In my opinion, you kinda need a smartphone and you kinda need a computer. But a tablet is just a nice to have.
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Apple Sees Falling iPad Sales in Fiscal 2022, But Mac Sales Up
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You're absolutely right, people due to the techie media, want the iPad to be something it was never meant to be, or if you use the Apple Pencil a lot for notes and drawing....however Apple are taking the Pee to a large extent with the upgrades in the last 2 years
It was never meant to be a computer, it's just some users trying to use it as one that have issues with it, just like many particularly Android users think the smart phone is a replacement for computers.
it's a content devise or if you into apps that require a pencil like drawing....personally never saw any uses for it in my case, much prefer the MBP M1 for content as well
It was only ever meant for consumption and drawing! All you doing is repeating the latest narrative from techies on YouTube 😏
The market is responding, sales have been down last quarter. Not because its a bad product, but because people are not finding a concrete reason to move to newer models and they are not gonna pay more for expensive models to do basically the same thing. The iPad Pro's should be way cheaper than the MacBook Air. You can't have a device thats way more expensive than entry level MacBooks with same SoC that is less productive to use.
Well that's some grade A condescending - well done 😆
"It was only ever meant for consumption and drawing" - then explain all of Apple's ads for iPads?
This is clearly not what Apple thinks the iPad is.
And not what Apple tries to sell the iPad as.
Apple sells the iPad Pro as 'your next computer':
While this may indeed be a workable option for some people with a very narrowly defined use case, I think in general this claim by Apple is grossly optimistic.
This is not "the latest narrative from techies on YouTube" as you say - this is Apple's own opinion about the iPad Pro.
And in my opinion they are drinking too much of their own Cool Aid... They need to get down to Earth.
Because of Apple's distorted opinion of its own iPad product line the iPad line ended up being the mess it currently is, in my opinion.
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They gonna drop 40-70 percent the next year. Entrylevel is way too high (you get full functional laptops for less) and there are simply too many models in the shelves. People like easy choices, Apple gives them the feeling to get ripped of buying anything between entry and top model
One entry ipad below 400€/$ and one top model must come, anything else will destroy the ipad sales.
One entry ipad below 400€/$ and one top model must come, anything else will destroy the ipad sales.
It's a corner Apple painted itself into.
iPad Pros have 4 speakers, 3 cameras, LiDAR, a much better LCD screen, 5G modem option, Apple pencil and touch input support - much more than what any low-end MacBook has. The only thing the MacBook has in return is a built-in keyboard and more ports.
So the hardware of an iPad Pro is somewhat justifiably more expensive than a low-end MacBook.
However, macOS and Mac applications are generally by an order of magnitude more flexible and powerful than what you can do on iPadOS.
And if you have an Intel MacBook you can even run Windows and most Windows applications too.
The iPadOS in comparison is anemic. It is not in sync with the hardware position of the iPad Pro.
So what a user can ultimately achieve on a higher priced iPad is weak compared to the MacBook. Despite the better hardware.
The iPad Pro ultimately becomes a difficult sell, a self-inflicted niche product.
Apple should at least allow iPad Pros to dual-boot macOS, or even Windows ARM.
Then the hardware makes a lot more sense as the usability becomes a lot more flexible.
Most folks have a very narrowly defined use case. Give them something to surf the web (not just where Wifi exists, but EVERYWHERE) check their social media and email, play some games and/or music and/or videos and edit some pictures and they’ll be hard pressed to recognize anything that’s “missing” from that device.
Start reciting the normal list of “missing features” and their eyes will first glaze over, then they’ll be distracted by the most recent Twitter feud and stop paying attention. And, because they’re on cellular, they’ll just get up and walk away
Well, that price is just for the EU. Could be that Apple’s raising prices to kill sales in the EU to become so small as to no longer be a Gatekeeper?
I would add Productivity Apps, such as iWork and MS Office, to your list of common/everyday tasks. Also, multi-tasking is important to students and office workers. For me, in these two areas, an MBA is generally a much better experience than an iPad.Most folks have a very narrowly defined use case. Give them something to surf the web (not just where Wifi exists, but EVERYWHERE) check their social media and email, play some games and/or music and/or videos and edit some pictures and they’ll be hard pressed to recognize anything that’s “missing” from that device.
Start reciting the normal list of “missing features” and their eyes will first glaze over, then they’ll be distracted by the most recent Twitter feud and stop paying attention. And, because they’re on cellular, they’ll just get up and walk away
The iPad is better at other stuff, i.e.; reading notes, mark-ups, and drawing. Each devices has its strengths.
