All iPads My vision for a complete iPad lineup overhaul

[adamlbiscuit]

So basically, you’re only change is to relabel the iPad mini as an iPad Air? For pretty much no particular reason, given that it’s still has a different processor?
Uh here’s a question, why?
And how on earth does this line up with the MacBook line? There is no smaller MacBook, and the MacBook Air comes in the same normal and bigger sizes that the MacBook Pro does, just like the current iPad Air and pro.
This would only match with the MacBook line if Apple were to, for example, come out with an 11 inch MBA, something that they very likely are not going to do.
Also, nothing wrong with The iPad mini being called… The iPad mini. It’s the one smaller iPad, it makes sense to differentiate it.
Apple’s never making an 8 inch iPad 12 or iPad Pro, it is its own unique screen size in the lineup, it should have its own title. Not to mention the iPad Mini as a product has existed almost as long as the iPad has existed itself, the first one came out 14 years ago.

I don't have answers to your questions because it's just a fantasy lineup I spitballed without much commitment (it's not that deep). I suppose if anything it's just a suggestion for how to brand the lineup - and branding is important - to make it more legible if you zoom out with a birds-eye view.

Your argument will presumably be that the lineup makes sense as is, and I wouldn't disagree.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I don't have answers to your questions because it's just a fantasy lineup I spitballed without much commitment (it's not that deep). I suppose if anything it's just a suggestion for how to brand the lineup - and branding is important - to make it more legible if you zoom out with a birds-eye view.

Your argument will presumably be that the lineup makes sense as is, and I wouldn't disagree.

I don’t necessarily think the lineup makes sense as it is, I just don’t think the names of the products is really the problem.
The problem is that most of the products outside of the iPad Pro have pretty much been abandoned since about 2021.
Especially the iPad Air, which has not seen a design refresh since September 2020, based off of the 2018 iPad Pro, and has pretty much remained the same ever since and has suffered for it.
It’s extremely expensive, it has a battery not meant for the processor it has, so it has the worst battery life of the entire lineup (even beaten by the Mini), and it’s a terrible value in comparison to the $300 cheaper iPad 11.

 

[Colin18773]

Extended display sounds cool but not enough mini users would actually need it to justify the battery trade-off. A chip with 120Hz feels like the real move.

 

[Homme]

My vision for an overhaul:
Give the mini 120hz and an M chip. Bring back lower prices. Everything else is fine.

Mini doesn’t need an M Chip. A19 Pro or even A20 Pro will be perfect for it

iPad is already as crap as it gets. Non-laminated display, A16, 6GB RAM. What else can be cut?

Nah it’s not entirely that crap. A16 is decent but then when you look at it it alongside the A13 and A11 SoC’s never had an M version of those chips and unfortunately doesn’t make the cut to Apple Intelligence. Non laminated display is great especially since it’s cheap to repair it

Crap? I prefer non-laminated over laminated. A16 is a decent powerful chip these days satisfying most users' needs. Many have no interest in high end features, just a good, usable, and reliable tablet. I'm for keeping the iPad affordable and therefore more widely accessible.

Exactly. Though the 12th gen A18 version will be even more futureproof

I honestly don’t think the iPad line is that much of a mess, the main issue currently seems to be that both the Mini and Air kinda suck especially at their current price points.
But both are rumored to get OLED (and possibly 120 hertz)
My main issue with the current lineup is just simply that the regular iPad and the iPad Air are practically the same product, but one is almost twice the price of the other.
Once the Air and Mini get redesigns and new displays, though, the difference will become a lot more clear.

iPad 12: A18, 8 GB of RAM, standard LCD display, 256 GB,everything else identical to the current iPad 11.
iPad Mini 8: A19Pro, 12 gigabytes of RAM, OLED display, 120 Hz, 256 GB of storage, possible water resistance.
iPad Air: basically, the iPad mini but bigger and with an M5 chip.
iPad Pro: still the same iPad Pro that’s been around for years. Tandem OLED display, quad speakers, Face ID , and so on, and so on.

At this point, the main differentiator between the three lower end to mid-range iPads, the 12, the Mini and Air, Will be display and build quality. By going from the basic iPad to the iPad Mini or Air you get OLED and 120 hertz, a thinner design, extra ram, extra processing power, and so on.
And then, of course, the iPad Pro gives you the top of the line tandem OLED XDR with FaceID and quad speakers.

This Mini version doesn’t suck when it comes to its price point. It’s an S Tier iPad that’s for sure. As for the Air this Air Model (M4 Chip not the M5 BTW) is the best bang for your buck Air since possibly the Air 2 since the Air 3 is a boring iPad, the A14 version was decent at its time ( and first iPad to be released with a brand new A series chip before the iPhone 12’s)

The Air 8 no matter what model you’ll get 12GB of RAM compared to the M4 Pro 256GB-512GB versions.

The Air 5 would have been close in that category when it was released but the fact that it came with 64GB of storage and that much for an M1 chip is ridiculous at best

In fact the current iPad Mini’s existence from release date till now Apple has updated the Air 3 times from M2 to M4 quicker than a normal timeline because the A17 Pros micro architecture was a lot better than the M2 Air at the time ( as well as the A17 Pro’s ANE snd 3 nm over the M2’s). M3 Air was mostly better than the Mini except for the ANE but the M4 one definitely is better besides no back camera flash

 

[SiXiam]

Lots of apparent leaks now.
iPad Pro (M7)
iPad mini OLED 8.4" 60hz (A20 Pro)
iPad air LCD (M5)
iPad (A18)