This could be an indication that its successor may be forthcoming but Apple has offered major discounts on refurbished iPad Air 2 units on its stocks by as much as $140, reports the Apple Insider.
However, it could be that the American tech giant is simply matching the promotions now being offered also by its rival Samsung on the Galaxy Tab S tablet. The Korean tech company is said to be giving discounts on its current tablet since it is reportedly launching next month its Galaxy Tab S2.
For its part, Apple is still far from launching its rumored iPad Pro which has been speculated to be rolled out by the American tech company in October this year, to give the iPad Air 2 exactly a one-year cycle in the market before its successor is released.
Apart from the rumored 12.9-inch screen, the iPad Pro may feature Force Touch, a stylus, some form of NFC support and/or a USB-C port.
Great deals
The discounts on the Apple iPad Air 2 begins with $80 off on the 16GB Wi-Fi version, and $110 on the equivalent cellular model. The discounts shall effectively bring the prices down of the Apple iPad Air 2 16GB to $419 for the Wi-Fi version and $519 for the cellular model.
Discounts of $90 and $120 shall be set for the Apple iPad Air 2 64GB, while special price off of $110 and $140 shall be provided to the 128GB models.
This means that the top-end cellular model of the Apple iPad Air 2 can now be obtained for a price of $689 which is well under its usual $829 price tag.
While consumers can obviously get cheaper options by buying used Apple iPad Air 2 on eBay or Craigslist, Apple assures that each refurbished iPad Air 2 that it is offering at discounted prices is tested and comes with a new battery and outer shell. The company is also providing one-year warranty to those who shall purchase its current generation tablet.
Thinner and faster
When the iPad Air 2 was launched by Apple on October 16, 2014, it came alongside the iPad mini 3. Both tablets were released to the markets six days later.
Upon its release, the iPad Air 2 is thinner and faster than its predecessor, the iPad Air, although its design, height, and screen size are the same as those of the latter. It inherited the hardware that is similar to those which are now found on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which were launched one month ahead.
The iPad Air 2 is being powered by the Apple A8X processor, which is the high-end three-core variant of the Apple A8. Its PowerVR GPU has eight cores. It has a 2GB of RAM, making it the first iOS device to have more than 1GB or RAM.