I wouldn’t because I realize that while I use those, to the vast majority, Notes are all they need to write in and likely don’t even know what Pages is. I could show it to them and let them know JUST how much BETTER it is than Notes and if they’re polite they may smile and say thanks… and then go right back to Notes.
Similar with multi-tasking… there are things that I know I do regularly but, just typing these words on a Mac Rumors forum means, I’m not representative of the largest group of folks using computing devices today.
What do they want it to be and what are they working towards? Because they’ve been pushing it as a “real” computer in their last iPad campaign. If it is, how is it different from the Mac and why should I pay more for it? Chances are, if I don’t know and you don’t know, then Apple doesn’t know.
Respectfully disagree. In my experience, productivity apps (Google Docs, iWork & MS Office) are commonly used by everyday consumers, for example: High School/College (writing papers & making tables/charts), Office Work (drafting reports/contracts & analyze business decisions), and even Home computing (budgets, flyers, letters, etc.).
In my brief but humble opinion the iPad is still a small computer just as it’s always been just not as powerful as a laptop bit bigger than iPhone.
I don’t know, but then again, not knowing and being fine with it is an ok place to be. If, in a year, I still like what I see at a price that I like, great, might even buy one if I’m so inclined. I’m also aware, though, that there may come a time where I’m no longer in the group of users they’re targeting, where I don’t like the product they produce or I don’t find value at the price they’re offering it. If that becomes the case? Then, I won’t buy the product.
Just because I don’t know and you don’t know doesn’t mean that there’s not a backlog inside Apple that defines the iPad hardware and software feature set for years out. In fact, if they’re following Agile development practices, it’s a given that they’d HAVE to have that. But, no one has access to that but Apple employees and, if they want to retain that status, they’re not saying anything, either. Very few outside Apple were ware of the Dynamic Island before it was released, too!
I’m not saying they’re not used, they certainly are. But, the High School/College group isn’t representative of the population at large. Same with Office Workers. If one wanted to build a demographic of folks that would MOST LIKELY need something more than an iPad, that’s precisely where I’d start.
Once you get outside those areas, though, even with home computing, there’s not a lot of people doing a lot of things that would REQUIRE anything more than an iPad (and Pages has the same templates for macOS and iPadOS). Are there a few million folks, that, as a part of their home computing, running a business, coordinating social media feeds, preparing and delivering printed documents, etc.? ABSOLUTELY! I’m not saying that those exceptional people with their exceptional needs don’t exist. I’d just recognize that exceptional means rare, better than average, and realize that those folks are also not like most folks in reference to what they’d need from a computing device.
Of course above and beyond all this, there will always be the interface and, for folks used to an interface, other things being equal, they’ll go for the interface that’s familiar. They’ll go for the form factor that’s familiar. There are folks using desktops today and, for what they use it for, their needs are well within the realms of the iPad, but if a desktop is what they want, I wouldn’t suggest they get anything else.
Agree.
But this then also means that the iPad price is too high. If perceived by users to be less powerful than a laptop, then the price should also be less than that of a laptop.
This here and now explains the falling iPad sales.
And that Apple has lost contact with the real world - and its users.
What?
You realise that the new iPad Pro's are not incorporated in these results while Apple did launch the M2 MBA and M2 MBP?
There is nothing newsworthy about these iPad figures except for getting clicks, as it is totally expected given the product launches.
It surprises me that the iPad is 75% of the size of the entire Mac market, 29 bn dollars a year is a very successful business in its own right considering that the Mac in one of its better years brought in 40 bn for a 10% share of the personal computer market.
I am not exactly sure what you are saying, and we might not really be disagreeing. So, let me just say that I view productivity apps (Google Docs, iWork, Office, etc..) to be part of common everyday computing. Multi-tasking goes with it because creating documents often requires that you can move rapidly between source material. I don't see these as rare or exceptional requirements. Productivity Apps are commonly used by a huge percentage of computer users for everyday tasks, which includes school, work, and home. In no way would I classify productivity apps as a "niche" use. In fact, I believe that the single most common productive use for a computer is working on documents......creating, editing, sharing, and collaborating. Well, I can't think of anything more more commonly used for productivity.....maybe someone else can.
And I (sort of) disagree with you. I know lots of people that use Notepad on Windows, and I know Mac users that use Notes but aren’t interested in whatever it would take to use Pages instead. They don’t need it often enough and they are happy having written it down somewhere that they know they will check if they need to.
I’m not saying it’s easier, I’m saying that’s how they have always done it. And Notepad/Word is probably treated the same if that’s what they have at work.