running OS X).

I would expect Apple is trying out various compositions of Macs and iDevices to see what works and what doesn't, and then adding the successful configurations to its roadmap.

For me the key event for Mac's is the adoption of TB 3/USB C, as it will be another milestone for bandwidth that will drive solutions for creatives for five years and beyond. iDevices in the Apple ecosystem would benefit greatly from configurations that facilitate higher, low latency bandwidth, as both input and output for Mac OS. I would expect all future iPad's and iPhone's to support 5 Mb/s with some jump in the future to 10 Mb as resolution makes another leap.

Of course, Apple need to make it a seamless experience to move data around, and that isn't the case today, but it likely will be.

tmay said:

... For me the key event for Mac's is the adoption of TB 3/USB C, ...

I would like to see Apple instead "gift" the lightning connector to the USB group as a replacement. In essence I agree with what you're saying, I just think that lightning could carry all the same data and it's just a better plug. To me, USB-C is only really a better plug compared to it's clunky USB predecessors.