Apple already didn't care before, but now they have absolutely no reason to care at all now that the 10.5 Pro is discontinued and they have no further incentive to now that it's no longer being sold by Apple. I'm willing to bet they did a quiet fix for this on the 10.5 Air and will leave it at that. The 10.5 Pro and whatever display hardware issues it may have had will just be swept under the rug for good.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Discontinues 10.5-Inch iPad Pro Following Launch of Lower-Priced 10.5-Inch iPad Air
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I completely missed that the 10.5" Pro wasn't discontinued with the release of the 11" Pro. I guess they wanted to keep something between $329 and $799 in the lineup (that is not a Mini). Before that, the release of new Pro models always meant the previous ones were discontinued. The 9.7" Pro did not hang around after the release of the 10.5" Pro.
Might as well try to get end of life pricing at your local store for 10.5 Pro, before they ship them all back. Don’t know if they’re still doing that in 2019, but it’s worth a shot. The processor on the 10.5 pro is still great, and the extra pro features are worth it if you can get one for the same price as they new air imo.
I don’t suppose any of the non-Pro iPads got a solid-state home button?
The clicky ones (à la iPhone 5s to 6s) seem really old-fashioned at this point. They also feel cheap, less robust and don’t inspire the same confidence as the far superior solid-state button on the iPhone 7 and 8. I always felt those clicky home buttons were a potential point of failure after it was the point of failure of one of my iPhones.
I was surprised the original Pro iPads didn’t upgrade the home button. The solid-state home button feels so much better and more professional.
The clicky ones (à la iPhone 5s to 6s) seem really old-fashioned at this point. They also feel cheap, less robust and don’t inspire the same confidence as the far superior solid-state button on the iPhone 7 and 8. I always felt those clicky home buttons were a potential point of failure after it was the point of failure of one of my iPhones.
I was surprised the original Pro iPads didn’t upgrade the home button. The solid-state home button feels so much better and more professional.
Last edited:
Just last week I argued against that notion, stating that it was fairly simple, but I'm starting to get confused myself
Me too. I was very confused about the headline, because at first I thought the brand new iPad Pro is discontinued. Now I know, it is only the ancient 10.5".
Well, I thought the introduction of iPad Air Actually clear things up.
Under Steve we have Mac mini, iMac, and Mac Pro. It was strange when Apple launched MacBook Air Retina, that it was actually heavier than MacBook, now if we forget the originally meaning of Air, it is quite clear Apple intend "Air" to be the Midrange.
MacBook Pro , MacBook Air , Macbook
iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad
I would have liked the iPad mini to be iPad Air 7.9, but I guess Mini is quite well established brand and they don't want to change it. And May be down the line iPad will be killed, or discontinued but available for education purchase only.
[doublepost=1552937757][/doublepost]The pricing is interesting. I think I will need some time to sink it before making a comment on it. Because it surely is strange
Sorry, but I disagree. It's supply chain optimization. What about this? https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/18/18270843/apple-new-ipad-mini-air-old-apple-pencil
The new iPads support the old Apple Pencil, and not the new Apple Pencil, which is only compatible with the iPad Pro models. This means that the new iPads are using legacy screens, which were reallocated to a new mid-range line of iPads. There are now two lines of Apple Pencils, both with the same name, and none of which is set to be discontinued any time soon. I wonder why someone would need two lines of pens to be used on tablets. Even Microsoft, which is the company that has always been obsessed about pens in tablets, has just one in its line-up. Apple has two. And it is not to offer more options to customers (they will get confused!). It is because the legacy screens used in the new models only support the old Apple Pencils.
It would make sense to have no more than three sizes and flavors of iPad: a 7.9", an 11", and a 12.9", and just one Apple Pencil. That is much simpler, and nothing else would be needed. All the rest is just to optimize the supply chain and to squeeze every single dollar out of customers, and not to address any particular need.
I Don’t understand statements like this, how is it difficult to make a decision when purchasing an iPad, when Apple even has a ‘compare function tool’ on their website to find which iPad is best for the consumer. And if that’s not reason enough to make it easy, even going to an Apple store, you have them side-by-side where you can pick and choose which size/model/price point works best for the customer. It’s not as difficult as you’re making it appear.
Why does it have to be so confusing?
I miss the days of simple product lines. It really should be (top to bottom in both price and features):
iPad Mini (small screen)
iPad Air
iPad
iPad Pro
Hell, they could even go back to how it used to be. Mini, Regular, Pro.
iPad Mini
iPad Air -> iPad
iPad Pro
Guess what - it also works on macs!
Macbook -> Macbook Mini
MacBook Air -> MacBook
MacBook Pro
And even iMacs!
21” -> iMac mini
27” -> iMac
iMac Pro
Perhaps even other macs!
Mac mini
Mac (we can dream right?)
Mac Pro
It could be so clear and consistent.
I miss the days of simple product lines. It really should be (top to bottom in both price and features):
iPad Mini (small screen)
iPad Air
iPad
iPad Pro
Hell, they could even go back to how it used to be. Mini, Regular, Pro.
iPad Mini
iPad Air -> iPad
iPad Pro
Guess what - it also works on macs!
Macbook -> Macbook Mini
MacBook Air -> MacBook
MacBook Pro
And even iMacs!
21” -> iMac mini
27” -> iMac
iMac Pro
Perhaps even other macs!
Mac mini
Mac (we can dream right?)
Mac Pro
It could be so clear and consistent.
What display issues on the 10.5 Pro? I’ve had mine for 8 months and it’s been fine so far. If I had to get this one swapped out for any reason in the remaining four months of my warranty, what should I be looking out for?
Even better, Apple could streamline the product line even further:
iPad, in three sizes (7.9”, 11”, 12.9”)
MacBook, in three sizes (12”, 13.3”, 15.4”)
Mac mini
iMac in two sizes (21.5”, 27”)
Mac Pro
Apple does not, because it still wants to use the old designs, and makes excuses for selling them to consumers. The budget iPad and the two new models released yesterday would not exist in Apple under Steve Jobs. Tim Cook seems to be a supply chain maniac and wants to apply all leftover parts in its products, even if it creates a confusing and segmented line-up.
The 10.5 Pro had this recurring issue that many people seemed to have where after about 1-1.5 years it would develop this bright spot in the lower half of the display, there's actually a whole MacRumors thread on it. I've seen a couple display models in stores have the same problem. Apple would refuse to service it unless it was covered by warranty (again, it seems to keep happening after the warranty expires) or covered by AppleCare. Then the replacement would reportedly develop the same problem, so it's a problem with the unit as a whole. Now that the 10.5 Pro has been discontinued as new and replaced they really have no reason to care.