iPad Pro Wait for 9.7 Pro Ver. 2?

[Velin]

I like what Apple did with the 9.7 Pro. Stylus, ambient light, better sound, etc. All cool things. The issue is, the iPad Air 2 already is great. And the 9.7 Pro is expensive, especially when you have to shell out $100 for the stylus to take full advantage of the feature set. Also, the new iPad really should have USB 3.0, and arguably more RAM and cheaper storage cost per GB (all common gripes).

So while the 9.7 Pro is a nice update and a good platform, it costs a heck of a lot, it needs i/o improvement, and it's not orders of magnitude better than the now much cheaper iPad Air 2, which realistically can do a lot of what the Pro can do.

So, should we wait to purchase? Wait for better storage, more RAM, better USB, tweaks, and hopefully a lower price and/or automatically include the stylus in the next update? Or is this foolish thinking and none of these things will come to pass.

 

[ZBoater]

I hear version 3 will be better.

 

[Mainiac]

The problem with waiting is that when the next version comes out there will be stuff that didn't get included that will then prompt you to think about waiting for the next version and it turns into a vicious cycle. At some point you just have to take the plunge.

You just need to decide for yourself how long you want to wait. If you have an older iPad and you are mostly happy with it and can live with it for another year then wait. If your current iPad is a few generations old and getting long in the tooth it's probably time to upgrade. If you don't have an iPad and want to get your first one again it's probably time to get one.

 

[sracer]

If you decide to wait, then it is helpful to decide WHAT it is you are waiting for and stick to it. The worst thing that you could do is to wait a year for ver.2 (for 4GB RAM, USB 3.0) and have Apple not provide those two items and THEN buy one.

IMO, if you need to get a new iPad now, I recommend getting an Air 2 or a 12.9 Pro. The Air 2 is a terrific device. I bought one 5 months ago and love it. I've managed to work around the limitations of the capacitive stylus to get something that works quite well for me. Alternatively, get a 12.9 iPad Pro... IF you can get a good deal on one (like the Staples deal last week).

 

[austriak]

If you want this ipad thus year, just wait a couple months. Ipads have been getting discounts more often than they used to, especially during black Friday.

 

[magbarn]

If you want this ipad thus year, just wait a couple months. Ipads have been getting discounts more often than they used to, especially during black Friday.

Yup, even the Air2 was discounted by $100 within a month or so after it's release. The iPP 9.7 is definitely going to be discounted by BF deals for sure.

 

[apolloa]

I bet the next iPad Pro 9.7" doesn't have any of those features you want. Just buy it now. All you can be certain off in the next model is most likely an A10X chip. I don't get the obsession with 4GB RAM?

 

[tivoboy]

Apples business model is clear.. they really only put in just enough upgrades to a product to get the next marginal buyer or the legacy buyer to buy at a 2 gen pace. Sure, they could probably always put in more features and functions and make the 2nd gen device just that much more appealing and valuable from a cost/benefit standpoint but they are in it for the long game and the long game wants predictable growth and buyers.

 

[DNichter]

Buy now and sell when the new one comes out. I've been doing that for years and I only put up an extra $100-$200 each time. In my eyes it's worth it to enjoy the newest features.

 

[masotime]

Apples business model is clear.. they really only put in just enough upgrades to a product to get the next marginal buyer or the legacy buyer to buy at a 2 gen pace. Sure, they could probably always put in more features and functions and make the 2nd gen device just that much more appealing and valuable from a cost/benefit standpoint but they are in it for the long game and the long game wants predictable growth and buyers.

That is not a viable long term strategy. Competitors can enter the market and overtake you quite easily. For proof, you just have to look at the smartphone market...

You could argue it either way... in spite of, therefore Apple is doing it right, or as a result of, therefore Apple is doing it wrong.

Bottom line, the market will decide who wins or loses. There is no "let's limit features without knowing what we're messing with" - if they limit features randomly, they are going to suffer. Or they'll limit it with good reason, and millions of people will buy them.

Apple cannot arbitrarily limit important features without people noticing. People will either notice and care, or not notice and not care. It's just a matter of how many who care or don't care - and if the latter, it just means you're in a minority, noticing things are really aren't important to 99.9999% of customers.

The very fact that people have stuck with the iPad 2 for so long already invalidates your argument.

 

[TheRealAlex]

I like what Apple did with the 9.7 Pro. Stylus, ambient light, better sound, etc. All cool things. The issue is, the iPad Air 2 already is great. And the 9.7 Pro is expensive, especially when you have to shell out $100 for the stylus to take full advantage of the feature set. Also, the new iPad really should have USB 3.0, and arguably more RAM and cheaper storage cost per GB (all common gripes).

