Apple iPhone 5se and iPad Air 3 to feature A9 and A9X processors

Apple is known to be unveiling the iPhone 5se and iPad Air 3 on March 15, and the devices are likely to hit store shelves soon after that on March 18. While we’ve also been hearing about the new iPhone 5se featuring the latest A9 processors, here’s another report confirming the same. A Bloomberg report states that the iPhone 5se will be powered by the A9 processor just like the iPhone 6s and the iPad Air 3 is adopting the A9X processor seen in the iPad Pro. A previous report by 9To5Mac had also revealed that the iPhone 5se will come with faster A9 and M9 chips, instead of the previously rumoured A8. The report also mentioned an always-on Siri feature for the upcoming smartphone. The Apple iPhone 5se is expected to pack in plenty of recently announced features, all except for a fingerprint reader and 3D Touch. What you can expect to get on this smaller iPhone 5s successor is a design similar to the iPhone 6 models, an 8MP camera on the back and 1.2MP front-facing camera. Talking about the camera, the sensors and the hardware will be able to deliver larger panoramas and autofocus for video recording as well. Also included in the iPhone 5se will be a barometer that will help the Health app check for changes in elevation. Other upgrades also include an NFC chip for Apple Pay and other communication options that would include Bluetooth 4.2, VoLTE, and 802.11ac Wi-Fi. Powering it all will be an Apple A8 chipset with the M8 co-processor that will also come from the currently available iPhone 6 models. Coming to the iPad Air 3, previous rumours have stated that Apple is in fact testing a version of the iPad Air 3 with a 9.7-inch panel which supports the Apple Pencil. This is new, since the iPad Pro is the only tablet in Apple’s line up to support the new Apple Pencil. Other features coming from the iPad Pro also includes, a revamped speaker set up with additional speaker grills. These should not better than those on the currently available iPad Pro, but clearly a better setup than the ones on the current Air models.