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Apple Has Likely Abandoned 'iPad Ultra' Plans

snipr125 said:
Yes a single stack OLED display for the ipad air and mini (basically same as the iphone), not the same tandem oled in the iPP which is much brighter and less susceptible to burn in. Still though single stack oled will be a big improvement but not sure if will also get Promotion.
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They could change to nearly any type of panel technology on the iPad Mini and it would be a vast improvement. 😂
 
I7guy said:
What in the heck does Steve Jobs have to do with whatever specs the mini might get.
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Actually a lot!

This thread is about how the iPad Ultra may never happen due to already poor sales of the iPad Pro.

And the reason for the iPad Pro's poor sales is likely Apple's decision to fan out the iPad product line with each model deliberately lacking certain features in order to "incentivize" or "upsell" customers to a higher priced iPad in order to get these features.

As Tim Cook is a supply chain genius, he perfected this upsell model, in order to drive customers to buying higher specced devices just for the one feature they really needed or wanted - and in return driving up Apple profits aka "shareholder value".

Steve Jobs did use this upsell model nearly as much.
His product matrix was simple: portable / desktop / consumer / pro

And within each category every device could select from a range of options and specs. There was no artificial barrier between an "iMac", "iMac mini", "iMac Air", "iMac Pro" (or even "iMac Ultra" ).
The real iMac Pro was only released in 2017 well after Steve Jobs' passing, it was a Tim Cook invention in order to create these staggered upsell product lines.

And it is exactly these enforced artificial divisions between product sub categories, that are being criticized now - and rightly so.
Why would Apple not offer iPads with 1 TB of storage? Why do you need to buy an iPad Air for that - even if you don't need any of the iPad Air's other spec improvements?
It is these issues which would likely not have existed if Steve Jobs' simple product matrix would have continued.

This would have been much better for the consumer, likely, but admittedly worse for "shareholder value" aka Apple profits.
Apple profits are not only a measurement of their product quality, but also a measurement of successful Apple managed to squeeze consumers' purses by deliberately putting spec barriers between artificial product subcategories upselling them to spending more than they would actually need to - if all spec options were available within the whole product category.

So yes, Apple is cool because they make insanely great products. But let's be honest, they are also deliberate extortionists. Something that did not exist under Steve Job, something that Tim Cook perfected.
 
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Dreamail said:
Actually a lot!

This thread is about how the iPad Ultra may never happen due to already poor sales of the iPad Pro.

And the reason for the iPad Pro's poor sales is likely Apple's decision to fan out the iPad product line with each model deliberately lacking certain features in order to "incentivize" or "upsell" customers to a higher priced iPad in order to get these features.

As Tim Cook is a supply chain genius, he perfected this upsell model, in order to drive customers to buying higher specced devices just for the one feature they really needed or wanted - and in return driving up Apple profits aka "shareholder value".

Steve Jobs did use this upsell model nearly as much.
His product matrix was simple: portable / desktop / consumer / pro

And within each category every device could select from a range of options and specs. There was no artificial barrier between an "iMac", "iMac mini", "iMac Air", "iMac Pro" (or even "iMac Ultra" ).
The real iMac Pro was only released in 2017 well after Steve Jobs' passing, it was a Tim Cook invention in order to create these staggered upsell product lines.

And it is exactly these enforced artificial divisions between product sub categories, that are being criticized now - and rightly so.
Why would Apple not offer iPads with 1 TB of storage? Why do you need to buy an iPad Air for that - even if you don't need any of the iPad Air's other spec improvements?
It is these issues which would likely not have existed if Steve Jobs' simple product matrix would have continued.

This would have been much better for the consumer, likely, but admittedly worse for "shareholder value" aka Apple profits.
Apple profits are not only a measurement of their product quality, but also a measurement of successful Apple managed to squeeze consumers' purses by deliberately putting spec barriers between artificial product subcategories upselling them to spending more than they would actually need to - if all spec options were available within the whole product category.

So yes, Apple is cool because they make insanely great products. But let's be honest, they are also deliberate extortionists. Something that did not exist under Steve Job, something that Tim Cook perfected.
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I don’t buy any of that. It’s all hypothesis. And yeah Tim Cook was he supply chain genius took Apple to new heights. Offered products that Steve Jobs wouldn’t have been able to, due to his DNA. Is everything perfect. No. But to bring Apple to $4T and sell products the masses buy in droves requires a visionary.

