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This isn’t shocking. I’ve been wondering why people thought they would refresh the iPad pros so soon? Aren’t the pros on a 2 year cycle generally?
 
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I think people buy the Pros expecting a 3-5 year life span like a PC/laptop.

There is no other reason to drop that kind of money on a tablet.
 
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I’m glad, I got the impression when buying the iPad Pro I wouldn’t have to upgrade for another year and a half or two. of course the battery has taken a massive hit with iOS 13 and it already makes me wanna upgrade. When I first got the thing it was really crazy. Sucks iOS 13 destroyed a12 devices with their battery life.
Yes, I agree with you 100%. My iPad Pro 2018 has had the most impressive battery outta all my devices. Now, not so much. I thought it was because I had it for 1 year. Now I know why.
 
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Apple's chief financial officer Luca Maestri has provided a clue that the iPad Pro might not be refreshed in 2019.

ipadprowithkeyboard-800x575.jpg

Speaking on Apple's earnings call this afternoon, Maestri said that Apple's revenue guidance for the holiday quarter accounts for the fact that the iPad Pro will have different launch timing on a year-over-year basis. Apple's holiday quarter runs from late September through the end of December.

In other words, while Apple refreshed its iPad Pro lineup in October 2018, Maestri is suggesting that there will not be another iPad Pro refresh until at least 2020 and that Apple has factored that decision into its guidance.

While multiple reports indicated that Apple planned to refresh the iPad Pro this October, it is unlikely with only one full day left in the month. One report did claim the iPad Pro will be updated in March 2020, a common month for an Apple event, and that timeframe is looking more likely in light of Maestri's comments.

The next iPad Pro models are expected to feature 3D sensing added to the rear-facing camera system, which could be expanded to three lenses like iPhone 11 Pro models. On a speculative note, the iPad Pro could also potentially beat iPhone 12 models to 5G, in line with the iPad gaining LTE support before the iPhone in 2012.

March 2020 would make sense given the 12.9-inch iPad Pro has been refreshed once every 18 months or so on average. A refresh this fall would have been around only 12 months after the October 2018 refresh. But, nothing is for certain.

Article Link: Apple's CFO Suggests iPad Pro Won't Be Refreshed in 2019

I been waiting on the new iPad Pro but seeing all the iPad Pro 2018 going on sale yesterday by Walmart and amazon etc Makes me think again,Apple has used a no-discount pricing strategy both with the products it sells in its own Apple retail stores and with the Apple products sold in all other retail chains like Wal-Mart and Best Buy,Apple seems to be able to control pricing on a global scale is with the severity of the consequences for breaking the no-discount-prices rule. To lose your official reseller certification is to lose a lot of potential future sales revenue.Knowing when theres a new generation of iPad, iPhone, iPod or computers that are about to be released, authorized Apple products dealers are given permission to discount their existing inventory to make room for the newest releases, the iPad is on sale for a lot and idk if that means it’s time for the new one to come out other then that I don’t see why they would authorize them to put it on sale then.
 
This isn’t shocking. I’ve been wondering why people thought they would refresh the iPad pros so soon? Aren’t the pros on a 2 year cycle generally?

See the thing is, some rumors are indicating that we were going to see iPads around this time frame, which is why this article is kind of confirming that’s not the case here. Apples iPad cycle hasn’t really been consistent, as a matter fact, it’s been really complete opposite with the Pro lineup.
 
I’m glad, I got the impression when buying the iPad Pro I wouldn’t have to upgrade for another year and a half or two. of course the battery has taken a massive hit with iOS 13 and it already makes me wanna upgrade. When I first got the thing it was really crazy. Sucks iOS 13 destroyed a12 devices with their battery life.

You may not want to, but try and full wipe of your iPad, restoring with iTunes (or Finder in Catalina) and do not restore from backup. I’ve actually only seen a slight improvement with my A11 iPhone X... but I do a fresh wipe with every major release to clean out odd bugs that tend to happen with updates.
 
Ugh, I’m so torn. I don’t know what to do. I’ve been planning on getting an iPad Pro this fall. But now that I have to wait till March, I don’t know what to do. Should I buy an old model now on sale, or should I wait till March?

if you’re getting a good sale I’d honestly recommend you get it. I was in the same boat as you until 3 weeks ago and I said screw it and got it for $250 off, the 12.9” WiFi. It’s so damn powerful a new processor really isn’t going to help much, the only thing that would make it worth waiting is if they’re OLED screens, not to say I don’t find anything wrong with the current iPhone screens.
Just go get it, really.
 
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Ugh, I’m so torn. I don’t know what to do. I’ve been planning on getting an iPad Pro this fall. But now that I have to wait till March, I don’t know what to do. Should I buy an old model now on sale, or should I wait till March?

