iPad 5 in Spring?

[Menel]

Summer at earliest.

Now much left for them to do until next generation SoC. Retina, A6 is brand new.

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There's no reason to update in March/April now. They had several good reasons to update the iPad now, alongside the Mini.

However, if they update in March there's no real benefit, and the timing is bad.

They had a pile of reasons to update now:

-Sub-par performance on iPad 3
-Screen issues on iPad 3
-Heat issues on iPad 3
-New Lightning Connector
-Line unification
-Freeing up the March/April keynote for other things
-Bringing the iPad event into the early school year
-Bringing the iPad event into the holiday season

I think it's a one-time thing. In fact, I so firmly believe it that I bought an iPad 4. I'm sure in March that my gamble won't seem like it was a gamble at all.

1. iPad 3 performs spot on.
2. same screen in 4.
3. doesn't run hot.
4/5. sure
6. speculative.
7. this iPad launch is after school year started. All school purchases made. Winter makes a better launch, because you have 4-5 months before the next year starts up again.
8. sure

You missed cost. 45nm -> 32nm SoC saves them a healthy margin on manufacturing. xxnm -> 28nm LTE also increases margins, and expands iPad LTE to international markets.

 

[JohnnyAndre]

Summer at earliest.

Now much left for them to do until next generation SoC. Retina, A6 is brand new.

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1. iPad 3 performs spot on.
2. same screen in 4.
3. doesn't run hot.
4/5. sure
6. speculative.
7. this iPad launch is after school year started. All school purchases made. Winter makes a better launch, because you have 4-5 months before the next year starts up again.
8. sure

You missed cost. 45nm -> 32nm SoC saves them a healthy margin on manufacturing. xxnm -> 28nm LTE also increases margins, and expands iPad LTE to international markets.

1. iPad 3 A5X can't handle retina/LTE. Battery life is awful.
2. True
3. Are you kidding me? Or just yourself?
4/5. True
6. Isn't this blatant? They're making room for something by moving everything to fall.
7/8. true

 

[iZac]

Apple can't afford to retain the iPad 2 design for two and a half years. Everyone derided the iPad 3 because "all it offered" was a better screen, but personally I feel that was a much more significant introduction than the processor bumped 4.

My personal thinking was that Apple wants to stave off the encroaching android and critically the new Win 8 RT hordes. I guess they thought since they had to unify the lightning cable on iOS devices, they might as well give it a CPU injection to keep it fresh.

The introduction of the mini also allows Apple to introduce a new 'iPad' product every 6 months - be it big or little brother versions, which will help them keep control of this incredibly lucrative new market.

 

[Kavier]

I think they've changed the refresh cycle and we prob won't see an upgrade until the fall of next yr

 

[darngooddesign]

In fact what Apple said is totally understandable. Bear in mind that all Apple cares about are three things: making money, making money, and making MORE money. What else do you expect Apple to say when it comes to their products?

Apple cares about giving users the best product they can, so users will buy them and Apple will make money.

 

[tann]

I always thought this would be a massive no, but after seeing the both pricing and specs on the Nexus 10 I think they might want to do a redesign sooner rather than later.

Especially since the Nexus 10 is thinner and lighter.

But if they released one in the Spring I don't see it having upgraded internals!

The holiday season does seem like the best time to upgrade them though, because spring's too soon to give a new processor (and there may not even be one ready in time for spring) so they might move the iPad upgrade to WWDC (as some have said) this allows for them to have their best tablet out for the holiday, and also get the best processor (before the iPhone does).

Then maybe the mini will be updated with the iPods?

So much stuff to update, so few months in a year!

 

[Menel]

1. iPad 3 A5X can't handle retina/LTE. Battery life is awful.
2. True
3. Are you kidding me? Or just yourself?
4/5. True
6. Isn't this blatant? They're making room for something by moving everything to fall.
7/8. true

Just regurgitating facts that media reports, and those of us with them know to be true.

nearly 13 hours of continuous 720p playback is nothing to thumb your nose at. That gets you an entire season of "Game of Thrones," with enough leftover power to squeeze in a couple "The Walking Dead" episodes as well. That's a lot of good-looking entertainment you can consume on just one charge.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-5...attery-life-nearly-the-same-as-the-old-ipads/

Confirmed: New iPad's heat a non-issue
Yes, the new iPad runs warmer than its predecessor. But it's no hotter than your average laptop, and not extreme enough to change our overall opinion of the device.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57401047-37/confirmed-new-ipads-heat-a-non-issue/

 

[Noisemaker]

Just regurgitating facts that media reports, and those of us with them know to be true.

As a former iPad 3 owner, I disagree. You might be in denial, but they are most definitely fact. In many cases the iPad 2 outperformed the iPad 3. That's fact. The iPad 3 runs hotter than any other iPad. That's also fact.

You can call them "Regurgitated media reports" all you want, but that's simply not true. They're real issues that many iPad 3 owners have experienced.

As for the argument that the screen is the same in the 4 as in the 3, we don't know that yet, and we only will once tear downs happen.

 

[racer1441]

This. The question is though, will apple release a new mini and reg size iPad simultaneously every yr in the fall?

i would say yes.

 

[Hakone]

I needed another lightning connector so i bought the new iPad.

 

[MacAgnostic]

I needed another lightning connector so i bought the new iPad.

The BEST reason EVER for upgrading a 3rd gen. iPad

 

[seajewel]

Yeah, Nexus 10 being lighter is a big deal.. I think an iPad 5th Gen with a re-design, thinner and much lighter will come around June or so. but performance specs might stay the same.

