Mar 08, 2017 08:35 AM EST By Donna Mills, UniversityHerald Reporter

The successor to the iPad Air 2 will reportedly be announced soon. Users are going to be glad when it launches because of its budget-friendly price.

A recent report from Apple World Today claimed that the tech giant will release three new iPads in a special media event on Tuesday, April 4. Added the news outlet, the reveal will take place at the 1,000-seater Steve Jobs Theater at the company's new spaceship campus due to open early next month.

The three tablets consist of a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro, a smaller 10.5-inch iPad Pro and a 9.7-inch variant said to be the iPad Air 3. Another 7.9-inch iPad will be launched, too.

KGI Securities Ming-Chi Kuo predicted in August 2016 that the low-cost iPad Air 3 will be powered by the A9 processor, which also powers the iPhone 6S and the latest 12.9-inch and 9.7-inch iPad Pro models. Both the 12.9-inch and 10.5-inch iPad Pro models will run using the new A10X processor.

The iPad Air 2 (announced in October 2014) starts selling at $399. It remains to be seen if the iPad Air 3's standard price will be cheaper or more expensive than its predecessor.

The iPad Air 2 delighted customers with its thin, slimmer and light build. The tablet is 6.1mm thick -- a notable improvement from the original iPad Air's 7.5mm. There are expectations that the iPad Air 3 is going to be slimmer, with Apple likely using tougher aluminum, PC Advisor reported.

Like its sister products, the tablet will likely have Gold, Silver, Space Gray and Rose Gold models. The device is also expected to have a 2048 x 1536 screen resolution (264ppi pixel density). There's a chance that Apple won't use the new iPad Pro's True Tone screen feature so as to keep the iPad Air 3 at a budget-friendly cost.

Apple's True Tone display works like the white-balance-compensating system of the iPhone camera flash. With True Tone, it's easier to read texts even in direct sunlight.

Apple's Macs and iOS products remain as the top favorites of both IT professionals and K-12 schools. According to a recent survey, 62 percent of users found Mac to be easier to deploy than PC, while 93 percent feel that iPhones are easier to operate than other smartphones out there.

In the education front, 70 percent of K-12 schools use Mac and 90 percent use iPads as teaching tools. The percentages are bigger in higher education; 80 percent use Mac and 94 percent use iPads. Educators prefer Mac and iPad devices because the devices have stronger security and require less maintenance.

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