All-screen iPad Air to skip Face ID, Apple Watch could be redesigned in 2021
by Joshua SwingleThe Apple Watch and iPad Air will likely be refreshed tomorrow. Ming-Chi Kuo has detailed what customers should and shouldn’t expect from each product ahead of the Time Flies event.
The Apple Watch could be redesigned next year
The Apple Watch Series 6, as has been predicted several times before, will closely resemble the Apple Watch Series 4 and Series 5. The “major selling point” is the introduction of a blood oxygen sensor for more accurate health tracking.
Bloomberg earlier claimed this would be combined with a faster chipset, which could be called the Apple S6. Whether the difference performance bump will be noticeable or underwhelming remains to be seen.
Mass production of the next-generation Apple Watch is scheduled to start in mid-September, according to Ming-Chi Kuo. The analyst didn’t provide a release timeline, but history suggests it could happen as soon as next week.
The Apple Watch Series 5 As for the future, Ming-Chi Kuo believes a “significant form factor design change” could come to the Apple Watch as soon as the second half of next year. Of course, that likely isn’t set in stone yet.
The iPad Air will use side-mounted Touch ID
The iPad Air, on the other hand, will inherit an iPad Pro-like design language in its fourth generation. But Apple plans to reduce costs by skipping 120Hz ProMotion technology and Face ID.
The latter is being substituted by Touch ID embedded within the side-mounted power button. That’s never been done by Apple before and could end up being a preview of a future iPhone implementation.
Kuo says more iPad models will start adopting the side-mounted Touch ID design next year, which means the iPad Mini and entry-level iPad could benefit from it at some stage, and maybe even the iPad Pro, which may pair it with Face ID.
The 2018 iPad Pro The iPad Air 4 should enter mass production in mid-September like the Apple Watch Series 6. Again, the official release could take place as early as next week.
