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iPad iPad Pro 3
- Thread starter SaltSlasher
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While I understand your logic in this, if the past is any inclination as to how Apple works, its clear that Apple works on its own schedule and more or less disregards what other companies release. In all likelihood, Apple will wait until next year and release the iPad 3. No 2.5 or HD.
Even if there was a new one this fall, that wouldn't stop you from having an amazing piece of hardware that harmonizes with new and old software. I would be very happy to have either one even though I'm perfectly ok with my first generation iPad.
Of all the people I know with iPads (which are now very many) - there's not one who knows or cares what's inside of the thing. They just know it does what they want to do. The segment that's drawn to tech specs is far smaller than you believe.
I may certainly be wrong about this (duh) - but I really wouldn't count on an iPad 2.5/HD/3 being released and/or announced before next spring.
I know this goes counter to the "accepted wisdom" on internet forums, but there really isn't much evidence to suggest such an introduction. And a lot of very good reasons why it WON'T happen.
1) Apple is still selling every iPad 2 it can make. Hard to argue with success. Apple has handily faced down its "competitors" in the tablet marketspace. Apple's goal was never to own 100% of the market (doing so would only invite regulatory attacks) - and there are always going to be those people who have a pyschoilogical hatred of anything Apple makes. (You may have seen some of their posts from time to time.)
2) A big part of Apple's success has been due to its avoidance of the dread plague of "fragmentation." Virtually every App for the iPhone works on the iPod touch, and every app for the iPad 1 works on the 2 (with a couple of minor exceptions.) Introducing a product NOW (less than eight months since the 2 was announced) with significant new features/screen resolution/etc. is going to cause developers, customers, and suppliers problems.
3) I question if sufficient time has elapsed to allow production/engineering resources to be able to supply enough quantity of high-enough performance GPU, RAM, and CPU circuitry to be produced. Its one thing for samsung (or whoever) to show off a super-high resolution display at a trade show. Its another thing for a vendor to commit to shipping half a million a month with a 0.25% defect rate.
4) Developers and customers are still "digesting" the iPad 2's capabilities. People HERE still can't tell me if the "compelling reason" for a Retina display is to watch movies, or to edit text, or to play games. Or all three or none of the above. Its one of those "it'd be nice to have" features people want as long as its free.
5) Apple has to be very careful about alienating its best customers. First adopters recognize the iPad 2 they bought in May 2011 is going to be obsolescent come summer of 2012. They'd be furious if it was out-of-date by Thanksgiving 2011. Start throwing products out there "off schedule" and you give those (ohh so profitable) early adopters a good reason to sit out the next product launch.
6) Developers - the people who make those tasty Apps that are a big part of the iPad's appeal - work to a schedule too. Independent guys who've been working all summer to perfect the App for iPad 2 are going to be pretty annoyed if they don't get at least six months or so worth of sales to pay back their investment before going back to work. But more importantly they are busy on implementing the new features and capabilities of iOS 5 right now.
7) Bandwidth: Most of the rumors involve super-high resolution displays. Even overlooking the technical/commercial hurdles such a feature would create, the fact remains that getting "Retina" class video at iPad display sizes in and out of the iPad would overwhelm most US residential internet service.
I have my own theories as to the sources of some of the sillier rumors floating around. But I'm pretty sure we won't see new iPad hardware till next spring.
I know this goes counter to the "accepted wisdom" on internet forums, but there really isn't much evidence to suggest such an introduction. And a lot of very good reasons why it WON'T happen.
1) Apple is still selling every iPad 2 it can make. Hard to argue with success. Apple has handily faced down its "competitors" in the tablet marketspace. Apple's goal was never to own 100% of the market (doing so would only invite regulatory attacks) - and there are always going to be those people who have a pyschoilogical hatred of anything Apple makes. (You may have seen some of their posts from time to time.)
2) A big part of Apple's success has been due to its avoidance of the dread plague of "fragmentation." Virtually every App for the iPhone works on the iPod touch, and every app for the iPad 1 works on the 2 (with a couple of minor exceptions.) Introducing a product NOW (less than eight months since the 2 was announced) with significant new features/screen resolution/etc. is going to cause developers, customers, and suppliers problems.