 

[Menel]

As a former iPad 3 owner, I disagree. You might be in denial, but they are most definitely fact. In many cases the iPad 2 outperformed the iPad 3. That's fact. The iPad 3 runs hotter than any other iPad. That's also fact.

You can call them "Regurgitated media reports" all you want, but that's simply not true. They're real issues that many iPad 3 owners have experienced.

As for the argument that the screen is the same in the 4 as in the 3, we don't know that yet, and we only will once tear downs happen.

I can say the sky is green, and the grass is blue, but that doesn't make it so.

 

[Coeuspolus]

The most compelling facts to me are:

-iPad sales are down and 4 has not generated much buzz.
-The competition is intensifying and will continue to try to release "iPad killers." None of them follow a strict annual release schedule and would in fact very much like to disrupt Apple's business model.
-A big part of any Apple innovation/update is the design and the iPad is overdue for a redesign. It needs to lose some weight.

It's hard to imagine them waiting 12 months to release the iPad 5.

 

[Noisemaker]

I can say the sky is green, and the grass is blue, but that doesn't make it so.

That also doesn't qualify as a response to my argument against yours. It's just you deflecting because you're wrong.

You can go and read countless reports about heat issues and lag because the A5X isn't powerful enough. It's not me making statements up, it's citing legitimate, well documented reports.

If you want to be in denial, great. Go ahead. But if you're going to argue to force your denial on others you better step up your game.

 

[Menel]

That also doesn't qualify as a response to my argument against yours. It's just you deflecting because you're wrong.

You can go and read countless reports about heat issues and lag because the A5X isn't powerful enough. It's not me making statements up, it's citing legitimate, well documented reports.

If you want to be in denial, great. Go ahead. But if you're going to argue to force your denial on others you better step up your game.

What argument, you made none. I linked data, and I could link more data from Anand, etc. You just restated your previous thoughts without any references backing it. I can't go any further with someone who lacks reason.

 

[Noisemaker]

What argument, you made none. I linked data, and I could link more data from Anand, etc. You just restated your previous thoughts without any references backing it. I can't go any further with someone who lacks reason.

Why would I waste time tracking down articles that you could easily google yourself? I'm not desperate to prove you wrong, because I already know you are. I don't need to play your game and waste my time to know that. Nor does anyone else here who has/has had an iPad 3 and has had it heat up in their hand, get bogged down in things as basic as Safari, or even have screen issues.

The argument is that you're wrong because of widely known facts. You cited two articles that didn't negate these facts. They simply shrugged them off as issues that weren't really big issues. That's opinion and debatable. The FACT is that the issues are actually there, and that's even reinforced by your own linked articles. Go check any benchmark of an iPad 3 vs iPad 2. Or search "iPad 3 heat issues" or "iPad 3 slow" here on MacRumors. Argue it all you want. You're wrong, plain and simple.

 

[GoodBoy]

Maybe. But between now and then one should use and enjoy what's available and worry about upgrading later. Life's too short.

Agreed, but semms like people don't want to feel like it's already outdated with their newly purchased device. Releasing iPad 4 just a few months after iPad 3 and putting iPad 3 to grave yet at the same time still continuing to support wrecked iPad 2 caused some serious confusion among customers. Now people think Apple will be realising new updates every 6 months. It's good from technology progress point of view, but it's bad for customers wallets. Of course you can say that people don't have to upgrade every couple of months, but Apple is telling them differently using marketing tricks, that's why there's so many whiners threads. If it's anybodys fault, it's Apple's.

 

[49JC]

No way we see one in spring now. This update just gave apple more time to spend on a new refresh model til late QTR 3 or even 4. The iphone 5 refresh was pushed a couple months to September and look how long it took for us to get an iMac refresh, let alone Mac Pro.

 

[kappaknight]

I believe that we will see an iPad 5th generation in the spring. If not, what to introduce in the first half of the year? TV? I think that they are not ready to introduce the "TV". And the rest of the line has been updated... The minor changes in the iPad 4th leave the door open for an iPad with the form factor similar to the current iPad mini. But not in October 2013, the competition is now to big.

Maybe TV... Mac Pro.

 

[teknikal90]

Well seeing as I just bought the 4 I'm hoping against an update. And I calm myself using the following reasoning:

The March launch has always been awkward. After Christmas and Valentine's, everyone's broke.

After the iPad 3 launching with essentially the same chip as the iPad 2, the iPad now lags in power, dropping down to iPod touch levels coming into the holiday season. Cant have that... So Tim Cook probably saw this and thought...combined with the 'everyone's broke after Christmas thinking".. lets bring it forward to October. That way the iPad doesn't lag 6 months after the iPhone tech wise, and now we can have hope in unifying the line into the same chip in a given year.

 

[blackbelter]

Apple cares about giving users the best product they can, so users will buy them and Apple will make money.

It is good for you to be so innocent. It is rare to have this quality nowadays.

 

[ZBoater]

It is good for you to be so innocent. It is rare to have this quality nowadays.

And it's better to assume ill intent where none can be proven?

 

[Aluminum213]

but the keynote made it a point to keep saying that this was the "Fourth Generation", not just an update.

that would be because they called it the 4th generation iPad as they also do on the website

 

[rowspaxe]

The march refresh cycle surely depresses holiday and student sales somewhat--although the effect may have gone unnoticed in the dawning of the age of ipad sales mania. Apple needs to figure out a way to visually differentiate its flagship tablet from the competition. Ipad has none of the visual impact of the mbp and air product lines. A lighter thinner ipad5 would help, but look for bezel reduction and possible virtual bezel, and also a slightly larger screen size. Another trend is that there are no killer apps released this year. The ecosystem is vital, but not really compelling.