Wait, not until March but until Back to School special, you will get free Beats (valued $200-300) sometimes even $50 off. That’s the best time to buy an iPad.
 
I think Apple would be wise to get out of the habit of yearly mobile device refreshes and yearly OS refreshes.

You’ll never convince me that it doesn’t hurt their sales now that we’re officially in the era where we’ve hit peak iPhone and iPad. <...>

I think too many managers jump the gun trying to hit specific dates for specific features and as a result there is a culture at Apple that’s more about putting features out there than there is about making sure the features that are already there are as stable as they can be and that new features aren’t released until they are truly ready.

If they aren’t willing to go that far then every other yearly release should focus less on new features and more heavily on fixing bugs and improving performance as they did with iOS 12.

This is a good post. When I was a product manager at a large tech company (not Apple), these kind of thought-out inputs from customers were like gold. I hope someone from Apple reads it.
 
I suppose that might be because Apple’s ability to innovate has been missing for quite some time now.
They say that before his death, Steve Jobs supposedly had his hand involved in the next five major product upgrade cycles. Dare I say that this would’ve covered their ‘innovation’ up to the past few dead-cycles we’ve seen? Let’s be honest here: ever since we let Apple get away with that iPhone 6s (s is for speed) keynote, you know, the one where the whole theme was ‘Speed’ being their newest major upgrade, they’ve been milking this annual production process like nothing we’ve ever seen before.

Side note: whomever was the executive at Apple who started this keynote phrase “it’s the best iPhone / iPad we’ve made yet” should be shot. Of course it’s ‘the best one yet’; are we supposed to use that as validation that we shouldn’t worry that last year’s model might be the best? Who wouldn’t call their latest and greatest the best yet?!? So why do we have to be hearing that year after year?

Bottom line:
I have completely lost all hope in Apple revolutionizing any new innovation of value. Anything substantial seems to be either too risky, or spread out to be milked over so many years. Tim Cook’s leadership has brought us products like the HomePod (a total catastrophe) and the Apple Watch (on my 4th generation and it’s only now starting to show any potential).

Perhaps this is why they pulled the plug on their autonomous skunkworks project.
1) “They say” Jobs had the next five upgrade cycles roadmapped? I think someone probably made that up. I’ve never heard that from anyone who would have been in a position to actually know.

2) If Apple saying a product is the “best one yet” and then proceeding to tell you why is so upsetting to you, you could always skip the keynote. Or maybe pay someone to edit out things you don’t like to hear.

3) HomePod is hardly a total catastrophe. Apple knew it was going to be a niche product, but it’s meant to complement Apple Music and increase the stickiness of the ecosystem, and increase services revenue. If I had to guess I’d estimate sales of maybe 10 million, a few billion in sales.

4) Sure Apple Watch is awesome, and is still gaining many new customers, but AirPods are great too. Mac, iPhone and iPad lineups are in excellent shape, as well

5) Apple didn’t pull the plug on the autonomous project, nor the Apple Car. I don’t think it’s a consumer product though, but a transportation as a service play.
 
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My 11" definitely drains quicker than iOS12. Lucky to get 4hrs screen time on a charge.

4 hours of screen time? You should take that back to Apple ASAP They'll run diagnostics on it and replace it. That's like 6 hours less than normal. If I had an iPad that bad I couldn't even post about because I'd already have it replaced at my closest Apple store.
 
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I think Apple would be wise to get out of the habit of yearly mobile device refreshes and yearly OS refreshes.

You’ll never convince me that it doesn’t hurt their sales now that we’re officially in the era where we’ve hit peak iPhone and iPad. I used to refresh my iPhone every other year. The only exception was going from the 5 to the 5s when Touch ID was released. That was a killer feature that demanded an upgrade. I stayed with the 6s until the iPhone X was released and unless something drastic changes I’ll probably have the X for at least 4 years.

I’ve owned an iPad 2, iPad Air and the 9.7” iPad Pro. From right out of the gate the iPad had a refresh cycle closer to that of a PC or laptop and less similar to early smart phone years where you could justify a yearly or bi-yearly upgrade cycle.

I think it kills sales because if your 5 or 6 months past that last iPhone or iPad release why would you pay to upgrade your device when you know your just a handful of months away from having a device that won’t be the latest and greatest?

Now that upgrade cycles are more in line with PC’s and laptops I’d want to keep consumers guessing so they don’t have a built in reason to hold off on a purchase.

As for OS releases Apple simply supports too many hardware revs of their various devices. When you’re dealing with supporting millions or tens of millions of devices with components sourced from from a relatively small number of vendors it’s a lot easier to produce OS code without bugs than it is when your dealing with hundreds of millions of devices with components sourced from an ever growing number of vendors.