3) I question if sufficient time has elapsed to allow production/engineering resources to be able to supply enough quantity of high-enough performance GPU, RAM, and CPU circuitry to be produced. Its one thing for samsung (or whoever) to show off a super-high resolution display at a trade show. Its another thing for a vendor to commit to shipping half a million a month with a 0.25% defect rate.
4) Developers and customers are still "digesting" the iPad 2's capabilities. People HERE still can't tell me if the "compelling reason" for a Retina display is to watch movies, or to edit text, or to play games. Or all three or none of the above. Its one of those "it'd be nice to have" features people want as long as its free.
5) Apple has to be very careful about alienating its best customers. First adopters recognize the iPad 2 they bought in May 2011 is going to be obsolescent come summer of 2012. They'd be furious if it was out-of-date by Thanksgiving 2011. Start throwing products out there "off schedule" and you give those (ohh so profitable) early adopters a good reason to sit out the next product launch.
6) Developers - the people who make those tasty Apps that are a big part of the iPad's appeal - work to a schedule too. Independent guys who've been working all summer to perfect the App for iPad 2 are going to be pretty annoyed if they don't get at least six months or so worth of sales to pay back their investment before going back to work. But more importantly they are busy on implementing the new features and capabilities of iOS 5 right now.
7) Bandwidth: Most of the rumors involve super-high resolution displays. Even overlooking the technical/commercial hurdles such a feature would create, the fact remains that getting "Retina" class video at iPad display sizes in and out of the iPad would overwhelm most US residential internet service.
I have my own theories as to the sources of some of the sillier rumors floating around. But I'm pretty sure we won't see new iPad hardware till next spring.
As per Apple's Philosophy. They make stuff that Just Works[/s], the perfect blend of hardware and software to fully immerse you in their vision of the User experience.
I'm with poloponies, most people don't care about the graphics chip or CPU in the iPad. Just like most people don't know the displacement of the engine in their car or the number of watts output their stereo is capable of. Once a device performs well enough then it is not interesting for most people.
I'm not against your points, just saying that at this point those features are not driving many sales. Look at Apple's iPad commercials. Do they brag about the number of cores in the CPU or the bus speed? No. They talk about the experience.
If the iPad were seriously underpowered then this would be a valid concern, but the iPad has enough power so most of us don't worry about more.
I'm not against your points, just saying that at this point those features are not driving many sales. Look at Apple's iPad commercials. Do they brag about the number of cores in the CPU or the bus speed? No. They talk about the experience.
If the iPad were seriously underpowered then this would be a valid concern, but the iPad has enough power so most of us don't worry about more.
No significant portion of consumers cares about this, it's basically word salad, consumers aren't selecting devices on whether they have Tegra 3 or not. You've supposed that the presence of other devices indicates some competition, when in fact there is none, none at all. Hardly anybody at the consumer level knows about any of this stuff, and very few care.
I don't know where you are digging because there is no fact; however, there ARE a lot of people who don't know any facts but love to speculate. But you can wait until December, which is only six months away; but then when the third one isn't released you might as well wait until june for the actual release of the iPad 3, which will only be another six months away; but then you might as well wait another six months for the iPad3 HD; rinse, lather, and repeat.
Wow, this is spiraling out of control at this point. Primarily, apple competes on aesthetics, UI, and integration advantages against their competitors, not hardware superiority. If I were to apply the logic that the rumor crew has been using here, we should all have been swimming in iphone 5s by now since there are bigger, better, faster pieces of hardware out there. However, we're not, because the iphone remains competitive on the basis of it possessing the main traits most consumers of the device want. That is, apps, aesthetics, and user experience, and probably mix in brand cachet as well. Really, I'm not making this stuff up it's a pretty rudimentary observation. If people are miffed about the lack of a high resolution display, they'll just wait until next year because many of the people who would want a high resolution display in such a case want it from Apple as it's the only game in town for them as far as realistic purchasing.