So while the 9.7 Pro is a nice update and a good platform, it costs a heck of a lot, it needs i/o improvement, and it's not orders of magnitude better than the now much cheaper iPad Air 2, which realistically can do a lot of what the Pro can do.

So, should we wait to purchase? Wait for better storage, more RAM, better USB, tweaks, and hopefully a lower price and/or automatically include the stylus in the next update? Or is this foolish thinking and none of these things will come to pass.

Yeah You CAN NOT play this game with Apple. After NOT needing an iPad I sold my Tablet and told myself a 5.7 inch Samsung Note 5 would be ok. This has lasted 8 Months I need a Tablet and the iPad Pro 9.7 is a must have Tablet.

Why for many reasons but its Future Proof Eveything that runs on the iPad Pro will be here to stay. People will start to shy away from less powerful Tablets

the A9X is faster than 600 Million PC's which are 5 years old this is what developers want its faster than most Core i5 Intel Chips.

What CAN Apple possibly add to the iPad Pro in 2017 ??? 2GB more RAM ok not gonna wait 12 months for that.

 

[rui no onna]

If you decide to wait, then it is helpful to decide WHAT it is you are waiting for and stick to it. The worst thing that you could do is to wait a year for ver.2 (for 4GB RAM, USB 3.0) and have Apple not provide those two items and THEN buy one.

Unfortunate but true.

So, should we wait to purchase? Wait for better storage, more RAM, better USB, tweaks, and hopefully a lower price and/or automatically include the stylus in the next update? Or is this foolish thinking and none of these things will come to pass.

It will eventually come to pass. The question is when. Apple's timeline might be significantly later than yours when it comes to implementing upgrades.

 

[stulaw11]

There is always the next big thing. You'll be waiting another year, and then oh not good enough another year and so on. Mine as well enjoy what is out here and now and worry about next year next year.

 

[MrXiro]

I hear version 3 will be better.

Why stop there?
Ver 5!
[doublepost=1459098914][/doublepost]

Yeah You CAN NOT play this game with Apple. After NOT needing an iPad I sold my Tablet and told myself a 5.7 inch Samsung Note 5 would be ok. This has lasted 8 Months I need a Tablet and the iPad Pro 9.7 is a must have Tablet.

Why for many reasons but its Future Proof Eveything that runs on the iPad Pro will be here to stay. People will start to shy away from less powerful Tablets

the A9X is faster than 600 Million PC's which are 5 years old this is what developers want its faster than most Core i5 Intel Chips.

What CAN Apple possibly add to the iPad Pro in 2017 ??? 2GB more RAM ok not gonna wait 12 months for that.

They probably won't even do that, unless iOS gets fatter and bloated and that isn't apples style. I don't see 4gb on the standard iPad for 3 years at least.

 

[magbarn]

Buy now and sell when the new one comes out. I've been doing that for years and I only put up an extra $100-$200 each time. In my eyes it's worth it to enjoy the newest features.

That only works if you buy the base model and you don't sell on ebay or use PayPal. You'll lose a lot more with the higher capacity models especially the 256gb one. Historically you'll never come close to recouping the extra hundreds of dollars on LTE and memory upgrades.

 

[bufffilm]

That is not a viable long term strategy. Competitors can enter the market and overtake you quite easily. For proof, you just have to look at the smartphone market...

You could argue it either way... in spite of, therefore Apple is doing it right, or as a result of, therefore Apple is doing it wrong.

Bottom line, the market will decide who wins or loses. There is no "let's limit features without knowing what we're messing with" - if they limit features randomly, they are going to suffer. Or they'll limit it with good reason, and millions of people will buy them.

Apple cannot arbitrarily limit important features without people noticing. People will either notice and care, or not notice and not care. It's just a matter of how many who care or don't care - and if the latter, it just means you're in a minority, noticing things are really aren't important to 99.9999% of customers.

The very fact that people have stuck with the iPad 2 for so long already invalidates your argument.

Don't agree with your post nor how ipad2 users invalidates OP's post, much less how the ipad2 has anything remotely related to the original question.

As for OP question, waiting for the next version in anticipation of a probable feature is a fool's errand.

 

[Aluminum213]

Wait for version 3 or 4 or 5 or .....

 

[masotime]

Don't agree with your post nor how ipad2 users invalidates OP's post, much less how the ipad2 has anything remotely related to the original question.

So more specifically,

Apples business model is clear.. they really only put in just enough upgrades to a product to get the next marginal buyer or the legacy buyer to buy at a 2 gen pace.

If this strategy was really working, people would have upgraded their iPad 2 a long time ago. The fact is, people haven't seen any real incentive to upgrade, so any "marginal" upgrade to entice buyers is clearly not working.

