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New iPad Air moves Touch ID to power button, has USB-C says leaker

Apple's iPad Air 3

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A leaker has posted what are purported to be images of an as-yet unreleased iPad Air manual, which show a larger display, and Touch ID relegated to to the sleep/wake power button.

Backing up previous reports that the forthcoming "iPad Air 4" will have an 11-inch display and use USB-C, a new leak claims to have images from Apple's documentation. The four shots show pages from what appears to be a Spanish-language iPad Air Manual.

The illustrations in the manual suggest that the display will be close to edge-to-edge. They show with graphics how this iPad Air will not have a Home button and instead will need the same swiping gestures as a Face ID device.

However, the Spanish captions also directly refer to "Touch ID with the top button to unlock the iPad Air." Leaker DuanRui also confirms that in the Twitter thread that follows the post.

DuanRui does not have a particularly long or strong track record in leaking Apple information. However, a recent DuanRui posting claiming that Apple's "iPhone 12" could come with a braided Lightning cable appear to have been backed up by the better-known leaker @L0vetodream.

The existence of forthcoming iPads has most recently been confirmed by Apple's listing model numbers on the EEC database.



34 Comments

creast_of_courage 1 comment · 4 Years

How am I more excited for an iPad Air reveal now than the best iPhone, smh. 

chasm 3621 comments · 10 Years

Quick reminder: Ming-Chi Kuo predicted this back in January.

oseame 72 comments · 15 Years

I would be very happy if the iPhone got Touch ID back on the power button, as well as Face ID.

GeorgeBMac 11421 comments · 8 Years

That's great!   Apple keeps knocking down barriers to the iPad becoming a "real" computer:
-- they strengthened the OS and separated it from iOS
-- they added a file system and enabled multiple windows for effective multi-tasking.
-- they added a great external keyboard
-- they added cursor and mouse control

And now, they are going after what may be the last remaining barrier:   they're increasing screen size by converting bezels into screen real estate.

The future looks very bright for iPad!    It can do all that Steve's original vision saw for it -- and now, increasingly, it is also incorporating traditional laptop functionality.

joeblack 7 comments · 8 Years

oseame said:
I would be very happy if the iPhone got Touch ID back on the power button, as well as Face ID.

True, that feature would be especially useful for the times we're living in now (requiring face mask) and other scenarios you might have your face covered like in extreme weather conditions.