Then there are things we'd like to see, but are less likely, such as 32GB becoming the smallest size. For now we don't have much to go on, but with an October announcement likely we expect to hear more rumors over the coming months.
News and rumors
There are some things about the iPad Air 3 which we can be fairly confident about. For one thing it's bound to run iOS 9, as that should be available by the time it launches.
It's also sure to get a newer, faster processor. The iPad Air 2 has an A8X chip, so we'd expect either an A9 or A9X processor for the iPad Air 3.
The A9 is first likely to land in the iPhone 7 and it's rumored to be 15% smaller, 20% more powerful and 35% more power efficient than the A8, so that's the minimum we're likely to see, but if the iPad Air 3 uses an A9X processor it should be better still.
However we wouldn't expect any more RAM, as Apple only just upgraded to 2GB with the iPad Air 2.
The design probably won't be much different, so expect a slim aluminium shell. If anything it might get even slimmer and lighter, as that's the direction Apple has been going with its Air range, but with the iPad Air 2 already just 6.1mm thick and 437g we're not at all convinced that a further reduction would be beneficial.
Expect Touch ID to make a return and for the screen to be 9.7 inches again, though a boost in resolution is always possible and if you're craving a larger screen Apple is also thought to be working on an iPad Pro.