With that in mind, we have to think about the substantive impact of trying to do this so early. Cortex-A9 is OK but not exactly a powerhouse in broad terms, so more cores would probably be required to support a higher resolution display. The next gen Tegra part is CA9 even if it's quad core and unless it has some rather ambitious gating power consumption is probably going up. On top of that, afaik nvidia isn't known for pulling power consumption down as far as PVR. Apple isn't going to want to sacrifice battery life as that IS something that matters to most of their buyers. I would expect they will either have to seriously retool A9 or more likely wait for A15 next year with a possible shift to the next litho node as well as give PVR time to put out their next part. That would allow a seamless transition to a higher resolution device with consistency in the user experience, which is a major part of Apple's mindshare maintenance.
Obviously, I could be wrong, but I find the argument that Apple is worried about "falling behind" on hardware pretty absurd. If the alternative platforms were genuinely more competitive (eg UI, brand cachet, user experience, aesthetics) I think this argument would hold more weight. However, as of now it doesn't seem exceedingly plausible to me.
With that in mind, we have to think about the substantive impact of trying to do this so early. Cortex-A9 is OK but not exactly a powerhouse in broad terms, so more cores would probably be required to support a higher resolution display. The next gen Tegra part is CA9 even if it's quad core and unless it has some rather ambitious gating power consumption is probably going up. On top of that, afaik nvidia isn't known for pulling power consumption down as far as PVR. Apple isn't going to want to sacrifice battery life as that IS something that matters to most of their buyers. I would expect they will either have to seriously retool A9 or more likely wait for A15 next year with a possible shift to the next litho node as well as give PVR time to put out their next part. That would allow a seamless transition to a higher resolution device with consistency in the user experience, which is a major part of Apple's mindshare maintenance.
Obviously, I could be wrong, but I find the argument that Apple is worried about "falling behind" on hardware pretty absurd. If the alternative platforms were genuinely more competitive (eg UI, brand cachet, user experience, aesthetics) I think this argument would hold more weight. However, as of now it doesn't seem exceedingly plausible to me.
That's a pretty misinformed perspective. Apple cares about the hardware that matters. The recent iMacs tout some impressive specs and performance. Apple doesn't blindly put faith in specs though and doesn't "overdesign" in that they keep the hardware matched to their goals.
So, sure, they can put more in and crow about it, but that's not what people buy. People buy on price and usability.
I never suggested Apple doesn't care about hardware. Rather, I suggested that "bigger, better, faster" doesn't drive Apple's release schedules and that they do not primarily compete on hardware. If that were not the case, the release schedule on the iphone would have looked rather different (and realistically, the macbook and desktop lines as well). I don't think Apple commits to using crusty hardware, but they tend to deliver it when it fits their overall product arcs and schedule and then they throw in a lot of post-facto fanfare about the hardware. The 'retina' display was more the exception than the rule.
I laugh when people think that there will be an ipad 3 this year. 100% no way.
This.
Apple is still clearing the backlog on the iPad 2. They're not going to shift gears and release a new one so soon. There's zero reason to put the time, effort and money into a new version when iPad 2 is still the best tablet out there and sells out in every location.
And this.
To all the posters here whom share the above and the other similar sentiments in this thread, you are true players, and you almost make up for all the self-assured nonsense posted mainly from high schools kids on MR these days.
Thanks.
I did think there would be an iPad 2 pro/HD, but the more I think about it the less sense it makes. Given the proliferation of high-res 10" panels touted around at SID this year I think we can expect every tablet maker to jump on the bandwagon - so Apple can't really afford to restrict the high-res display to a pro model for very long. As for Tegra3 - look how long it took Tegra2 to appear in products. I don't think we'll see Tegra3 products on the shelf until much closer to Christmas. Similarly, Apple have to be waiting for the next gen PowerVR GPU to include in their A6 chip. Undoubtedly they've got sample running in prototypes already, but unlike nVidia, they aren't bragging about it. This means that an A5-containing iPad with retina display will take a hit on performance where as an A6-containing iPad can probably out the same performance as the A5 but with 4x the resolution.
