Apple iPad Air 3 / 9.7-inch iPad Pro: Specifications, features, release date, price and more

Apple will be holding a launch event to unveil a new iPad in the coming month. Fresh speculation indicates that instead of calling it iPad Air 3, it will be launched as 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

The MacBook Pro notebooks are available as 13-inch and 15-inch screen size models. Apple will also add a new screen model to the existing 12.9-inch iPad Pro. The iPad Pro will be also available as a 9.7-inch screen size model, 9 to 5 Mac reported

Here is a roundup on the purported specifications, features, launch event, release and pricing of the small-sized iPad Pro

Display and Chipset

The 9.7-inch iPad Pro will be coming with 9.7-inch display. Rumours suggest that it may arrive with the same resolution as iPad Air 2, which is 1536 x 2048 pixels. Other speculations indicate that may support a resolution of 2048 x 2732 pixels which is the same resolution that is present on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

The 9.7-inch iPad Pro will be borrowing several features from its larger sibling. The Apple A9X and 4 GB of RAM combination that powers the 12.9-inch iPad Pro will be also available on the smaller iPad Pro.

Camera, Speaker and Software

The 8 MP rear camera of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro will be equipped with LED flash. The front-facing snapper is expected to be of 5 MP. It will be also arriving with quad speakers that can be found the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. A Touch ID fingerprint sensor will be also present on the slate. It is rumoured to arrive with iOS 9.3 onboard.

Accessories and Color Variants

It will be also carrying support for the Apple Pencil. The larger iPad Pro has a Smart Connector that allows users to connect a Smart Keyboard, Engadget reported. The same Smart Connector is also expected to be available on the iPad Air 3. It is speculated to arrive in colours like Space Gray, Silver, Gold and Rose Gold.

Release Date and Price

The Apple iPad Air 3 launch event is said to take place on March 15 and it is expected to be available for purchase by March 18. Like the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro will come in Wi-Fi only 32GB and 128GB models. A 128GB model with support for Wi-Fi + cellular connectivity is also expected for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. The base model of the 9.7-inch IPad Pro is expected to be of $799 (AU$1107) and the highest configuration variant may be priced at $1079 (AU$1495).