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Typical Tim Cook Apple:
1. run out of ideas (Just take a look at iOS and OSX)
2. go after new product category prematurely (Watch)
3. resizing and renaming existing ones
4. having done all above, have the audacity to increase price.
For some perspective I believe people were saying thing about Jobs, with the iPod (pre-iPhone days).
 
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This is what EVERYONE wished for, no 16gb base storage and Apple delivered.
Not really. They've always offered more capacity at a higher price. All this does is take away the option for the base model, which has always been the most popular, despite the complaints about 16 gb.

To put it another way, you get half the storage of the iPad Air 2 at the same price point.
 
I don't understand the hate at all. So you get an updated screen, double the storage, double the ram, 4 speaker set up, smart connector, and apple pencil support for an extra $100. Seems like a fair deal to me. Not sure why this is a big deal to people.
 
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The argument is that for 5 years Apple does that on a yearly basis for the same price. Every year its a better iPad for the same price. Now its been 18 months and $100 more.....where right now you can get a 64GB Air 2 for that price. So they're cutting the storage yet adding features for 100 more. Its wonky and not really defendable at all. Come Monday they will keep the Air 2 , 16GB at 499. So what about an inevitably higher capacity....like 32 or 64....will that then be 599? The whole thing becomes an even larger joke if the Air 2 at larger capacity is 599 after the event.

It's the principal of the whole thing thats upsetting many and rightfully so.

iPad Air and iPad are two different products so comparing is not exactly apples to apples. Besides you can still get the iPad Air at a good price of one does not need the pro capabilities.
 
After 2 years of no flagship iPad update (Apple skipped last year), and consistent decline in sales for 2-3 years, I think with this price hike along with other factors such as neglect in optimizing iOS for larger devices and lack of focus in education, Apple is cementing the iPad line as niche and will see a lot more decline.
 
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Who pays full price for an ipad anyways?

That's absolutely true.

The iPad Pro 32 GB version was sold as only $650 as brand new model in Ebay compared with $799 + tax. I am still on my iPad 3 and I will calm down and keep using it for another year.
 
I don't understand the hate at all. So you get an updated screen, double the storage, double the ram, 4 speaker set up, smart connector, and apple pencil support for an extra $100. Seems like a fair deal to me. Not sure why this is a big deal to people.
Because almost two years passed, and we expect to have this updated things for the same price.
 
uhm you will be paying what you used to pay for 64 GB. A9X should be obvious just like every other iPad had the A.X ... Pen is sold seperatly and the RAM isnt really a selling point. Apple doesnt even mention it. so yeah to me thats just an naturally evolved iPad Air 3 sold with 32GB instead of 64GB and a new name
Yep. Kind of like in 2013 Apple gave the 9.7 inch iPad a whole new design, doubled the speakers, processor and gave it a whole new name ( iPad Air) And guess what? THEY KEPT IT THE SAME FREAKING PRICE!
 
the a9 is way faster than the a8, but the a9x is dual core to the a8x tri-core. the a9x is actually the weakest processor bump since the iPad 2 > 3 (which was actually no improvement at all). if they down clock the 9.7 pro relative to the 12.9, i'd be surprised if it's even a 10% overall speed improvement over the air 2, 18 months later.

so the core the $599 32gb 9.7 pro is the $599 64gb air 2, and you're getting half the storage.

you now get to decide if half the storage is worth the *privilege* to spend a further $250 on optional accessories. or its super important to you to get less-******-but-still-kinda-****** tiny tablet speakers. or you're the type thats decided that an iPad is your primary photography device and you need even better camera hardware than whats already offered.

sadly i do want the pencil support, and i had resigned myself to a price increase. i really hope at least the ram bump is true.
 
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After 2 years of no flagship iPad update (Apple skipped last year), and consistent decline in sales for 2-3 years, I think with this price hike along with other factors such as neglect in optimizing iOS for larger devices and lack of focus in education, Apple is cementing the iPad line as niche and will see a lot more decline.
You're mostly right but 9.3 has a major education component
 
That's BS that you can't get the 32GB version with LTE cellular support and it is available only in the 128GB. I want a new 9.7" iPad pro with LTE cell support but I don't need a 128GB, I just want 32GB. Apple is going to loose a lot if sales if this rumour is true
 
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And BTW, iPad Air 2 still at $499, after 2 years? Usually Apple decreases it $100 after just 1 year, when the new one comes out. Wow.
 
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You get all of those with every (yearly) product update... for no additional cost. This update comes after 1.5 years and yet they want $100 more for what's simply an updated Air 2. iPad 3 didn't cost $100 more. It offered a brand new retina display, twice the RAM, twice the GPU power etc.
iPad Air 1 32gb was also 599 when it was introduced. So more expensive ? No since 2013 it has been the same.
I guess everyone here is pissed, Apple didn' t release a 16gb for 499. And if Apple did that they would have been pissed about offering a 16gb base for a " pro" device.
I guess people are really pissed about Apple not lowering the price of the air 2.
And I can understand that.
The other things I just can' t understand.

Perhaps Apple should lower prizes the 16gb and 64 gb air 2 for 50 bucks less.
Yep. Kind of like in 2013 Apple gave the 9.7 inch iPad a whole new design, doubled the speakers, processor and gave it a whole new name ( iPad Air) And guess what? THEY KEPT IT THE SAME FREAKING PRICE!

AND NOW THEY ARE KEEPING THE SAME FREAKING PRICE AS THE AIR 1 32GB!
 
Don't see what the complaints are about. I actually think it's great - $100 more gets double the storage, and all the other upgrades. The only weird thing would be someone deciding to go with the 16 GB Air 2 for $100 less. Would have been great to have the lineup be 16GB mini 2 at $199, 16 GB mini 4 at $299, 16 GB Air 2 at $399, 16 GB 9.7 inch Pro at $499, 32 GB 9.7 Pro at $599, etc.

