iPad 3 to Gain Improved Cameras? iPad 2 to Carry On at Lower Price?

[deconstruct60]

The problem with trying to streamline their inventory this way is that the iPad uses the same rear camera as the iPod touch, and the touch is too thin to fit the iPhone's camera module.

If you haven't noticed the iPod Touch is comatose right now. It got practically no update last cycle ( a white case only). The other issue is that that camera sucks in both the Touch and the iPad.

if the iPad 2 moves down into the $299 ($300) range that would wipe out the price range for the Touch (currently $199/$299/$399). Either the touch would have to move down (and wipe out or push down the nano ) or it would disappear.

If the iPad 2 only moves to $399 (and touch shifts down $50 across the line) it would not be all that hard to slightly increase the Touch thickness as to not to decapitate the camera. Recycle an iPhone 4 like case for Touch. It wouldn't kill them. The Touch is gratuitously thin; as if it suffered from anorexia .

 

[heisetax]

Not sure if they will go as high as 8MP for the back camera, but I think we all are expecting improvements in both the front and back cameras. They are mediocre at best right now.

But my 2 year old Android smartphone has an 8 MP camera with 2 LED flash setup. I would think that the new iPad would have to be at least as good in the camera department as it is.

 

[Can't Stop]

Dropping it to $399 makes it still quite a bit more expensive then low end Android tablets. It is basically 2 Kindle Fires.

As in one good device vs 2 crappy devices. Not much of a choice, is it?

 

[heisetax]

They could, but they need to work out iCloud's flaws. I think what Apple needs is an iCloud App on their devices instead of having it's features buried in 20 different places. This is what Amazon essentially has done. One stop to access all your cloud content, settings, etc. Apples implementation has been very un-Apple like, imo. It's amazing how many people don't even understand what iCloud is or how to access it. For those of us that do, it's still annoying to switch between the App store, iTunes Store, iBooks app, etc. One universal interface would make that a joy.

There are other annoyances with iCloud. It doesn't sync with the desktop version of iWork. Talk about a glaring omission. The desktop version still uses the beta version of iwork.com, which is not compatible with the IOS versions. It's lots of little things they need to fix.

Just remember that it has been at least 37 months since Apple has updated iWork for the Mac. Unlike most other Mac or iOS things there has been no rumors about an iWork for Mac update. All we hear about is a new iOS iWork update. From my side of the street it appears that the iWork Mac app is dead, but the iWork for iOS is there to read MS Office files & other work like that.

iBooks doesn't work on a Mac so what good is it. We use the Kindlle ebook reading system for all of our ebook needs. This includes the books we check out from our local public library.

We're still on MobilMe as much of it that still works. I guess that we will have to hange that to iCloud by this coming summer. You painting a picture of a badly organized iCloud really makes me want to put off next summer's change to iCloud.

 

[jca666us]

How would they add thunderbolt? The iPad is too thin. If only it was thicker than MAYBE

Wasn't there a patent application regarding thunderbolt over the dock connector?

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First of all, it is not analysis, it is speculation.

Did I not point out that it would be under most ideal case scenario? Anyway, I think you're most likely right in that respect. It would make more sense for Apple to include a dual-core processor with slightly improved power & graphics to satisfy the retina display and keep costs down. I just don't see how Apple could make a quad-core, retina iPad and still preserve current price points, at least at this point in time.

A quad core (IMHO) wouldn't be the ideal scenario, but I could be wrong.

Maybe apple will get aggressive and surprise everyone and put a quad core cortex a15 in the iPad 3.

I'm only saying dual core a15 because the a15 reference design is dual core running at - I think - 1.5 ghz.

That might be the reason they're going igzo - the extra power might be getting eaten up by the CPU/GPU.

 

[TheGenerous]

my iPad 1 stills beat the crap out of the other "tablet" offers. I see no point for Apple to take specs too seriously

 

[Michael Scrip]

Says you.

