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FYI: perhaps I was checking in the middle of the store being taken down, BUT: iPad and iPad Mini are both unavailable to buy right now on the Apple store, but iPad Pro is.

Might be seeing both introduced today after all?
 
You have a point. Have a feeling it will be $399 since the mini 6 will get a refresh and price increase to match the Air 4. Apple is all about increasing prices nowadays with the pandemic.
Wholesale prices went up 8.3% in August alone. Everything is more expensive now. See how much a “five dollar foot long” from last year costs at Subway today, for example.
 
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Might be the first iPad I buy since the Air 2. The other iPads are too expensive for my uses to get me too excited about them.
 
Can Apple just unify product lines… I hate this whole iPad, Air, Mini, Pro…. Just make iPad and iPad Large.. and put your advanced chips and call it a day. Older tech sold as new products is dumb. All of Apples products have incredible margins regardless
 
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Maybe announced today, so that October/November would be all about Mac and the new silicon powering the higher end Macs. Would be nice if we get to see a bigger iMac later this year.
 
It doesn't make sense to split the 2 iPads into different events, so like other posters have said, I could see this going 1 of 2 different ways:

1 - They just quietly release this via press after the event today - don't spend any keynote time on it.

2 - They announce both this and the mini during the keynote and the later fall event will be solely Mac focused (which would be an awesome event on its own!)
 
It may be near identical to the Air 3, or it might be a similar design but keeping the 10.2” display size, rumours suggested the latter at one point, though the former might be somewhat cheaper on design costs (though the current 10.2” design is totally new in as much as it wasn’t used for any previous iPad first).


No, Apple will hire a bunch of people to strip down those old Air iPad's and then re-use those parts to manufacture a new low end iPad. That's a super efficient supply chain mechanism and makes total sense. :D
 
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Wholesale prices went up 8.3% in August alone. Everything is more expensive now. See how much a “five dollar foot long” from last year costs at Subway today, for example.
True. But at the same time, I don't think Apple just made the decision in the last few months. Apple tends to pre-book manufacturing capacities many months/years in advance, basically to avoid price fluctuations that you mentioned. The price increase is basically to take advantage that many people need some devices for home study/work due to the pandemic.

And one reason I'm always bitter on any price increases, it's because even today, the base 8th gen iPad 32GB wifi, is already more than $400 in my country, a far cry from the $329 US MSRP. If Apple upped the price to $399, I can expect it to be around $500 here.
 
Mannn they are not gonna include the new iPad as part of the BTS promo. They usually never include new products while the promo is still going on.
I’m not discussing the promo for consumers. I’m discussing EDU sales and the Back-to-School season.

This device is primarily targeted towards the EDU-market. It’s one of the key reasons why it exists. It allows Apple to hit a price point in which it can compete with Chromebooks in the education sector.

Schools worldwide are ordering their devices now, if they haven’t already. Apple is already late to the game, so getting this one out now is key.

Hence why it’s always released in September. 😊
 
What about the naming? I still think new iPhones won’t be named as iPhone 13. For me an iPhone 12s denomination is more likely.
 
Can Apple just unify product lines… I hate this whole iPad, Air, Mini, Pro…. Just make iPad and iPad Large.. and put your advanced chips and call it a day. Older tech sold as new products is dumb. All of Apples products have incredible margins regardless
No. Not everyone needs an iPad Pro and the associated cost. Apple is reaching a huge range of users while giving them great performance at every price point. This strategy is working well for them and it won’t be going away.
 
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Strange if true. What about the iPad mini then, later in the autumn/fall with MacBooks? 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
I feel like they have to keep it at $329 for the education market/as a low-cost option. Any price increase kills the best benefit of this iPad IMO.
 
Sigh

yet another iPad
Yet another low cost iPad

I’ve been considering getting a new one recently but the product line is just so confusing
 
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No. Not everyone needs an iPad Pro and the associated cost. Apple is reaching a huge range of users while giving them great performance at every price point. This strategy is working well for them and it won’t be going away.
The strategy is old and dumb. It doesn’t lead to more quality or end user experience. Instead of being a neutral cost for the product it forces the top product premium to go up.. Apple was happy to say the iPhone 13 Pro won’t go up in price like its a good thing.

