Bloomberg’s latest cover story is a profile of Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, in charge of making the company’s processor chips. Even though the story mostly focuses on the (delayed) launch of the iPad Pro, MacRumors spotted some buried information about Apple’s forthcoming products.
According to Bloomberg’s sources, the iPhone 5se will sport an A9 processor, and the iPad Air 3 will be equipped with the A9X chip. Currently, the A9 processor can be found in the iPhone 6s, while the A9X processor debuted with the iPad Pro. Bloomberg refers to the rumored iPad Air 3 as an “updated iPad” and to the iPhone 5se as a “smaller-screen iPhone.”
“In March, Apple intends to announce an updated iPad and smaller-screen iPhone featuring the latest A9x and A9 chips, according to a person familiar with the plans, who wasn’t authorized to comment publicly,” Bloomberg reported.
Bloomberg’s story also corroborates earlier reports about Apple planning to introduce the iPhone 5se and iPad Air 3 during an event in March. Previous rumors all point to this event taking place on Tuesday, March 15.
Why this matters: When the iPhone 5se rumors first surfaced, there were conflicting reports about whether this “smaller-screen” device would sport an A8 or A9 chip. Now it looks like the iPhone 5se is going to have the latest in chip technology, which should come as a relief to anyone worried that Apple was going to make this new affordable iPhone a “second-class” device.
This new information about the iPad Air 3 having the A9X chip solidifies the connection between this new device and the mega-sized iPad Pro. Previous iPad Air 3 rumors speculated that Apple’s forthcoming tablet would also have a Pro-style, three-pronged Smart Connector for connecting a Smart Keyboard.
Author: Oscar Raymundo, Staff Writer
Oscar writes about iOS, mobile culture and digital music. He also hosts 'The iPhone Show' from Macworld's San Francisco HQ.