Apple have got themselves a bit of a problem with release scheduling now though - clearly last year the iPad iOS update was delayed until Q3 so this year they've pushed the whole iPhone/iOS release back so there will be a unified iPhone/iPad iOS update. I can see the iPad 2 getting double the flash in a September update but that's it. What will be interesting is what happens next year - will the update follow in March again?
Apple have got themselves a bit of a problem with release scheduling now though - clearly last year the iPad iOS update was delayed until Q3 so this year they've pushed the whole iPhone/iOS release back so there will be a unified iPhone/iPad iOS update. I can see the iPad 2 getting double the flash in a September update but that's it. What will be interesting is what happens next year - will the update follow in March again?
Completely agree. Also completely agree with the post of how Apple would be alienating early adopters. Another reason I'm sceptical is that, I'd imagine, a lot of Apple's projected future growth is in developing and emerging markets, where markets remain relatively untapped and there is huge scope for sales, e.g. Asia. In a lot of these markets, the Ipad 2 was released on the 29th of April (I believe) so that's what, 4 and a bit months of the 'iPad2 HD' is released at the beginning of September?
Considering that many of the people who buy Apple products in these markets are early adopters relative to the general population (as Apple products do not yet have the greater popularity enjoyed in the American and European markets), and update so soon would p*** people off.
Further, I'm also sceptical to believe that displays at such a high resolution can be obtained in sufficient quantities at a reasonable cost right now. But then again, Apple might pull a rabbit out of the hat..
Those of you who think Apple won't do this are wrong. This is exactly why Apple is going to introduce a revised iPad in September. Amazon is one of the few companies that can offer somewhat of an "ecosystem" with cloud storage, music and movies/videos, and can pose a viable threat to Apple. It has many pieces to the puzzle, especially with its app store, and millions of waiting consumers who would love to make the jump from a Kindle to a full blown tablet. If Amazon can subsidize the cost of the tablet with a subscription/contract model for its services, it could launch a competitor to iPad and at a lower price point.
I think Apple is smart and recognizes this threat. Apple wants to have an iPad that will be competitive with any Amazon offering, and if it's going to do anything it must do so before the holiday shopping season. The people around here sure make a lot of assumptions about what Apple is or isn't going to do based on their past experience. Well, think again. The world doesn't stop turning between Apple's product updates, and given the increasing competition it's time to turn up the heat.
I think Apple is smart and recognizes this threat. Apple wants to have an iPad that will be competitive with any Amazon offering, and if it's going to do anything it must do so before the holiday shopping season. The people around here sure make a lot of assumptions about what Apple is or isn't going to do based on their past experience. Well, think again. The world doesn't stop turning between Apple's product updates, and given the increasing competition it's time to turn up the heat.
I laugh when people think that there will be an ipad 3 this year. 100% no way.
It's not Android that's the threat in the tablet market.
Let's look at some facts...
1) Win 8 is being designed from the ground up to have a touch interface, and it will run on both "truck" and ARM CPUs.
2) Google Chrome works (if you want to call it that) on both "truck" and ARM CPUs.
3) Apple has added touch gestures to Snow Leporad.
4) Apple has been developing an OS that runs on both ARM and truck CPUs.
My speculation...
1) Apples OS from 4 above is Lion, and it will have a touch based UI when it runs on ARM CPUs.
2) iPad 3 rumors are true, but it's going to be a tablet, with an ARM processor, running Lion.
3) It will have a screen resolution above 1024 X 768, but it won't be a rectum display.
4) It will BootCamp/VM Windows 8 when Win8 is released.
Apple don't need to release a new product to keep the competition at bay. All they seem to have to do is leak some rumours about the impending iPad.
THe only reason I can think of it coming out sooner rather than later, which is a good reason, is to bring the launch ahead for xmas sales. That's a no brainer.
THe only reason I can think of it coming out sooner rather than later, which is a good reason, is to bring the launch ahead for xmas sales. That's a no brainer.