Steve Jobs would have hated it. It’s the reason Apple was failing to be innovative in the 1990s with 20 different computer models. Jobs came back and said iMac.. done. The business execs didn’t like Jobs focused Machintosh and wanted to make 3 versions of the Lisa computer…

Apple is trending back to a flawed strategy. When they bring back the original MacBook and 4 other sizes of MacBooks it’s going to just slip to 5 fifth models of X Y Z.. and Apples innovation will suffer.

The touch bar is a great example of something Jobs would have hated too

The trend is old and dumb incrediblhttps://techcrunch.com/2014/10/16/apple-announces-too-many-ipads/
 
The strategy is old and dumb. It doesn’t lead to more quality or end user experience. Instead of being a neutral cost for the product it forces the top product premium to go up.. Apple was happy to say the iPhone 13 Pro won’t go up in price like its a good thing.

Steve Jobs would have hated it. It’s the reason Apple was failing to be innovative in the 1990s with 20 different computer models. Jobs came back and said iMac.. done. The business execs didn’t like Jobs focused Machintosh and wanted to make 3 versions of the Lisa computer…

Apple is trending back to a flawed strategy. When they bring back the original MacBook and 4 other sizes of MacBooks it’s going to just slip to 5 fifth models of X Y Z.. and Apples innovation will suffer.

The touch bar is a great example of something Jobs would have hated too

The trend is old and dumb incrediblhttps://techcrunch.com/2014/10/16/apple-announces-too-many-ipads/
The strategy is tried and true. The article you referenced is from 2014 and this supposed “issue” isn’t one. Apple offering more choice to get more consumer into the ecosystem benefits us all. Where Apple fall short is how and when iPadOS makes use of the M1 hardware in a meaningful way to justify the over engineered iPad Pros. The spread between the cheapest iPad and the most expensive iPad Pro is less than you’re making it out to be, and the differences have more to do with cameras, speakers and Lightning versus USB-C or Thunderbolt than CPU power. Apple will be just fine, so will consumers.

Besides, Jobs was trying to save Apple from bankruptcy back in 1997, which called for drastic simplification to reduce costs. Apple is no longer that “beleaguered” company, but you keep on believing it.
 
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The strategy is tried and true. The article you referenced is from 2014 and this supposed “issue” isn’t one. Apple offering more choice to get more consumer into the ecosystem benefits us all. Where Apple fall short is how and when iPadOS makes use of the M1 hardware in a meaningful way to justify the over engineered iPad Pros. The spread between the cheapest iPad and the most expensive iPad Pro is less than you’re making it out to be, and the differences have more to do with cameras, speakers and Lightning versus USB-C or Thunderbolt than CPU power. Apple will be just fine, so will consumers.

Besides, Jobs was trying to save Apple from bankruptcy back in 1997, which called for drastic simplification to reduce costs. Apple is no longer that “beleaguered” company, but you keep on believing it.
You’re understanding of the problem is way off… It’s not just about choices, it’s about good choices. And the slew of fragmented upgrades and no upgrades is where Apple is slipping.. Just look up all the disappointed Mac users comments.. Apple is not building the right thing anymore. And their products are unimaginative. What’s the point of having something super thin if it doesn’t perform.. remember Apple slipped up on pro machines in recent history…

And Steve didn’t kill because of bankruptcy… Steve was brought in to avoid bankruptcy and here is the reason Steve killed products:

“Jobs returned to Apple 1997, he returned to a slew of ill-conceived product lines. Some were excessive, and some were downright silly, but many were ultimately killed off for their poor alignment with consumer needs and wants.”

So explain the difference and need for iPad, iPad Air and iPad Pro (smaller screen)… I see almost nearly the same category of product. And iPad. The debate we are having is a product offering with three tiers and a single product with a neutral price that offers the best.

Im for a single product that offers the best Apple has for iPad at a single screen size (there could be different screen sizes still).. But at a neutral price.

Apples initial argument was they still had factories to build the older model product.. So much less than consumer choice than maximizing their profits
 
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