Apple iPad Pro
Check out the interesting new ad from Samsung targeting Apple’s iPad Pro. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Following the unveiling of the Apple iPad Pro with a humongous 12.9-inch display last week, alongside the compact tablet iPad Mini 4 with 7.9-inch display, a report from Taiwan stated that the company will not release an Air variant of the flagship tablet. But now, a new report says that the iPad Air 2 successor is indeed under development.

According to MyDrivers, the Apple iPad Air 3 release date could be sometime in 2015 or in the worst case, early 2016.

Speaking of iPad Air 3 specifications, the same 9.7-inch display seen in the predecessor will reportedly be maintained, along with the improved 4K screen resolution of 2,334 x 3,112 pixels. This display combination translates to a pixel density of 401 ppi and an aspect ratio of 4:3. In comparison, the Air 2 comes with 1,536 x 2,048 pixels resolution.

Under the hood, the iPad Air 3 will come powered by Apple’s latest A9 or A9X chipset and will be backed by a RAM unit in the ambit of 2 GB and 4 GB. The unfortunate news, however, is the battery unit. Although, the exact capacity is unknown at this point, the phenomenal 7,340 mAh cell housed in the iPad Air 2 will apparently be reduced.

When it comes to camera specification, the iPad Air 3 will sport an 8-megapixel rear-facing sensor and a 2.1-megapixel front-facing snapper for selfies and video chats. The housed internal storage capacities are 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB.

The same report also said that the upcoming tablet will be 5 mm thick. This means, the slate will be slimmer than the recently launched Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 and Galaxy Tab S2 9.7, Phone Arena reported. Another stand-out iPad Air 3 feature is the IP rating for water and dust resistance. It is worth noting that, except for Apple Watch, none of the other Apple devices come with IP certification.