It's great? Really? I'm as big an Apple fanatic as any (Macbook Air, iPhone 6s, iPad mini 3, Apple Watch, AppleTV, countless other stuff over the years), but their 'premium pricing' is practically gouging at this point. A 16gb iPad at $500 is a joke, especially since the cost for upgrading to 32gb for a company that purchases as much NAND flash as Apple is prob under $2-3. They should price the iPad Air 2 at $399 and the 32 gig iPad Pro 9.7" at $499...that would be expensive, but less than gauging.

I'll pay top dollar for Apple gear because it's typically higher quality and thougtfully designed, but when they start showing disrespect to their fan base by price gouging, I think I'll spend my money elsewhere.
 
How does the 10" iPad Pro come in at $1000 after tax?

Many ways to deduce:

1) A 128GB Air 2 w/ LTE is $829. A 128GB iPad Pro LTE is $1079. Price difference of $250 between the two. Split it - $125. That makes the 128GB 10" Air w/ LTE $954. Add in avg U.S. 7% sales tax = $1020.

2). Just add $100 to base price of a 128GB Air 2 w/ LTE = $929. Add in avg 7% sales tax = $994.

Subtract $129 if you don't want WiFi.

And, of course, that is before you plunk down another $100 for the pencil.
 
Don't see what the complaints are about. I actually think it's great - 88.66€ more gets double the storage, and all the other upgrades.

By that logic, the iPad's starting price should now be €1100 if you'd add €100 for every years upgrade...
It's normal to expect a performance upgrade every year since apps demand more and more power. And finally a storage bump... after all these years. It's a scam for them to charge more all of a sudden, like the device wasn't expensive enough.



BTW guys, maybe Apple just leaked this to see how people would react. :D
 
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Seems a little unreasonable.

Yeah, we only have 40 years of precedent.

My first computer that had an optional internal hard drive started at $1999, and went up $500 with the addition of a 20 megabyte hard drive. Yes, 20mb, not gb. For $500. That was the discounted bundle price.

Maybe you think I'm going back too far to make a relevant point?

OMG everyone, the original iPhone's camera resolution has been increased 4x, and not only did they throw in another processor core, each core is more than 3x faster than the original one! Don't even get me started on the RAM, which has gone up 8x from original, or the storage space, which has...well...doubled.

Let's see...based on this, and the original (on contract) price of the first iPhone....carry the two....hmn.

The iPhone 6 should cost approximately....$54,970 with a 2 year AT&T (2G data) contract or 3 million Euros (including VAT).

What, you want 4G? well let me get the calculator again.
 
iPad Air 1 32gb was also 599 when it was introduced. So more expensive ? No since 2013 it has been the same.
I guess everyone here is pissed, Apple didn' t release a 16gb for 499. And if Apple did that they would have been pissed about offering a 16gb base for a " pro" device.
I guess people are really pissed about Apple not lowering the price of the air 2.
And I can understand that.
The other things I just can' t understand.

Perhaps Apple should lower prizes the 16gb and 64 gb air 2 for 50 bucks less.


AND NOW THEY ARE KEEPING THE SAME FREAKING PRICE AS THE AIR 1 32GB!

SSD prices have gone down exponentially, you can't justify or compare same pricing after 2 or 3 years. Adding 32GB instead of 16GB nowadays costs about $5.

EDIT: for example Macbook air 2012 had 64GB at $999, Apple increased it to 128GB in 2013 while keeping the same price.
 
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Maybe you should check out the Surface Pro 3. At $599 with the Pen included, it will blow your mind if you think that the iPad "Pro" is a deal.

I don't use Windows. The Surface Pro 3 does not integrate with my iCloud Photo Library, or have any sort of continuity handoff functionality with my iPhone and Mac. The iPad has better battery life. The Surface Pro 3 can get hot and has a fan. The Surface Pro 3 is much larger (I don't want 12"), thicker and heavier. All reviews say the Apple Pencil is much better than the Surface Pen. The cameras on the Surface Pro 3 are inferior at 5MP/1080p vs the rumored specs for the 9.7" iPad Pro with a 12mp 4k camera. But even the old iPad Air 2 released in 2014 has a better 8mp camera. The Surface Pro 3 is no longer sold in a 128GB configuration. Looking at Geekbench results, the Surface Pro 3 has a Geekbench score of around 3150 multicore and 1500 single core. The iPad Pro has a Geekbench Score of 5466 multicore and 3224 single core. So a single core of the iPad Pro can match the entire power of the Surface Pro 3 i3 (priced at $599 as you suggested) and have a whole other core to spare. Though I am willing to admit that the 9.7" size that I want may have a slightly slower clocked processor—much like the A7 in the iPad Air vs. the iPad Mini 2, which had a 7% difference in clock speed (and corresponding 7% difference in Geekbench score) but used the same A7 series chip.

Your comparison is meaningless to almost everyone here in the Apple ecosystem, and even more meaningless when considering the raw hardware and stylus performance. The iPad Pro software does need some improvements to make it better for multitasking and managing project files, and it does need some more advanced third-party "Pro" apps. For that reason I may wait another year. We'll see. I'm hopeful that iOS X will address some of these issues when unveiled at WWDC this summer, and that more apps will continue to become available. I do a lot of creative work, so a Pro iPad could be very useful if it comes in a more compact size.
 
Been on the fence as to if I am going to upgrade from my iPad Air 2. The extra $100 might have swayed me to wait. I have no interest in the pencil or smart connector accessories and don't really want to pay for that. So maybe after the initial hype dies down and vendors start discounting.
 
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