New 9.7-Inch iPad Teardown Confirms It's Basically an Original iPad Air

[CarlJ]

The iPad's naming structure has been such a mess. iPad, iPad 2, the new iPad, iPad with Retina Display, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad

I think "the new iPad" was a media fail - when, say, Ford introduces the latest Mustang, they say, "here's the new Mustang", but the car's name is clearly just "Mustang". So Steve introduced the then-latest iPad, which they expected to call simply "iPad", saying "here's the new iPad", and the media all said, "ooh, its name is "the new iPad"." Most people called it the "iPad 3" and referred to "iPad with Retina Display" as "iPad 4", which was reasonable since those were the generation numbers. So this seems kind of back on track of just having a new iPad every year and calling it "iPad", and saying it's the new one. Mini for the little ones and Pro for the big ones works, except for the 9.7" iPad Pro. Will be interesting to see if they further tweak the naming scheme in September(?) when the rest of the models get revved.

 

[Bacillus]

You dont like it? Dont buy it. Simple.

People over the years have invested m/billions in an industry that was supposed to be innovative (...) instead of lamentary - by its own mission
This is not a biscuit factory, dud.

 

[OllyW]

I think "the new iPad" was a media fail - when, say, Ford introduces the latest Mustang, they say, "here's the new Mustang", but the car's name is clearly just "Mustang". So Steve introduced the then-latest iPad, which they expected to call simply "iPad", saying "here's the new iPad", and the media all said, "ooh, its name is "the new iPad".

They actually labeled it as "The new iPad" at the introduction.

 

[bjet767]

This is what's known as a "mature" market and from the tech side the exponential new device innovation is now inches rather than leaps.

Good marketing move by Apple faster processor, lower price and reliability.

 

[Howard2k]

Terribly written article.

 

[bjet767]

If Apple wants me to spend money on replacing my iPad Air 2, the replacement must be an upgrade, not a mixed upgrade/downgrade. The only way iPad Air 2 owners can get an upgrade is to buy the iPad Pro.

Well guess what? This iPad isn't about you, I or anyone who currently owns an Air2. Yes they want us to buy the "Pro."

Nothing wrong with that!

 

[I7guy]

A better name for this device would be "Phil's Ass" - as apparently it could not be innovated.

The innovation is pay less - get less, which is opposite of pay more - get more. It's a great strategy by Apple to attract new customers.

 

[CarlJ]

If Apple wants me to spend money on replacing my iPad Air 2, the replacement must be an upgrade, not a mixed upgrade/downgrade.

I don't think that this was intended to be a replacement for the iPad Air 2. Apple knows that people don't buy the newest iPad every year the way a few do with the iPhone. I have an original iPad Air, and this new one is that-plus-faster-and-brighter, but the big win is that it's cheaper. I wouldn't upgrade to it - upgrading primarily because the new one costs less doesn't make any sense unless you can somehow recoup the difference. If I replaced my iPad Air, it'd be with the 9.7" iPad Pro (even though that's a bit older), because it has all sorts of substantial new capabilities vs. my Air.

 

[dumastudetto]

Didn’t Steve say that Apple was in the business of making the best possible products, not in the business of racing to the bottom?

If there was no other iPad available from Apple, this new 9.7 inch iPad would be the very best tablet available on the market.

 

[CarlJ]

They actually labeled it as "The new iPad" at the introduction.

What would you have had them put on the slide? "iPad 2 ...[vs]... iPad"? That could cause even more confusion ("why are they comparing to the model from two years ago and why is that one better?"). Again, I think that "The new" was descriptive, and "iPad" was the intended name. If "The new" was part of the name, wouldn't it be capitalized? "The New iPad"?

 

[shyam09]

The reaction to this device is, like the devices themselves, very similar to the reactions to the iPhone SE over the 5/5S/6S which that was a hybrid of. Positive from people who value the low price option, negative from people who don't get that and seemingly only ever want ever-more powerful and expensive devices than anything released before.

I think it's great that Apple are bringing back proven hardware in a new combination at a lower price.

I would love a Mac Pro SE that took this approach - up to date specs in the old 5,1 form factor for a budget price... yes please.

And not to get into political stuff, but given the UK (where I am)'s political/economic situation, it's especially important if Apple wants to retain its level of sales here, because the price rises on existing products threatens to seriously damage Apple in the UK IMHO. Of course so does having ancient computers at those inflated prices too, but that's a whole other issue by itself.

That's not a fair comparison. Everyone here would swoon out of sheer joy if Apple did something like this simply because the hardware in the current Mac Pro is already old / outdated and that line is rarely updated. We would jump in excitement if the Mac Pro only got an upgraded processor.

 

[Johnny907]

Well, at least the battery size is also the same as the original Air, so paired with the less power hungry A9 it should outlast the Air 2 which already has brilliant battery life.

So far it's rated at the same 10 hours as the Air 2, so don't bet on it.

 

[shyam09]

They actually labeled it as "The new iPad" at the introduction.

Yep, it was marketed as "the new iPad" by Apple. Even their press info from a few days after the release kept the phrase "the New iPad" together.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/03/19New-iPad-Tops-Three-Million.html

April 2012 -
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/201...-Korea-11-Additional-Countries-This-Week.html

From July 2012-
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/07/10New-iPad-Arrives-in-China-on-Friday-July-20.html

IIRC - Bestbuy and other retailers also labelled their listings as "the New iPad"

 

[GQB]

I used to come to MacRumors first for quality, but jeez...
First a completely inaccurate headline... the body is all there is to an iPad? C'mon.
And the comments are simply moronic. Apple leverages a perfectly good body and screen, crams it with more tech than this product's target customers will ever use, drop the price, and people are whining?
You do know that there is an iPad Pro too, right?

jeez.

