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New 9.7" iPad Pro to Start at $599, 32GB and 128GB Models Available
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The iPad Air 2 will continue just like the Air is still for sale now, probably at it's current price. If Apple truly does go with an Air Pro upgrade, then I would expect the Air Pro 2 to replace the Air Pro completely, and the Air 2 to get a speed bump like the iPad 3-4 upgrade, and continue to offer it at the current price point. the mini 3 will be the budget iPad Air, with the mini 2 as the entry level iPad.
I laughed when you say "need an iPad".
But this is MR so of course people will make excuses and change their lifestyles to accommodate one.
Most people will wait for a sweet deal because most people don't only buy iPads on the day they release because they must have the newest one. Also no ordinary person calculates value like that by comparing everything in life to whether its worth more or less than a McChicken and McDonald's...lol
All they can do is make them more powerful and possibly less thinner. It's amazing how the tech has evolved, buts it's hardly compelling anymore. Apple are getting to the point the iPod's were a few years ago: market saturation.
I don' t see the problem.
It has twice the memory of the 16gb iPad Air 2, and is $100 more expensive.
A 64gb iPad Air 2 is the same price.
So you get more gb for more money.
That is the way it has always been with Apple . It is just as expensive as the iPad Air 1 32gb was in 2013.
Sorry, still don't agree. This is a much bigger leap. $100 is not an unreasonable difference. This is a new device, not an Air 2 successor.
and in total then pay 200 dollar extra for the pencil. 100 dollar for support, 100 for the pencil. This is a ****** reason for the increase in price. everything is. If rumors are true, the slight spec upgrade is just not worth a price increase. they need to give us quite a bit more for that.
I was wanting to upgrade my Air 1 to this new iPad, but I'm starting to lean towards a new retina MBP 13" instead. I don't know. $600 + Apple smart keyboard (if they come out with one) for this model, will probably run me close to a grand. Oh and don't forget AppleCare too.
I'm going to buy the iPad Pro 9.7" and, since I've always purchased the 32GB, LTE version, I'll be paying the same price for it that I have in the past.
You are really not seeing the whole picture. The pro 32 has more gb than the iPad Air 2 16gb for $100 more. Relatively it is about 50 dollars more expensive.
And it has an updated 240hz scanning display for pencil support, and it will probably have a 2732x2048 higher res display, with all the other more advanced tech, etc.
When the iPad 2 was released , the price was 599 for a 32gb model, iPad 3 32gb was 599 at launch, and so was the air 1 32gb.
wrong. you are paying what u used to pay for 64GB for 32GB
theres no current iPad with 32GB (speaking of 9.7 one)
Yes and you are paying a 100 more for a 32gb iPad Pro vs a 16gb air 2.
But if you really want to compare internal specs and want to compare them(storage is internal specs)
64 gb iPad Air 2 vs 32 iPad Pro , price $599 .
64 iPad Air 2:
Pro' s : 32 gb more storage
Cons: inferior tech specs , screen, soc ,speakers, camera, slower lightning connector, no smart connector, no pencil support, etc.
32gb pro
Cons: 32 gb less storage
Pro' s : superior specs, connections, applications by a mile.
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its just a different name ... iPad always got a new A.X so thats redundant to point out or did you pay more for an iPad once it went retina. RAM they dont even care to mention and i have yet to see an app that actually takes advantage of 4GB of ram when devs still focus on supporting devices with 1GB
iPad Air had a brand new design, later on 2GB of ram, a new A.X chip and yet the same price as always. Pro is just an excuse to charge more for something that would have naturally been improved anyway as the tec gets better AND cheaper
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Yes, but since you are comparing it to the no price increase when the air 1 was introduced: air 1 32gb was also 599 at launch, iPad 2 32gb and iPad 3 32gb both were also 599 at launch.
And now the iPad Pro or air 3 32gb is 599 at launch .
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New tech is better, but definitely not cheaper because of yields. Old tech gets cheaper because yields improve over time. you got it the wrong way around.