And the article cited form and function issues with an iPad ultra.

So no, Steve Jobs has nothing to do with this. This is 2026, not 2006.
 
I7guy said:
So no, Steve Jobs has nothing to do with this. This is 2026, not 2006.
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That is your opinion, and you are very much entitled to it.

Yet I believe that under Steve Jobs the current product categories would be much simpler (as they have been under his tenure) and consequently all these issues would go away. There would not even be an "iPad Pro" let alone an "iPad Ultra".

In my opinion the problems with the "iPad Pro", whatever they are, were created by Tim Cook's changes to the iPad product category in the first place.
 
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Dreamail said:
That is your opinion, and you are very much entitled to it.

Yet I believe that under Steve Jobs the current product categories would be much simpler (as they have been under his tenure) and consequently all these issues would go away. There would not even be an "iPad Pro" let alone an "iPad Ultra".

In my opinion the problems with the "iPad Pro", whatever they are, were created by Tim Cook's changes to the iPad product category in the first place.
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Sure fair enough. Tim Cook gets the praise for where he took Apple and should get criticism for the iPad line, whatever the “problems” are. Or these are just alleged cyclic seasonal trends. The “problem” with the IPP M5 is that it is a smashing piece of kit. And it’s expensive. I’m going to blame both “problems” on Tim Cook.

The other Tim Cook “problem” with the iPad is they just last and last and last. So the iPad lineup does have an issue just not the one you are citing.
 
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Bubble99 said:
All the macrumors here saying it coming to iPad Mini this year and the iPad Air next year.
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Dreaming.

The iPad mini is already pretty expensive for what it is, and it doesn't need the additional expense of tandem OLED.

The pro is expense AF and the reason is the display.

If you want that display, buy a pro - apple putting it on lower tier models will make them simply unaffordable/pointless in the market.

More likely, if the air even sticks around (and thats up for debate) I suspect it will NOT get tandem OLED but will get a thinner redesign.
 
I7guy said:
Sure fair enough. Tim Cook gets the praise for where he took Apple and should get criticism for the iPad line, whatever the “problems” are. Or these are just alleged cyclic seasonal trends. The “problem” with the IPP M5 is that it is a smashing piece of kit. And it’s expensive. I’m going to blame both “problems” on Tim Cook.

The other Tim Cook “problem” with the iPad is they just last and last and last. So the iPad lineup does have an issue just not the one you are citing.
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IMO should be a fairly easy problem to solve for Apple. The hardware is more than capable. They just need to allow MacOS to be dual boot on it. The only issue with that is it renders the Mac pointless
 
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throAU said:
Dreaming.

The iPad mini is already pretty expensive for what it is, and it doesn't need the additional expense of tandem OLED.

The pro is expense AF and the reason is the display.

If you want that display, buy a pro - apple putting it on lower tier models will make them simply unaffordable/pointless in the market.

More likely, if the air even sticks around (and thats up for debate) I suspect it will NOT get tandem OLED but will get a thinner redesign.
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It will get a traditional single stack OLED display. Even Samsung’s budget tablets have those. Also they really need to give it a 120hz screen
 
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Radon87000 said:
It will get a traditional single stack OLED display. Even Samsung’s budget tablets have those. Also they really need to give it a 120hz screen
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Maybe. Single OLED. But that has risk of burn in... so maybe not.

It probably won't get 120hz. Most people don't care.

Samsung can put whatever hardware they like in their stuff, they are simply not a threat on the tablet market because android is just so far behind there its hilarious.

No, I doubt apple will go 120hz. They'll reserve that for the Pro model, just like the MacBook Pro, iPhone pro, etc. Its a "pro" feature in apple's view.

Lots of people will complain, still buy iPads anyway (because the ecosystem and cpu/gpu performance is unmatched), and Apple will continue making bank.
 
