The specs and release date delay of the iPad Air 2017 have been the subject of a lot of rumors and speculations among tech news sites and Apple fans alike.

The sad news is that there's still no official word from Apple regarding the iPad Air 3 2017, although that's not exactly surprising considering the Cupertino-based company's policy of keeping products in development away from the prying eyes of the media.

According to iTEchPost, Apple might just surprise some people by dropping the iPad Air 2017 this year even if September came and went, and no tablet was launched. It said with two and a half months to go before the year ends, there's still plenty of time to announce the release date even with the perceived delay in shipment.

In terms of the iPad Air 3 2017 specs, it will supposedly be the thinnest one yet, with a thickness of only 6.1mm. It will supposedly have 264ppi pixel density for the 9.7-inch screen. It might also use the A10 processor.

There is the scheduled quarterly earnings on Oct. 25 and reports are filtering in about an Apple event on Oct. 27, which may become the platform to unveil the iPad Air 2017 release date. An October launch is not without precedent since the original iPad Air and the second generation Air were unveiled in October 2013 and 2014, respectively. However, fans rued the release date delay when the iPad Air 3 was not launched in October last year.

Watch out for more rumors on the iPad Air 3 2017 specs and release date, which will be published here when they come along.