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I don't need an iPad in the sense that my world is going to stop spinning if I don't get one. However, my iPad has come to form an integral part of my work and leisure. I could do without one and hang on to my iPad mini 2, but I daresay I will get more utility out of that money spent upgrading my iPad (which I do use extensively every day) vs just hanging on to the money.
In short, yeah, I want one and I am willing to pay for one. That's all there is to it. No need to mock other people's purchase decisions just because you don't agree with them.
Though at the new prices, this actually makes the iPad Pro rather reasonably-priced in comparison. The extra screen space is tempting, and I imagine it would be the dream couch device, but I don't see myself carrying one around or walking around with it in the classroom.
Wait, why would you be worried? You want Apple to have less margins and perform poorly financially? I don't understand.
Although I think you did bring up a good point about the iPad being overpowered by the next iPhone. That was the concern when they designed the iPad Pro. They were going to use A8X at first, and realized that the A9 on the iPhone 6S will be more powerful.
In any case, we shall wait and see. My ideal next iPad would be the mini form factor with pencil support. If I don't think the bang of the buck for this upcoming 9.7" iPad Pro is worth it, I just keep using my mini 2 for now.
I also thought the 12.9" iPad Pro was very expensive for what it is compared to other Apple products, but at least you could justify it being a somewhat niche device targeted at multimedia professionals, like the Mac Pro. Now this 9.7" iPad Pro isn't a niche device, it's the flagship regular-size iPad (the equivalent of iPad 7). I don't think these kind of additions are too unrealistic to expect in a $500 iPad, especially considering the iPad Air line hasn't been updated in 2 years. For reference, the iPad 2 and iPad 4 were release less than 2 years appart, and look at the massive difference.
Rumor is that it'll be slightly thicker actually.
Yes I did.
It was to be expected anyway, even if this new iPad wasn't branded as "Pro" and didn't cost $100 more.
Please don't state speculation as facts. Regardless of what the 12.9" hypothetically could have been, the fact remains that the flagship 9.7" iPad will be 6 months behind the flagship iPhone generation-wise. This wasn't the case back when the iPad Air and Air 2 were released.
Why didn't they drop the price in all countries then? Here's why: Because that strategy is specific to an emerging market and not representative of their overall strategy. They did this because they knew they wouldn't sell much iPhones in India if they didn't. They'd rather have sales with a lower their margin there than have no sales at all. In developed markets however, it's another story. They know they'd still have quite a lot of customers even with high prices, and releasing a cheap phone would just result in cannibalization. So I should say that specifically in developed markets, they seem to aim for higher profit margins than ever before, at the expense of market share.
Oh please. Anti-Apple bias? You don't know me. I'm a huge Apple fan and am generally way more positive than negative towards them. Can't you just accept that I may still be critical sometimes despite the fact I generally like them? Everybody doesn't have to be either a biased Apple hater or a biased Apple fanboy.
Anchoring is cool isn't it?
I really can't believe the Apple apologists in this thread. There are many reasons why this decision (if true) sucks:
Hardware
Every year Apple has delivered some pretty big improvements without a price rise
Storage
The new capacities seem to be set at 32/128/256 - so far only the first two are in the wild but once the first device with 256 GB launches, the other will follow. If the new iPad sells well, it will probably be that, if not probably the iPhone 7+ Those saying that the 32 GB is what people wanted, the cost increase cancels that out. You would have been able to get a 64 GB Air 2 for the same price as a 32 GB Pro at launch. Yes, a higher base is good - but not at a higher price.
Why are people are angry? Everyone has their own reason, but I will explain mine. I don't "expect" upgrade for the same price but it makes business sense and after so many years I think people have a fair expectation that the price will remain the same. It is entirely up to Apple to price their products though. What makes me more sad than angry really is that Apple have seen their iPad numbers falling over the last year, the 12.9" iPP hasn't sold well and is frequently discounted continuing the trend. They have identified the longer upgrade cycle as a main reason for the falling numbers. I don't have an MBA, or work in business, but I'm pretty sure increasing the price isn't going to sell more units. All those people with older iPads either looking to upgrade will see an even more expensive model and probably decide to either get the old Air 2 with the next $150 Staples discount or hold off the upgrade again. A few months ago I counldn't even see what an Air 3 would have beyond an updated A9X chip and the speakers and i didn't even think that would be worth releasing, let alone chargin extra for.