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Radon87000 said:
IMO should be a fairly easy problem to solve for Apple. The hardware is more than capable. They just need to allow MacOS to be dual boot on it. The only issue with that is it renders the Mac pointless
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We know Apple won’t go in that direction. They will continue to evolve iPadOS with more Mac like features. And people will still want the bigger screen of the Mac when out and about.
 
throAU said:
Maybe. Single OLED. But that has risk of burn in... so maybe not.

It probably won't get 120hz. Most people don't care.

Samsung can put whatever hardware they like in their stuff, they are simply not a threat on the tablet market because android is just so far behind there its hilarious.

No, I doubt apple will go 120hz. They'll reserve that for the Pro model, just like the MacBook Pro, iPhone pro, etc. Its a "pro" feature in apple's view.

Lots of people will complain, still buy iPads anyway (because the ecosystem and cpu/gpu performance is unmatched), and Apple will continue making bank.
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Maybe, but with the regular iPhone 17, Promotion as a 'Pro only' feature went out the window.
 
Radon87000 said:
It will get a traditional single stack OLED display. Even Samsung’s budget tablets have those. Also they really need to give it a 120hz screen
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I’m confused if the iPad mini and the iPad Air is not getting tandem OLED then it is getting stack OLED?
 
rosuna said:
Apple will do it. The MacBook Pro Ultra with touchscreen will be the last nail in the coffin of the iPad Pro.
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Why do you keep posting inąne posts like this?

I’m sitting here on my couch in MobileSafari reading MR on my M1 iPad Pro, which is resting on my chest. I use many apps this way (Safari, Slack, Discord, Instagram, YouTube etc.) and love it. I use my iPad like this constantly, with it in my lap/on my chest. I’m not going to put a laptop on my damn chest! Just because you can’t conceive of a laptop-less use case doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
 
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Riot Nrrrd said:
Why do you keep posting inąne posts like this?

I’m sitting here on my couch in MobileSafari reading MR on my M1 iPad Pro, which is resting on my chest. I use many apps this way (Safari, Slack, Discord, Instagram, YouTube etc.) and love it. I use my iPad like this constantly, with it in my lap/on my chest. I’m not going to put a laptop on my damn chest! Just because you can’t conceive of a laptop-less use case doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
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For Apple to continue betting heavily on an iPad Pro line, it is necessary that there is a sufficient number of buyers, or expectations that there will be in the future. Apple has privileged the iPad Pro with adaptation to them of the iPadOS interface (the basic iPad or the iPad Air do not needed that), with the first M processors of each generation to come out on the market and with the best screens available. But none of that has worked. I have an iPad Pro and the problem is iPad OS. It is not good for working with the flexibility and comfort of Mac OS. For some people it may be, but for many others do not. Take a look at the sales figures. The iPad Pro will not disappear in the short term, but Apple will put all its effort into MacBooks and MacOS. iPads will remain for what they are really unique and useful, which is to consume entertainment content and not as a general replacement for a laptop.
 
I7guy said:
We know Apple won’t go in that direction. They will continue to evolve iPadOS with more Mac like features. And people will still want the bigger screen of the Mac when out and about.
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I bet Apple will stop pushing in that direction.
 
rosuna said:
For Apple to continue betting heavily on an iPad Pro line, it is necessary that there is a sufficient number of buyers, or expectations that there will be in the future. Apple has privileged the iPad Pro with adaptation to them of the iPadOS interface (the basic iPad or the iPad Air do not needed that), with the first M processors of each generation to come out on the market and with the best screens available. But none of that has worked. I have an iPad Pro and the problem is iPad OS. It is not good for working with the flexibility and comfort of Mac OS. For some people it may be, but for many others do not. Take a look at the sales figures. The iPad Pro will not disappear in the short term, but Apple will put all its effort into MacBooks and MacOS. iPads will remain for what they are really unique and useful, which is to consume entertainment content and not as a general replacement for a laptop.
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Pro tip:
If you want macOS that device exists.

the iPad can do things the Mac can not. Is the processor in it overpowered for what it can currently do? Sure. But it does mean it is responsive and can "race to sleep" to get things done and then save battery because it does them so fast.

The Mac sucks for things like sketching diagrams, writing notes, you know... actually using it like digital paper. That's what the iPad is primarily aimed at. It's not primarily aimed at desktop use.
 
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