IPad Air 3 Rumors: Larger Screen, More Powerful Processor

Microsoft has made using Office apps on the iPad an elegant and seamless experience, and it’ll be even better on the larger iPad Pro. Windows 10 is an unambiguously excellent OS, and it can run both full applications and more compact mobile apps side by side. iOS 9 runs only apps, but some of them have gotten quite sophisticated. The Surface tablets have found particular success in the education sector.

Current Surface Pro users will be eager to see what Microsoft has planned with its 4th generation model, seeing as though Apple has a few struggles ahead. At the same time, how big can you go with a tablet?

Unveiling its “entirely free” and “absolutely familiar” pencil, the Swedish company’s sleek “advert” spectacularly sends up Apple’s version.

Anyway, all these are moot points for me because I prefer the clamshell form factor to the hybrid tablet with detachable keyboard. However, in the almost 14 months that have transpired since then, the Apple-IBM partnership remains largely noteworthy for its historic significance alone. Surface revenue was up some 117 percent, a figure that flies in the face of the doom and gloom that’s been predicted for tablets.

Meanwhile, as 2015 approaches its twilight phase, 30 months after Microsoft released the first Surface Pro, Apple has released a large tablet with an optional keyboard touting it as a personal computer replacement. But once you drill down to specific features, you’ll find a mixed bag of features and could this signal a reigniting of the tablet battle?

In the Microsoft Windows world I don’t have the same problem because it’s a much bigger market and there are a number of competing hardware makers who license the same operating system. However, as a device often discussed as especially suited for the workplace, this data doesn’t give reason for much optimism that the Cisco deal will help revive Apple’s iPad business either.

Camera wise, the iPad Air 3 is expected to boost its megapixel.

Even now, you can open Outlook for iOS on an iPad Air, tap a Word attachment and edit it in place, then return to the email and send a version with your edits back to the sender. In the five quarterly reports since Apple and IBM announced their partnerships, iPad sales have steadily contracted at an average rate of -19% year over year. It’s a head scratcher in one sense. But those looking for an alternative to Apple’s own solution could opt for a Logitech case instead. Is Apple’s magic enough to ignite a market?

The bigger question is: Can Apple make the tablet relevant? For comparison purposes, the iPad Air 2 was 9.7-inch. There were some barely suppressed laughs when Apple launched its $99 Apple Pencil alongside its new iPad Pro recently.