Apple’s supposed to have a big launch event in mid-March, and with just a few weeks to go between now and then, the leaks and rumors have seriously been picking up in earnest. A lot of the recent chatter hasn’t concerned the four-inch iPhone 5se, nor the new Apple Watch hardware, but what Apple has in the works for its next tablet: the iPad Air 3. Last year passed us by without a new iPad Air model, but now all indications have been pointing to Apple finishing up work on a new edition, one that will mirror the jumbo-sized iPad Pro in more than a few ways. We’ve already seen one leaked schematic, and earlier today got to check out a case design that supported many of the changes we’ve been anticipating; now we follow that up with a new schematic leak, one that finally includes some hard measurements.

Compared to the iPad Air 2, we’re looking at a tablet that’s very nearly the same size, if ever so slightly (and we mean slightly) larger in a couple dimensions.

Whereas the iPad Air 2 officially measures 240 x 169.5 x 6.1 mm, the iPad Air 3 schematic you see below gives us figures of 240 x 169.6 x 6.15 mm.

It’s possible that change in thickness is a rounding issue – Apple doesn’t provide measurements that extend into the hundredths of millimeters – but if this info is accurate, it does mean that the new iPad Air would be just a smidge wider than its predecessor. A concession to fit in the chambers for those extra new speakers, perhaps? And would impact would this all have on things like weight and battery capacity? Unfortunately, we don’t have those answers just yet, thought at the rate these leaks have been surfacing, we wouldn’t be surprised for that info to arrive pretty darn soon.

Source: Engadget