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iPad Air 2 Release Could See Limited Supply

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Tomorrow is when Apple will announce a handful 0f new products, most likely the iPad Air 2 and Retina iMacs. However, you might be hard-pressed to find an iPad Air 2 in stock once the device officially launches.

According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, constrained supplies for the iPad Air 2 are likely, which could mean a replay of the iPhone 5s launch could very well be underway.

Apple sold 12 million iPad Air units during launch weekend last year, but Kuo says that the company will only have around 7-9 million iPad Air 2 tablets to sell, meaning that there will most likely be some potential buyers that will have to wait it out.

This isn’t entirely surprising, as Apple has had numerous launches in the past where they sold out within days. However, whether that’s due to supply constraints or just growing interest in the product is anyone’s guess. It’s no doubt that the iPad is a very popular product, and if the rumors are true, there could be a lot of buyers on launch day that will leave without an iPad Air 2 in their hands.

Right now it’s rumored that while Apple will announce and unveil the iPad Air 2 tomorrow, the company won’t actually launch the new tablet until next week on October 24. We’re slightly disappointed at this possibility since it’s yet another week that we’ll have to wait, but it’s consistent with Apple’s previous launch timelines for the iPad and iPhone, releasing them on Fridays at the start of the weekend.

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There’s no word on the possibility of pre-orders, but we wouldn’t be surprised either way. The iPhone 6 saw pre-orders this year, but Apple skipped pre-orders with the iPad mini with Retina display last year, so it’s a toss-up at this point. However, with the possibility of there being low stock, we wouldn’t be surprised at all for Apple to skip pre-orders with the new tablet.

While we’re only a couple of days away from Apple’s press event, the rumor hill has kept busy. We’ve already seen several leaked photos claiming to be images of the iPad Air 2, giving us a good idea on what to expect on Thursday. However, not a whole lot is known about the iPad Air 2 or the iPad mini 3 overall.

The new iPad will supposedly only be 7mm thick, making it just as thin as the iPhone 6, which is quite incredible for a tablet.

The iPad Air 2 isn’t expected to get a huge redesign, as the iPad Air was the model to see a major refresh. Apple typically doesn’t overhaul its products’ designs until a couple of generations have passed, so we can expect the iPad Air 2 to keep the same overall look as the iPad Air, except for some small, but impactful changes.

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The new iPad could come with recessed volume and power buttons, as well as a redesigned speaker grille. The volume buttons look to keep the same design as the iPad Air, but are simply recessed slightly into the body of the tablet. As for the speaker grille, the leaked photos that we’ve seen show the iPad sporting a single horizontal line of larger holes, which is a drastic difference than the smaller holes that were arranged in two rows on the iPad Air.

Furthermore, it’s already been rumored a couple times this year that the iPad would get Touch ID fingerprint sensor capabilities. We even saw hints of Touch ID capabilities in the code of iOS 7.1 back in April, and a few days later we heard that one of Apple’s part suppliers were cranking out Touch ID fingerprint sensors in large quantities.

If you’re interested in what Apple could announce tomorrow, you can watch the live stream by simply navigating to Apple’s livestream webpage at 1pm ET to watch the event live as it happens. Besides new iPads, Apple could also launch iOS 8.1, as well as release new iMacs and OS X Yosemite.

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