I'm sure there are plenty of people on this board who don't see ehat the fuss is and/or will buy it anyway, but people on this board are not the reason Apple sold so many iPads in 2011-2014, it is the mass market and if they didn't want to upgrade for $499 (or $599 for 64 GB) they won't want to for $599 for 32 GB. Keeping the Air 2 at $499 (probably 16 GB) is also a slap in the face for an 18 month old system.
Bottom line - expect to see this on sale by the Summer...for $499.
Hardware
Every year Apple has delivered some pretty big improvements without a price rise
- iPad 3 - retina display - first use of 10" retina display so they couldn't pick one off the shelf
- iPad 3/Air 2 - doubling of ram from previous year
- Every iPad - new improved CPU/GPU including increased physical size (= more $) A5X
- Air 2 - triple core CPU
- A new CPU/GPU...that is now 6 months past introduction
- A new screen technology...that debuted 6 months ago at a larger size
- Possible double the ram...not confirmed
- Possible higher res screen...not confirmed and no longer a novel technology as others have gone high-res
- 4 speakers - not exactly a large cost
- A new camera...from an older model iPhone
- New TouchID...that debuted 6 months ago
Storage
The new capacities seem to be set at 32/128/256 - so far only the first two are in the wild but once the first device with 256 GB launches, the other will follow. If the new iPad sells well, it will probably be that, if not probably the iPhone 7+ Those saying that the 32 GB is what people wanted, the cost increase cancels that out. You would have been able to get a 64 GB Air 2 for the same price as a 32 GB Pro at launch. Yes, a higher base is good - but not at a higher price.
Why are people are angry? Everyone has their own reason, but I will explain mine. I don't "expect" upgrade for the same price but it makes business sense and after so many years I think people have a fair expectation that the price will remain the same. It is entirely up to Apple to price their products though. What makes me more sad than angry really is that Apple have seen their iPad numbers falling over the last year, the 12.9" iPP hasn't sold well and is frequently discounted continuing the trend. They have identified the longer upgrade cycle as a main reason for the falling numbers. I don't have an MBA, or work in business, but I'm pretty sure increasing the price isn't going to sell more units. All those people with older iPads either looking to upgrade will see an even more expensive model and probably decide to either get the old Air 2 with the next $150 Staples discount or hold off the upgrade again. A few months ago I counldn't even see what an Air 3 would have beyond an updated A9X chip and the speakers and i didn't even think that would be worth releasing, let alone chargin extra for.
I'm sure there are plenty of people on this board who don't see ehat the fuss is and/or will buy it anyway, but people on this board are not the reason Apple sold so many iPads in 2011-2014, it is the mass market and if they didn't want to upgrade for $499 (or $599 for 64 GB) they won't want to for $599 for 32 GB. Keeping the Air 2 at $499 (probably 16 GB) is also a slap in the face for an 18 month old system.
Bottom line - expect to see this on sale by the Summer...for $499.
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Apple is preparing a pro line-up for their iOS devices. These will have cutting edge specs, at a higher price, but also higher storage base than the regular idevice (32gb base vs 16gb).
I think you nailed it. 2 sizes of "regular" and 2 sizes of premium / pro. I currently have an iPad Air 2 but I will be upgrading for the smart connector & pencil support. I was tempted by the iPad pro but didn't get one because it just didn't match my use case.
lol so many apple fanboys justifying this.
Later this year, if apple introduces iphone 7 with new features and so many upgrades to cpu and camera and then increase the base price to $750, will you accept it? Yes or No?
Later this year, if apple introduces iphone 7 with new features and so many upgrades to cpu and camera and then increase the base price to $750, will you accept it? Yes or No?
I've been waiting far too long for the Air 3. I don't use pencils, keyboards, or 3D Touch, and I'm not a professional. Oh well.
