Australian consumer electronics retailers are set to get another major product boost with Apple tipped to have their new iPad in stores by the 24th of October.
The new iPad range which will be on Thursday US time is set to be a major revenue generator for retailers according to both Harvey Norman and JB Hi Fi executives.
Insiders claim Apple is already shipping “mass quantities” of a new product to Australia apparently with the aim to have the product on sale by October 24th.
The new iPads include a second-generation iPad Air, third-gen iPad mini, or both.
The big question is whether Apple will ship both new iPads on the same day, or on staggered dates.
Last year the first-gen Air debuted on November 1st, with the second-gen Mini only going on sale a few weeks later. That was due to low supplies of the Mini however, and there have been no rumours of low production volumes so far.
If the new iPads are indeed set launch on the 24th, reorders will likely open on the 16th or 17th, since Apple will need at least that much time to process and deliver them.
Observers expect the iPad Air to get a few significant upgrades, including the addition of Touch ID for unlocking the device with the press of your thumb, and (soon) using Apple Pay to buy stuff. The second-gen iPad Air also should get a bump up to the A8X processor (a variation on the iPhone 6’s A8), an improved camera and possibly more storage (16-, 64-, and 128 GB configurations).
The new iPad Air will also reportedly feature an anti-reflective coating on a higher-resolution display. This should make the tablet easier to use in bright sunlight. Apple also could give the device 2 GB of RAM instead of the old 1 GB standard so it can do full-on multitasking. You also can look for it in three colours: silver, space grey, and, of course, gold.
While the iPad Air probably will be the tablet headliner, the iPad mini may get small updates like an improved processor, Touch ID, and the same three glorious colours. A 12.9-inch iPad, thought to be called the iPad Pro, will probably not make an appearance at Thursday’s event as reported manufacturing constraints push its timeline back into 2015.
