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iPad Why did iPad 3 stop selling?

T

tastycaramel

macrumors member
Original poster
Hello guys! So I am wondering all this while - Why did apple stop selling the iPad 3 but the iPad 2 continued selling? I know it's strange but what I meant is that iPad 2 is older than iPad 3, but why did iPad 3 discontinued first????

🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁
 
Because, had they swapped the 2 with the 3 and charged $100 less, virtually no one would buy the 4.
 
Because for the average consumer, 2 retina full sized iPads which would be priced different would surely confuse people, and why buy a 4th gen with the minimal increase of speed and new port, when you could get an, to the average consumer, identical, except port, iPad 3rd gen cheaper?
Instead, the iPad 3rd gen was discontinued, and the iPad 2 kept around as a budget iPad, where upgrading to retina would seem appealing.
Also, their flagship iPad needed the new port, so they jam packed a little something something in there too just to make it maybe seem worth the upgrade from 3rd gen.
 
jsw said:
Because, had they swapped the 2 with the 3 and charged $100 less, virtually no one would buy the 4.
Click to expand...

Wow, such marketing strategy! I was planning to buy the iPad 3 when I get my $500 from my school together with my bank savings. But because they discontinued iPad 3, I dunno iPad 2, 4 or mini now. iPad 4 will surely be out of stock as my country is mad about apple stuff (hehe).

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DarkAnnie said:
Because for the average consumer, 2 retina full sized iPads which would be priced different would surely confuse people, and why buy a 4th gen with the minimal increase of speed and new port, when you could get an, to the average consumer, identical, except port, iPad 3rd gen cheaper?
Instead, the iPad 3rd gen was discontinued, and the iPad 2 kept around as a budget iPad, where upgrading to retina would seem appealing.
Also, their flagship iPad needed the new port, so they jam packed a little something something in there too just to make it maybe seem worth the upgrade from 3rd gen.
Click to expand...

Wow I guess iPad 2 is a good go for me then
 
tastycaramel said:
Wow, such marketing strategy! I was planning to buy the iPad 3 when I get my $500 from my school together with my bank savings. But because they discontinued iPad 3, I dunno iPad 2, 4 or mini now. iPad 4 will surely be out of stock as my country is mad about apple stuff (hehe).

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Wow I guess iPad 2 is a good go for me then
Click to expand...

They have the 3 available in the refurb store if you'd like to go that route.
 
tastycaramel said:
Wow I guess iPad 2 is a good go for me then
Click to expand...

If you don't care about retina, then the iPad 2 is a good choice. You could always go for a 3rd gen in apples refurbished section, or find someone wanting to upgrade to 4th and selling their 3rd gen.

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tastycaramel said:
Sorry but then I want to buy a new model and something that will hold up to the current tech standards for at least a year
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I think they just call the unused brand new 3rd gens refurbished just to get rid of them! Would be super strange that all of the sudden they had a ton of second hand refurbished 3rd gens....
 
DarkAnnie said:
If you don't care about retina, then the iPad 2 is a good choice. You could always go for a 3rd gen in apples refurbished section, or find someone wanting to upgrade to 4th and selling their 3rd gen.
Click to expand...

For me, it is the screen size and pixel density that matters most. Anyway, will the iPad 2 hold up to tech standards for long? As in a year or two?
 
tastycaramel said:
For me, it is the screen size and pixel density that matters most. Anyway, will the iPad 2 hold up to tech standards for long? As in a year or two?
Click to expand...

If its about pixel density, you need to go retina. I can't say when it comes to the mini cause I haven't seen it for myself yet, but they say it's better than the iPad 2 although not as good as retina. It's apparently more noticeable for people who are used to retina screens than for those who aren't.
I've seen a lot of stores reselling apple products dropping the price on the 3rd gen iPad to get rid of it. Unless you are doing some heavy gaming, the only major difference from 4th gen is the port.
 
DarkAnnie said:
If its about pixel density, you need to go retina. I can't say when it comes to the mini cause I haven't seen it for myself yet, but they say it's better than the iPad 2 although not as good as retina. It's apparently more noticeable for people who are used to retina screens than for those who aren't.
I've seen a lot of stores reselling apple products dropping the price on the 3rd gen iPad to get rid of it. Unless you are doing some heavy gaming, the only major difference from 4th gen is the port.
Click to expand...

I have my computer to play games but I want the iPad for YouTube and entertainment purposes
 
tastycaramel said:
Hello guys! So I am wondering all this while - Why did apple stop selling the iPad 3 but the iPad 2 continued selling? I know it's strange but what I meant is that iPad 2 is older than iPad 3, but why did iPad 3 discontinued first????

🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁
Click to expand...

The 3 and 4 are too similar to to sell side by side, there would be no significant difference between the two. Apple nees to make X amount of profit on each device, they can not make that if they sold the 3 for $100 less.
 
Orange Furball said:
Cause the iPad 3 was only meant to sell for 6 months. Rip of, yes, but that's Apple.
Click to expand...

I don't understand the reasoning why improving a product is somehow a rip off?

Do you feel obligated to buy the latest version of anything Apple makes?

iPad4 is a CPU spec bump. If it were a Mac update, it typically would not have gotten a mention and have been a silent update. I think they needed to fill time announcing the iPad mini and made a bigger deal of it than typical.
 
My guess is Apple wanted to kill off the A5X. It was a relatively huge SoC. The A6x is quite a bit smaller meaning Apple should see higher yields per wafer compared to the A5X. Higher yields will lead to reduced cost per SoC leading to higher margins for the 4th gen.
 
darngooddesign said:
The 3 and 4 are too similar to to sell side by side, there would be no significant difference between the two. Apple nees to make X amount of profit on each device, they can not make that if they sold the 3 for $100 less.
Click to expand...

Apple decided to scrap the iPad 3 because iPad 3 and iPad 4 have no significant differences? I bet that they could predict everyone buying the iPad 3 after the price drop... 😕
 
tastycaramel said:
Apple decided to scrap the iPad 3 because iPad 3 and iPad 4 have no significant differences? I bet that they could predict everyone buying the iPad 3 after the price drop... 😕
Click to expand...

Exactly. If they had discontinued the 2 and dropped the 3 to $399, who would buy the $499 iPad 4? Additionally, they would have a much lower margin if the 3 sold at $399.

By having the iPad 2 as the lower level device, there are more differences and therefore more of an incentive for consumers to pay the extra for an iPad 4.
 
1. They want developers to still support 1024 x768 resolution as iPad mini. That's why they kept the iPad 2.

If they kept the retina iPad 3 and iPad 4. Less developers would support the iPad mini 1024 x768 resolution.

2. Much higher profit margin at $399 for iPad 2 than $399 for iPad 3.

It's as simple as that.
 
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