A new report is out this afternoon from Asian site TechNews.tw, claiming that it has received intel from Apple’s supply chain suggesting that the second generation iPad Air could feature 2GB of RAM—double that of the current model.
According to the site, which doesn’t have much of a track record when it comes to Apple rumors, the increase in RAM will be limited to the new iPad Air. The second-generation Retina iPad mini is expected to once again feature 1 GB of RAM…
Here’s an excerpt from a translation of the report (via iPhone in Canada):
However, sources pointed out that Apple will introduce in the fall will be the first generation of iPad Air 2 use up to 2GB of memory, will be the largest ever for all iOS devices, but also introduced the iPad mini 3 still will remain at 1GB, and not with the increase memory.
Apple first introduced 1GB of RAM into its iPad line with the third-gen model in 2012, and it has remained the same ever since. This has been a major source of criticism from users, who feel that the low spec hampers the tablet’s capabilities.
But with larger iPhones expected this fall, and a newly-inked IBM enterprise deal, many feel that Apple will start upping the functionality of iPads to be more productive. We’ve already seen evidence of this in iOS 8, with a new multitasking feature.
It seems like running two apps side-by-side would require more RAM than just one, so beefing up the iPad Air’s RAM this year would make sense. And since the multitasking feature is said to be limited to the Air, the mini wouldn’t need the upgrade.
In addition to its iPad report, TechNews shares some information regarding Apple’s so-called iWatch. The site says the device will offer 512MB of internal memory and 8GB of storage, but again, this is obviously impossible for us to confirm.
The iWatch could be unveiled as early as October, possibly alongside the two new iPads. Not much is known about the tablet updates yet, except that most folks expect both models to get the Touch ID treatment, as well as new [A8] processors.