Who exactly at Apple gave you that information. Oh yeah, nobody. Enough said

Yes... I believe a $349 iPad would sell like crazy.

We've seen what happens when you price a tablet above an iPad.... the results are not very good.

And we've also seen when someone sells a tablet at the low price of $199.... and those results are stunning.

A cheaper iPad? It would sell A LOT.

As for the build-of-materials price... all we have are guesses from supply companies. Nobody really contests them... so they are probably fairly accurate.

Of course nobody at Apple will come out and say how much the iPad costs to build.

But, the prices for the parts Apple uses are generally available. If someone quotes a BOM for a product... it's probably ±10%

Yeah... it's not an exact science... but it gets you in the ballpark.

 

[Navdakilla]

I call BS on this one.

Gonna include reasons with that?

 

[kxbcvoi]

I don't think it will be iPad 2s because iPad 2 is quite a minor upgrade. Up cpu, add poor camera and new design. It looks like iPhone 4s to me.
So next iPad should be iPad 3 with retina display, upgraded cpu, better camera (who cares), and Siri at same price.

 

[MrXiro]

I think whats more plausible is the iPad 2 will remain at that $499 price point, but the iPad 3 will have a higher price point, this is assuming it has higher spec'd hardware, retina display & higher resolution..

But if the iPad 2 does carry on a lower price it will dominate the market even more so.. Which would be awesome

It cracks me up that every time someone says something that is more than likely but the Apple fanboys don't want to hear it they immediately down vote. I'd almost be willing to put money down that the iPad 3 will cost more at the similar iterations. Maybe there will be the slight quality change from the lower end model (16gb iPad 2) to it's higher end models (32gb 64gb iPad 3 models) like they did with the 8gb iPod Touch during the 3rd generation when the 8gb was identical to the 2nd gen but the 32 and 64gb models sported upgraded internal parts. The higher end models will have a bit of a price bump over the current 32 and 64gb models... maybe 50 to 100 dollars more for each model.

Just my guess though... but seeing as how penny pinching Apple's business model is I wouldn't be surprised if they kept the cheaper parts to the "entry" level iPad while the "premium" iPad models will have the newer premium parts. This limits their cost on spending more money for their higher tier models since the 16gb won't have the Retina Display, better cameras and newer processor.

 

[george-brooks]

Oh come on! Isn't it obvious by now that Apple will follow the same pattern as the iPhone. It wouldn't surprise me if Apple releases the iPad 2S in 2012 and lowers the price of the iPad 2 to compete with the Kindle Fire. iPad 2 will be at $199/$299/$399 price, whereas the iPad 2S will be at the $499/$599/$699 price. iPad 3 probably won't see the light of day until 2013!

Never really thought they would go this route with the iPad, but then again we are only at gen 2. iPhone gen 2 saw a complete refresh and gen 3 saw a slight spec bump. You could even say that the iPad 2 was really a 1s. Unfortunately, now that you have put the idea in my head, I may have to agree that this is definitely a possibility.

 

[AppleHater]

It cracks me up that every time someone says something that is more than likely but the Apple fanboys don't want to hear it they immediately down vote. I'd almost be willing to put money down that the iPad 3 will cost more at the similar iterations. Maybe there will be the slight quality change from the lower end model (16gb iPad 2) to it's higher end models (32gb 64gb iPad 3 models) like they did with the 8gb iPod Touch during the 3rd generation when the 8gb was identical to the 2nd gen but the 32 and 64gb models sported upgraded internal parts. The higher end models will have a bit of a price bump over the current 32 and 64gb models... maybe 50 to 100 dollars more for each model.

Just my guess though... but seeing as how penny pinching Apple's business model is I wouldn't be surprised if they kept the cheaper parts to the "entry" level iPad while the "premium" iPad models will have the newer premium parts. This limits their cost on spending more money for their higher tier models since the 16gb won't have the Retina Display, better cameras and newer processor.

