A man looks at his Apple iPad in front an Apple logo outside an Apple store in downtown Shanghai
A man looks at his Apple iPad in front an Apple logo outside an Apple store in downtown Shanghai March 16, 2012. Reuters/Aly Song

The Apple iPhone 6 release date hype is on fire across the Web, even as the rumoured date is still a couple of months away. Meanwhile, there are less rumours on the new Apple tablets -- the supposed iPad mini 3 and iPad Air 2. Either Apple did an excellent job a year ago, or the small tablets are losing to the latest phablets. (Or both.)

Rumours considered, some new iOS tablet buyers are finding out some dealbreakers in the 2014 iPads - the iPad Air 2 or iPad 6 and iPad mini 3 (as speculators call them). A new device sporting the old's form, size, and style is hardly exciting.

Hardware changes that do not significantly help those who are light to moderate users are not headline material. On the other hand, the iPhone 6 specs (mere rumours at this point) are catching many eager buyers' attention.

Reports say the new Apple iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 will run on the new and more powerful A8 processor. Cameras will be upgraded. Touch ID fingerprint sensor will also be introduced, macrumors.com reported. But how much of these things matter to early adopters and new tablet shoppers?

The existing iPad Air and iPad with Retina display are excellent devices in their genre. There might not be a strong reason to jump in to this year's Apple tablets.

The new Apple iPhone 6 will reportedly be much bigger. The supposed new flagship smartphone will come in two variants on release date: one sporting a 4.7-inch screen, the other a 5.5-inch mega device. This size shift is something buyers would either love or hate. The market is highly stirred, based on social media posts and reader feedbacks.

The attention shift from small tablets to the phablets (smartphones which are about the same size of small tablets) is not just an Apple situation.

"Competition between 5.5 [inch] and larger smartphones and 7 - 7.9 [inch] tablet PCs will reduce demand for tablet PCs through 2018," CNET quoted Hisakazu Torii, a DisplaySearch analyst. Buyers - perhaps those whose friends or relatives own something like a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - are seeing that phablets make more sense than carrying a tablet and a smartphone every day.

If the new trend holds, the rumoured Apple iPhone 6 release date could see longer queues of early adopters. The good news is that the existing iPad mini with Retina display and iPad Air are likely to see a significant price drop. The iPad mini 3 and iPad Air 2 could still bring surprises, but it seems the new iPhone will eclipse the tablets, either way.

Which among the rumoured iPhone 6, iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 excite you the most, and why? Let us know in the comment section below. Click here to see the supposedly leaked photos of the three devices on apple.club.tw.

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