 

[Foss]

The more operative question is if the device will fit your use cases for the next year. If yes and you can afford it, go ahead. Next year, you can do what I do is and sell it and buy the new one. I'm perfectly happy with the delta as the cost of getting a new device every year. I do this with my iPad and iPhone. My MBP upgrade cycle is more along 3-4 years.

 

[bufffilm]

So more specifically,



If this strategy was really working, people would have upgraded their iPad 2 a long time ago. The fact is, people haven't seen any real incentive to upgrade, so any "marginal" upgrade to entice buyers is clearly not working.

But the Pro 9.7 is not a marginal update for someone with an ipad2.

Having said that...for me - iPad 2 w/32gb model, going to a Pro 128gb for $750 is a bit too much.

 

[masotime]

But the Pro 9.7 is not a marginal update for someone with an ipad2.

Having said that...for me - iPad 2 w/32gb model, going to a Pro 128gb for $750 is a bit too much.

This is really very relative. If someone doesn't have a need for the smart keyboard or Pencil, there really isn't much more that the iPad Pro 9.7" offers. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's true. I keep trying to convince my dad to upgrade, but all he does is use his iPad to surf a few websites and read emails and PDFs, and he doesn't care at all for the camera, improved resolution, ergonomics, RAM, processing power, USB3 etc etc.

No doubt, the iPad Pro is a massive leap over the iPad 2, but how long did that take? 3/4/Air/Air 2 and 5 years, it took 4 generations in between of Apple's "incremental updates" to persuade you to change.

If Apple intended to encourage, as the poster I quoted mentioned, people to upgrade frequently little by little and keep buying new iPads regularly, they've clearly failed in your case.

 

[bufffilm]

This is really very relative. If someone doesn't have a need for the smart keyboard or Pencil, there really isn't much more that the iPad Pro 9.7" offers. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's true. I keep trying to convince my dad to upgrade, but all he does is use his iPad to surf a few websites and read emails and PDFs, and he doesn't care at all for the camera, improved resolution, ergonomics, RAM, processing power, USB3 etc etc.

No doubt, the iPad Pro is a massive leap over the iPad 2, but how long did that take? 3/4/Air/Air 2 and 5 years, it took 4 generations in between of Apple's "incremental updates" to persuade you to change.

If Apple intended to encourage, as the poster I quoted mentioned, people to upgrade frequently little by little and keep buying new iPads regularly, they've clearly failed in your case.

But the notion that iPads 'have' to be upgraded so regularly, is itself patently untrue.

If that's what Apple has been preaching, small wonder that it's not working.

 

[masotime]

But the notion that iPads 'have' to be upgraded so regularly, is itself patently untrue.

If that's what Apple has been preaching, small wonder that it's not working.

I don't disagree. But what @tivoboy is preaching is that this is what Apple is expecting customers to do, and apparently profiteering by keeping the features added as minimal as possible. My counterpoint to him is that this is not a viable expectation. Competitors will overtake you and shut you out, and / or people will simply become indifferent to the iPad upgrades.

You are, in actual fact, anecdotal evidence of my point - having never upgraded your iPad 2 because you never felt the need to.

 

[bufffilm]

My counterpoint to him is that this is not a viable expectation. Competitors will overtake you and shut you out, and / or people will simpl

.

But your argument is untrue also.

Android hasn't succeeded in subplanting Apple for any supposed failing that Apple has failed to deliver or overlooked.

 

[masotime]

But your argument is untrue also.

Android hasn't succeeded in subplanting Apple for any supposedl failing that Apple has failed to deliver or overlooked.

Android is actually making very rapid advances. The Galaxy S7 is probably one of the most impressive non-iOS smartphones I've seen in a long time. Many flagship android devices have very high DPI AMOLED displays, larger displays (pre-iPhone 6) come with waterproofing, wireless charging, fast charging, external storage, etc. etc. at very competitive prices.

If Android wasn't succeeding then why are so many people sporting non-Apple flagship phones these days? It's a clear case of competitors coming out with features that customers do care about (large screens is a big one), and if Apple was going for a "let's increase the screen size slowly strategy and prolong our profiteering" then it didn't work.

So do you believe Apple was really trying to profiteering, or were they taking their time to make what they felt was the best device?

This is what I meant by "in spite of" or "as a result of". Regardless of which stance you take, it is the market that decides. You cannot assume that you can limit your upgrades and expect the market to be obedient. Demand will create its own supply.
[doublepost=1459113121][/doublepost]For more details about the smartphone debate, I'd recommend the following articles: http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/8/11176606/walt-mossberg-samsung-galaxy-s7-smartphone-review and http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/23/11286052/walt-mossberg-apple-iphone-7-preview-predictions

Walt Mossberg is a pretty respected Journalist - Steve Jobs cared a lot about his opinions - see https://www.macrumors.com/2016/02/29/steve-jobs-tony-fadell-ipod-itunes-pc/