When was the last time Apple raised the price of existing products? This and the idea of 20 different models to cover the full market spectrum show lack of understanding in Apple's product strategy.

 

[Thunderhawks]

I call SARCASM in your comment!

Come on MacRumors, where is the picture from an Asian source of the new radius?

This is more important than the home button picture.

 

[gpat]

I think there will be only one iPad (3), and the iPad 2 will be on clearance for a while, just like last year.

 

[Vantage Point]

I don't have an iPad but would like one. I do have an iPhone 3gs and a regular $79 Kindle reader (which I absolutely love). If the iPad2 comes down in price to $350 or so with 16Gb (I know, don't hold my breath) that might do it for me. If they cripple it with low price but also only 8Gb ram then forget about it. I don't need a higher resolution camera (just take up more memory when I use it) and retina display, so the an iPad2 is perfect for my wants, but not for $500.

Anyway, rumors are just that, rumors. My personal guess is that if I want one then wait for a clearance sale once iPad3 start to ship

 

[ChrisTX]

I'm waiting to see if there will be enough improvements here to get me to upgrade from my iPad 2 to an iPad 3. So far I've owned both iPads so we shall see. Better cameras aren't that big of a deal to me, as the iPad is too big to be a camera IMO. However a retina display might make me think twice!

 

[donnaw]

I have an ipad2. I use the camera but only to take quick pics of my grandkids. The quality is fine. If I want to take serious pics I use something else. And the display is fine for my old eyes.

There are really only 3 reasons I would even consider an upgrade:
1). And sd card slot (not going to happen though)
2). More storage. I travel a lot and don't always have wifi so I load mine up with a bunch of movies, erc. 128G would be nice
3). This is the biggie - more ram. I'm getting a lot of low memory crashes and instances. Mostly just using Safari. Plus some apps are getting more memory intensive. I've done everything I could find including a full rebuild from scratch. So upping the RAM to 1G (or more, but I doubt that) would cause me to upgrade.

 

[JHankwitz]

This is supposed to be news, rumor, or speculation? I'd call it common sense.

 

[ChrisTX]

This is supposed to be news, rumor, or speculation? I'd call it common sense.

Nothing is set in stone until Apple says it is therefore this is all of the above.

 

[the8thark]

So we get an iPad 2s but Apple will probably call it iPad 3.

Don't knock the "S" products though. They are great. iPhone 4s is a good example.

 

[MacSince1990]

Makes sense to me; my stomache tells me that the yield rate for retina display is not yet high enough to ensure sufficient supply to repace iPad2 complete.

Your stomach tells you all that? Mine just kinda growls a little bit.... maybe it's time I upgrade O.O

 

[Sodner]

Agree the back camera does not need, nor should it be the quality of the iPhone's 8 MP one. No one should be using that thing as a camera. But I agree the front camera needs improved for HD facetime.

What ever the iPad 3 brings, I'll be first in line to get one.

 

[danahn17]

I don't think it will be iPad 2s because iPad 2 is quite a minor upgrade. Up cpu, add poor camera and new design. It looks like iPhone 4s to me.

Since when was a new design considered a minor update?

 

[Dowjohnny]

:d

bring. it. on.

 

[MrXiro]

When was the last time Apple raised the price of existing products? This and the idea of 20 different models to cover the full market spectrum show lack of understanding in Apple's product strategy.

My theory is based directly off of Apple's history on their iPod Touch models which had the base 8gb model being raised to $229 for a generation from the original 199.

Also just about every year for the Mac Mini... it started at 499 for the original base model then moved up to 599 for for the next 2 versions then up to 699 and now back to 599 for the base model. So the answer would be they raise their prices quite often...

They've also raised and dropped a few of the MBP models by 100 bucks here and there over the last 5 years as well.

So apparently my lack of knowledge of Apple's strategy is still a smidgen greater than yours...