The 10th gen model is popular among those with low budget. Those type of customers only buy as needed though so it’s probably a consistent number but never sees big spikes outside the holidays.
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Report: iPad Pro Popularity Cutting Into iPad Air and iPad Mini Sales
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Mini sales have been relatively low (less than 10% of iPad sales) for almost a decade now. That's why it only gets updated infrequently. But I see no trend of sales collapsing. People were already calling out the demise of the mini back in 2017. Instead, we now get repeated supply-chain rumors of an OLED model in 2026/2027.
And I thought I would regret getting the Mini so late in its cycle last July. It may be inferior on paper, but its size and weight has made it my favourite iPad to date by far.
Why didn't you just get a M2 Pro and save yourself a load of $$$?
I think we can assume that the iPad mini sales drop is surprisingly low considering it's a 3 year old machine with rumours of a new one dropping by the end of the year at the earliest. So that 2% can be ignored.
So the difference between the iPad Pro and the Air is tiny. Is that enough for people to think it's really eating up the Air? I wish they published actual unit numbers.
So the difference between the iPad Pro and the Air is tiny. Is that enough for people to think it's really eating up the Air? I wish they published actual unit numbers.
I recently got myself the 13" air, after roughly a decade of being iPadless. I mostly use it as an extra display when I travel. The 13" Pro would've cost me about $400 more, and that just wasn't worth it to me.
…Best value?
Value is subjective—especially when the iPad Pro has invaluable and huge upgrades over the M2 Air for productivity and meaningful consumption of things for a meaningful amount of people towards data even enabling researchers to notice such affinity toward a prosumer product over low-end models such as the iPad Air.
I think the title is wrong.
It should be more like "Apple's upsell strategy is working beautifully".
Because it is their choice to update the mini now and then, and only with lower CPUs (and I see very few deals on the Mini where I live).
Also, limiting pencil compatibility and keyboard compatibility should move some folks to the pricier iPads.
The same goes for the 64Gb as base storage, which easily becomes tight after synching some content and when each updates starts with "please delete some content to be able to install". And while considering more storage, many will notice the Air starts at 128Gb, so if they do not quite need 256, it becomes tempting...
It should be more like "Apple's upsell strategy is working beautifully".
Because it is their choice to update the mini now and then, and only with lower CPUs (and I see very few deals on the Mini where I live).
Also, limiting pencil compatibility and keyboard compatibility should move some folks to the pricier iPads.
The same goes for the 64Gb as base storage, which easily becomes tight after synching some content and when each updates starts with "please delete some content to be able to install". And while considering more storage, many will notice the Air starts at 128Gb, so if they do not quite need 256, it becomes tempting...
They don't undervalue, they are fully aware and they do it deliberately, that's why there is still no Apple device which is a non-pro model and is having ProMotion or high refresh rate (HRR) display. Even entry level devices are getting HRR displays (other than Apple).
Sketching on iPad Air is not great due to this, whereas iPad Pro feels life like just because of HRR display, since processing power is not an issue.
Apple values picture quality via sharpness determined by pixel density (PPI) alongside stellar HDR performance (1600 peak nits, 1000 sustained nits with Dolby Vision)
Creatives, Engineers, Avid Readers, and premium home video content enthusiasts do as well.
It’s very hard to make high PPI panels fast at the scale Apple operates with their iPad business by their panel suppliers who can usually make much more money making smaller screens with such capabilities for phones,
Gamers in the pursuit of circumventing the bottlenecks of GPUs (performance and/or the price they can afford) are willing to sacrifice PPI or overly focus naively on specific resolutions more than most.
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OLED I already had a 1TB M1 12.9 which I gave to my Gran Daughter
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iPad Pro models accounted for the majority of Apple's iPad sales in the June quarter, up from the same quarter a year ago, based on the latest report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP).
![m4-iPad-Pro-Horizontal-Feature-Purple-Triad.jpg]()
Apple updated the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models in May 2024 with the M4 chip, OLED display technology, and a thinner, lighter design. Pricing on the 11-inch OLED iPad Pro starts at $999, and pricing on the 13-inch OLED iPad Pro starts at $1,299.
In contrast, the "iPad" is Apple's low-priced mainstream iPad, last updated in October 2022 with a complete redesign, larger display, USB-C port, A14 Bionic chip, 12-megapixel camera, and more. The iPad starting price is $349, but the pricey M4 iPad Pro models are proving to be more popular, and even appear to have cut into iPad mini and iPad Air sales.
According to CIRP, in the June 2024 quarter, iPad Pro (both the 11-inch and 13-inch models) accounted for 43% of total iPad sales, an increase from 38% in the year-ago June 2023 quarter. Meanwhile, the iPad remained at 35% compared to the previous year. In the same time periods, iPad Air accounted for 12% of all iPad sales, down from 15% a year ago, and the iPad mini accounted for 10%, down from 12% in the June 2023 quarter.
It's worth noting that the iPad mini has not been updated by Apple since September 2021, yet the iPad Air was updated in May alongside the M4 iPad Pro.
![CIRP-ipad-sales-june-2024-quarter.jpg]()
Commenting on the figures, CIRP suggests early adopters are driving the strong iPad Pro sales: "As we've seen with many other Apple product launches, the first-acting consumers appear to have gravitated to the high-end, most expensive models available, in this case the iPad Pros." iPad users: Does that align with your own purchase decisions? Let us know in the comments.
Article Link: Report: iPad Pro Popularity Cutting Into iPad Air and iPad Mini Sales
I think these stats prove that the Air just needs dropping altogether. For a device that is supposed to be the happy medium and the default choice for most, having just 15% of sales proves it's not working and it's just complicating the lineup.
Good point because the M2 Pro was basically given an additional 2 year life extension with the release of the M2 Air. The hardware is pretty much the same with the exception that the M2 Pro includes Promotion and Face ID. So both the M2 Air and M2 Pro should get cutoff around the same time. Best Buy had these on clearance for $799 for the 11" Pro and $899 for the 12.9" Pro.
Upgraded from my 10 year old iPad Air 2 to M2 iPad Air 6. I’ll let you know in another 10 years if I should have bought the pro.
If you care about gaming in any capacity, you shouldn't be buying Apple to begin with
I have the money, so i guess I am one of the who.