iPad Air 3 Leaked Diagram Reinforces Mini iPad Pro Image

If you haven't had your fill of leaks about the iPad Air 3's various ports, here we are serving you one more. This diagram, complete with dimensions, might seem less "real" than an earlier case photo, but it does offer a bit more, like, well, dimensions. Aside from the every so slightly bigger iPad Air size, the diagram reinforces once again three of the most noted and rumored features of the tablet, namely, four speakers, a rear camera LED flash, and a smart connector.

Let's first go to what's new. According to the numbers laid out in the image, the iPad Air 3 will be 240 x 169.6 x 6.150 mm. In comparison, the iPad Air 2 is 240 x 169.5 x 6.1 mm. So the iPad Air 3 is a good 0.1 mm wider and 0.05 mm thicker, which is almost a ridiculous difference in size, until you consider the problems the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus had with the iPhone 6/6 Plus cases: they won't fit. At least, the non-flexible ones won't.

The diagram points out the other expected features of the iPad Air 3 mentioned above. The Smart Connector is again the most recent and most interesting one, as it hints at accessory support, particularly Smart Keyboard cases, both from Apple and third party partners. Whether it will work with existing accessories is, of course, still unknown, not that you'd want to use cases designed for gigantic iPad Pros.

In that light, these iPad Air 3 rumors seem to paint it as an iPad Pro mini tablet, especially with at least one rumor of Apple Pencil support. While technically possible, the question is whether that makes sense for Apple. Tablet sales continue to decline but Apple at least got a reprieve and beat everyone else thanks to the iPad Pro. Is it already time to "dilute" the appeal of the product?

Perhaps more importantly, how would consumers feel about a smaller iPad Pro? Especially those who have invested in a huge tablet only to find out just a few months later that a more portable version with perhaps exactly the same features, hardware and software, will be coming along.

VIA: Engadget