Instead of a yearly OS release packed with new features they should release a yearly OS roadmap with the features they intend to release through out the course of the year. If a feature isn’t ready for prime time it should be withheld for a later point release or the next major OS release if it’s warranted.

I think too many managers jump the gun trying to hit specific dates for specific features and as a result there is a culture at Apple that’s more about putting features out there than there is about making sure the features that are already there are as stable as they can be and that new features aren’t released until they are truly ready.

If they aren’t willing to go that far then every other yearly release should focus less on new features and more heavily on fixing bugs and improving performance as they did with iOS 12.
Most of what you’re saying should happen is already the way things are.

1) iPhone is on a yearly update cycle for a good reason, and is even more important now that upgrade cycles are moving into the 3-4 year range. Not everyone is on the same cycle. If you’ve got 800 million users upgrading, maybe 200 million upgrade in any given year. When they do upgrade, they want a relatively new device, not one that’s a year and a half old. With yearly releases, on average you’re going to be buying a six month old device.

Tens of millions update in the final quarter; sure the October-December quarter is best, but the other three aren’t exactly horrible. A purchase deferred from June to Sept is still a purchase.

2) iPad/iPad Pro/mini/Air aren’t on a yearly update cycle. Unlike iPhone, the volume isn’t sufficient. Even the highest volume model was just March 2018/Sept 2019.

3) New feature rollouts in .1, .2, .3 releases are already common. I can’t remember the last time all the features promised at WWDC came in the .0 release. They’re added when they’re ready. Some complain loudly and incessantly when that occurs but that’s no surprise

4) Apple could definitely do better from a QA standpoint, no doubt. But supporting fewer devices isn’t the answer, people want older devices supported. Reducing the number of new features would probably result in fewer bugs, however I don’t think slowing down the pace of innovation is a good solution.
 
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The iPhone didn’t start showing its potential until the iPhone 4. That’s when sales started growing exponentially
Potential? iPhone 1 was a complete game changer. Google maps was and still is (imho) the most useful app on iPhone. iPhone 4 was when the masses started to catch on.
 
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I am glad Apple is doing this. No reason to update the ipad pros EVERY year. 18 months is fine. I would even say every 2 years is fine.
 
Ugh, I’m so torn. I don’t know what to do. I’ve been planning on getting an iPad Pro this fall. But now that I have to wait till March, I don’t know what to do. Should I buy an old model now on sale, or should I wait till March?
I’m in the same situation. My iPad Pro 10.5” start aging, especially the battery (down to 86% of the original value, according to coconut) and I was planning for a Christmas gift for myself.
now I’m debated: a discounted iPad Pro or just wait six months (and pay the full price for it) ?
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I suppose that might be because Apple’s ability to innovate has been missing for quite some time now.
They say that before his death, Steve Jobs supposedly had his hand involved in the next five major product upgrade cycles. Dare I say that this would’ve covered their ‘innovation’ up to the past few dead-cycles we’ve seen? Let’s be honest here: ever since we let Apple get away with that iPhone 6s (s is for speed) keynote, you know, the one where the whole theme was ‘Speed’ being their newest major upgrade, they’ve been milking this annual production process like nothing we’ve ever seen before.

Side note: whomever was the executive at Apple who started this keynote phrase “it’s the best iPhone / iPad we’ve made yet” should be shot. Of course it’s ‘the best one yet’; are we supposed to use that as validation that we shouldn’t worry that last year’s model might be the best? Who wouldn’t call their latest and greatest the best yet?!? So why do we have to be hearing that year after year?

Bottom line:
I have completely lost all hope in Apple revolutionizing any new innovation of value. Anything substantial seems to be either too risky, or spread out to be milked over so many years. Tim Cook’s leadership has brought us products like the HomePod (a total catastrophe) and the Apple Watch (on my 4th generation and it’s only now starting to show any potential).

Perhaps this is why they pulled the plug on their autonomous skunkworks project.
I’m so tired about this “lack of innovation after jobs death” meme...

is just bs.
FaceID, Watch, AirPods, services ... Apple is much much bigger today.
 
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iPads on iOS 7-8 were on insane with battery. Wish they still had that battery life.

You keep saying ‘they’... but they do still have great battery life - it’s just yours that doesn’t seem to. My iPad Pro running iOS 13 lasts an incredible amount of time. Maybe you have a bad battery?
 
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fully expected and very welcome chance to bulk up savings for the iPP 2020 edition 🥳.
 
This is actually good news for me because 2020 was my target year for replacing my 1st gen iPad Pro from 2015. I may be updating sooner rather than later!
 
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