 

[ackmondual]

The iPad's naming structure has been such a mess. iPad, iPad 2, the new iPad, iPad with Retina Display, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad

It looks so stupid but I like that they have finally sorted it out. Makes sense to have an iPad Mini line, an iPad line, and an iPad Pro line.

It always amused me how they advertised their iPads came with wifi. "Ipad Air with wifi". "Ipad 3 with wifi". They ALL come with wifi!
However, TBF, there may be something I'm missing. Like how one store owner had to say "open 7 days a week, including Sundays". You'd think you wouldn't need to say that, but the store owner said he kept getting asked about Sundays when the sign just said "7 days a week", so he got tired of that and put it in. I'd imagine there may have been enough shoppers asking if the iPads had wifi? On a related note, many things that work with MP3 players also had explicitly mention Ipads as well... "this accessory will work with all MP3 players and iPods"

 

[luckysob]

This will make consider replacing our ancient iPad2. It's pretty laggy these days with iOS10. In fact, I haven't seen it in months.

 

[NT1440]

What would you have had them put on the slide? "iPad 2 ...[vs]... iPad"? That could cause even more confusion ("why are they comparing to the model from two years ago and why is that one better?"). Again, I think that "The new" was descriptive, and "iPad" was the intended name. If "The new" was part of the name, wouldn't it be capitalized? "The New iPad"?

Their marketing materials explicitly called it the New iPad, that was the name. That is just a fact.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/03/07Apple-Launches-New-iPad.html

 

[soupcan]

So far it's rated at the same 10 hours as the Air 2, so don't bet on it.

That's marketing for ya. If they'd list any longer hours that would mean their cheaper devices is better than their iPad Pros which makes them less money.

 

[Howard2k]

Their marketing materials explicitly called it the New iPad, that was the name. That is just a fact.

No facts please. Let's just go back to allegedly technical articles that appear to be written by people with no understanding of technology.
[doublepost=1490893724][/doublepost]

I used to come to MacRumors first for quality, but jeez...
First a completely inaccurate headline... the body is all there is to an iPad? C'mon.
And the comments are simply moronic. Apple leverages a perfectly good body and screen, crams it with more tech than this product's target customers will ever use, drop the price, and people are whining?
You do know that there is an iPad Pro too, right?

jeez.

Agreed. Reading the comments you'd think that Apple was going back to 640x480 resolution.

 

[Stella]

I would like an iPhone that supports multiple users - i.e., home and work.

Unfortunately, Apple want you to buy one device per user.

I'm kind of tempted to buy the new iPad - it looks like great value. And it would be my first iPad since buying an iPad 2 many years ago, which still gets used fairly regularly in our household.

However: The inability to have multiple users (and thus individual email accounts, safari password keychains, etc) is really holding me back. It makes the iPad hugely less useful in a family/household setting. I really hope Apple will finally sort this out in iOS 11.

 

[Luap]

I've been quite critical of Apple myself lately.. But im surprised this iPad is getting as much flak as it is. Its a decent spec and (for Apple) quite inexpensive.
I happily bought one to replace my creaky iPad 3, and it's been an excellent upgrade.

This will make consider replacing our ancient iPad2. It's pretty laggy these days with iOS10. In fact, I haven't seen it in months.

But.. You can't put iOS 10 on an iPad 2?

 

[willmtaylor]

The new 9.7-inch iPad is all about price. It's the cheapest new tablet that Apple has ever sold, starting at $329, yet with a brighter display and a faster A9 processor compared to the now-discontinued iPad Air 2.

The tablet's tech specs are otherwise identical to the iPad Air 2, including a display resolution of 2,048-by-1,536 at 264 PPI, 8-megapixel rear iSight camera, 1.2-megapixel front FaceTime camera, two speakers, Lightning connector, 3.5mm headphone jack, Touch ID with Apple Pay, and Bluetooth 4.2.

So it's nearly identical to the iPad Air 2 then, NOT the original iPad Air. A bit clickbaitish, no, @Joe Rossignol ?

 

[4jasontv]

I think "the new iPad" was a media fail - when, say, Ford introduces the latest Mustang, they say, "here's the new Mustang", but the car's name is clearly just "Mustang". So Steve introduced the then-latest iPad, which they expected to call simply "iPad", saying "here's the new iPad", and the media all said, "ooh, its name is "the new iPad"." Most people called it the "iPad 3" and referred to "iPad with Retina Display" as "iPad 4", which was reasonable since those were the generation numbers. So this seems kind of back on track of just having a new iPad every year and calling it "iPad", and saying it's the new one. Mini for the little ones and Pro for the big ones works, except for the 9.7" iPad Pro. Will be interesting to see if they further tweak the naming scheme in September(?) when the rest of the models get revved.

That's not quite true. Apple called it "the new iPad" not the media. Consumers called it the iPad 3, not Apple. I agree that Apple tried to fix their mistake by calling the 4th get iPad with retina display, but *I* think that was to make the short life of the new ipad easier to swallow. I also agree that they need to simplify the naming convention. Use iPad to distinguish the product. Then use Pro for the large one, mini for the small, and make them all support the pencil. Easy.

Of course I have always believed that products should only have one major difference: size. They should all be the same speed, ram, etc.

 

[Ladybug]

I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Did Apple quit selling the iPad Pro models? If you want or need a better version of this low cost iPad there are options already and there is an upgraded model (10.3) coming soon. I know several people that will jump at the chance to buy a lower cost iPad.

 

[AppleMad98004]

I'm just waiting for Apple to release the MacPro soon.... Same old hardware/half the price! But call into magical innovation.