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Apple's New iPad Lineup Causes Potential Confusion With Inconsistent Features

lakee05 said:
Apple needs to fix their product lines, people will become disinterested in the products because they don't have a clear understanding of the differences and classes of the products. Here's what I think Apple should do with the iPad lineup.View attachment 2097989
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Who is the iPad Air for? Why would they buy it over the iPad or the iPad Pro? It seems to exist just to fill a price gap.
 
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Rogifan said:
Who is the iPad Air for? Why would they buy it over the iPad or the iPad Pro? It seems to exist just to fill a price gap.
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I would imagine the low tier iPads for kids and adults that play games and browse the internet. The iPad air would be for students and those how draw and create. And the iPad pros for the developers and video editors and content creators.
 
What’s downright stupid is iPad 10 coming with a USB-C port and charging cable in the box but it’s only compatible with Gen 1 Apple Pencil which is designed for charging directly in a Lightning port.

But Gen 1 Pencil doesn’t come in a version with the new USB-C to Lightning adapter nor does this adapter come in the iPad 10 box. You have to buy the adapter separately.

Seems so convoluted.

Why upgrade the budget option iPad to this design and USB-C if you want to have it still be tied to Lightning tech?

If this isn’t the point where arbitrary decisions to pinch a few more pennies gets in the way of the user experience then I don’t know what is.
 
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How to buy an iPad:

  1. Decide how much you want to spend.
  2. Decide how much storage you need.
  3. Buy that. Don't think about anything else.
EDIT: If screen size is your priority, your decisions are mostly made for you already. There's only one Mini and only one 12.9". For now.......
 
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csalm87 said:
The iPad Air should be eliminated and merged with the iPad. This would eliminate some confusion with the feature set. iPad, iPad Pro and iPad mini. All iPads should work with the 2nd gen Apple Pencil without an adapter. In my opinion, the only features that should be different in the Pro models are better graphics and processor, more storage, best display.
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Nailed it ^^
 
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jimbobb24 said:
Is LiDAR really a feature? Never use it on my Pro.
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Note the word pro. Most people that buy that are not professionals. People that do interior design and construction and all sorts of other careers that require measurements and scanning a room probably use it all the time.
 
CheesePuff said:
It's been a confusing lineup for years - even the iPad Pro you have no idea that the 12.9" model has a much better display than the 11".

This is what Jobs did when he returned in 1997 and saw the plethora of same Macintosh models that their product managers couldn't tell him why they existed or what differentiated each one, so he scrapped them all and went with what we knew for years, one consumer and one professional laptop model and one consumer and one professional desktop model
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The comments are overwhelmingly, stupid and irrationa
CheesePuff said:
It's been a confusing lineup for years - even the iPad Pro you have no idea that the 12.9" model has a much better display than the 11".

This is what Jobs did when he returned in 1997 and saw the plethora of same Macintosh models that their product managers couldn't tell him why they existed or what differentiated each one, so he scrapped them all and went with what we knew for years, one consumer and one professional laptop model and one consumer and one professional desktop model
Click to expand...
A rational criticism among the rubbish. Thanks!
 
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lakee05 said:
I would imagine the low tier iPads for kids and adults that play games and browse the internet. The iPad air would be for students and those how draw and create. And the iPad pros for the developers and video editors and content creators.
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OK so then have iPad, iPad Plus and iPad Pro. Have iPad at $329, iPad Plus at $599 and iPad Pro at $799. Of course the outlier then would be the mini which is $499.

I noticed John Gruber hasn’t written anything about the new iPads on his site. I get the feeling we will get a long post from him complaining about how confusing the lineup is, like Jason Snell at Six Colors and MacStories did. At least I hope he says something because I know Apple executives read his website.
 
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erikkfi said:
How to buy an iPad:

  1. Decide how much you want to spend
  2. Decide how much storage you need.
  3. Buy that. Don't think about anything else.
Click to expand...
I would add size. I own a 12.9” Pro primarily for the screen size, not because I’m using it for “pro” reasons.
 
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JPack said:
Indeed, 4 different iPods, each with 2 capacities and 6-9 different colors.

Some people like to be selective with their romantic Steve Jobs memory.
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They also were revising the iPod every year to stay ahead of competitors, and had a lot of misfires… And a lot of leftover inventory they would carry over to the next year Morris sell through. That was a whole new market segment, and everybody and their mother was coming out with MP3 players trying to steal marketshare so a little bit different than an established product line even though absolutely true.
 
jimbobb24 said:
This I don’t understand. If you needed an iPad you would skip because the line up is confusing? If you need one you find the one you like and buy it. It will not matter that it’s confusing.
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You leave it until later hoping one turns up that clearly meets your needs. And you don’t touch the new iPad at all because of the terrible lack of coordination that requires a dongle to charge your pencil.
 
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Rogifan said:
Why does the Air exist. Have a cheap(er) iPad and the more expensive iPad Pros. And don’t care if there’s a huge price gap between them. The people who need pro hardware/features will pay for them. Everyone else will be fine with the cheaper model.
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Bingo!

iPad mini - 8.3" / A-series SoC
iPad - 10.9" / 12.9" / A-series SoC
iPad Pro - 11" / 12.9" / M-series SoC / ProMotion Screen
 
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CheesePuff said:
It's been a confusing lineup for years - even the iPad Pro you have no idea that the 12.9" model has a much better display than the 11".

This is what Jobs did when he returned in 1997 and saw the plethora of same Macintosh models that their product managers couldn't tell him why they existed or what differentiated each one, so he scrapped them all and went with what we knew for years, one consumer and one professional laptop model and one consumer and one professional desktop model
Click to expand...
Apple has way more money now. They’ll throw anything at the wall and it doesn’t really matter if it sticks or not.
 
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CheesePuff said:
It's been a confusing lineup for years - even the iPad Pro you have no idea that the 12.9" model has a much better display than the 11".

This is what Jobs did when he returned in 1997 and saw the plethora of same Macintosh models that their product managers couldn't tell him why they existed or what differentiated each one, so he scrapped them all and went with what we knew for years, one consumer and one professional laptop model and one consumer and one professional desktop model
Click to expand...
Exactly! I got an 11" iPad Pro after seeing an ad for the great display, only to find out later that I missed in the ad it was only for the 12.9" iPad Pro. So the 11" went to the wife, and I purchased a 12.9".
Very confusing lineup indeed, and why don't they design all cases to fit in the next gen devices?
 
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