Apple’s huge iPhone 6 and iWatch unveiling last month was probably the most hyped event Apple has ever hosted. The leaks and rumors leading up to Apple’s September press conference were off the charts, the social media chatter on launch day was crazy, and it ended up being BGR’s single biggest day of traffic ever by a shockingly wide margin. Everyone wanted to see Apple’s new iPhones (despite the fact that we had already seen them dozens of times in leaks) and find out when they would finally launch.
Fast-forward Thursday, just one month later, and the lead up to Apple’s big iPad and Mac event seems eerily quiet. Does anyone care about tablets and computers anymore?
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You can look at sales volumes, search volumes, or any number of other data sets to see how vast the gap is between interest in smartphones and tablets. Even still, the iPad lineup remains one of Apple’s top moneymakers and Thursday marks the day the world will get its first official glimpse of Apple’s latest and greatest tablets.
Well, actually, we all got an official glimpse of Apple’s new iPad Air and iPad mini a day early when Apple accidentally leaked them on Wednesday.
We’re still several hours away from seeing Apple executives take the wraps off of the next-generation iPad Air, but it looks like the rumor mill had one last treat for us on the road to Apple’s press conference. Weibo user “Mrlee” has posted two photos of what appears to be Apple’s new “iPad Air 2.”
While there’s no way to be sure that the photos are authentic, they appear to show a device that matches everything we’re expecting to see in Apple’s next-generation iPad Air. At the top of the list is the redesigned home button covering Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint scanner, which can clearly be seen on the tablet in the photos.
As revealed by Apple itself, we now know without a doubt that Apple’s new iPad Air and iPad mini will both feature fingerprint scanners.
The two leaked photos are embedded below, and be sure to tune into BGR at 1:00 p.m. EDT, 10:00 a.m. PDT for all of the news from Apple’s event.
