Will Apple keep the current iPad lineup?...

[Kal-037]

So we have
iPad Mini 7.9”
iPad 9.7”
iPad Air 10.5”
iPad Pro 11”
iPad Pro 12.9”
(There is still tons of stock of)
Mini 4
iPad Pro 10.5”

Best Buy’s lineup for the next 3-6 or more, will be...
iPad Mini Four 7.9”
iPad Mini Five 7.9”
iPad Six 9.7”
iPad Air Three 10.5”
iPad Pro Two 10.5”
iPad Pro Three 11”
iPad Pro Three 12.9”
iPad Pro Two 12.9”
(Yikes)

Right now the 10.5” Pro is the same price as the new Air. I don’t see Apple making much profit from those until all the millions of pros are sold and (some) people decide to upgrade their 2017 or 2018 iPad 9.7”... Air 3 IMO seems like a bad business move.
They should have discontinued the 10.5 before launching the new Air.

Anyhoo, should Apple lower the 10.5” price and have that become the budget iPad, or should they just keep everything like it is now?

It’s still pretty messy but I think we should just have small, medium, large, and extra large iPads, lol.
It’s odd to think we have: small, medium, a little more medium, another medium but also pro 10.5”, large, and then extra large.
*obviously not a big deal, but I’m just curious what people think.


Kallum.

 

[kazmac]

Just saying:

Does it matter?

Buy what you want, ignore the rest.

I’ll buy a 2019 iPad Mini for on the go and eventually an Air (or second Mini for home use). The latter depends on the durability of the Air hardware (I am a little worried it’s in what looks like the 10.5 iPP chassis).

Not buying iPad Pros because of price points, features I have no interest in, and faulty hardware. The only element I like is the gen 2 Pencil, but the negatives outweigh the positives so I just ignore them.

For me, the new models -especially the Mini- are the only iPad(s) I am considering.

 

[Kal-037]

Just saying:

Does it matter?

Buy what you want, ignore the rest.

I’ll buy a 2019 iPad Mini for on the go and eventually an Air (or second Mini for home use). The latter depends on the durability of the Air hardware (I am a little worried it’s in what looks like the 10.5 iPP chassis).

Not buying iPad Pros because of price points, features I have no interest in, and faulty hardware. The only element I like is the gen 2 Pencil, but the negatives outweigh the positives so I just ignore them.

For me, the new models -especially the Mini- are the only iPad(s) I am considering.

That’s why I posted it doesn’t really matter, I was just wanting to start a chat about it... I was bored.


K.

 

[Crow_Servo]

Something that has me even more curious than the state of the lineup is the longevity of the iPad Pros.

When do we think Apple will stop supporting the 1st Gen Pros? Two years? Less? More?

The iPad lineup is far more complicated than the iPhone lineup, that’s for sure.

We have the 1st Gen 12.9 Pro with A9X and 4 GBs of RAM. Then there’s the 9.7 Pro with A9X, but 2 GBs of RAM. There’s the 2017 iPad with A9, so the 1st Pros could outlive that iPad, even though it’s newer (albeit with a 2015 chip).

We’ll probably see a 2019 iPad with an A11 chip. If it got an A12, it would be too similar to the new Air, especially if it’s 10.2” as rumored.

So it would be these new products:

iPad (7th Gen) 2019
iPad Mini (5th Gen)
iPad Air (3rd Gen)
iPad Pro 11 (3rd Gen)
iPad Pro 12.9 (3rd Gen)

Not too crazy, but yeah, lots of choices. People will probably be confused by a budget iPad that is outdone by the Mini. Many would just assume that the smallest iPad is the lowest on the totem pole. I’m happy to say that’s not true (Mini enthusiast here).

 

[Falhófnir]

I don't think Apple tend to be worried about what other retailers are doing. They're even producing iPhones that they have officially discontinued from sale themselves for third party channels (6S this year, 6 last year). At the end of the day, it's all adding to their installed base, and they can make money off of that. As things are, I don't think the lineup they now have as their core is particularly confusing. The more you pay, the more features you get, it's as simple as that:

Basic:
9.7" iPad
Single screen size
No smart KB
Basic retina display
Chipset or two behind
Geared towards basic iPad use
Lowest pricing

Premium:
iPad Air and iPad Mini
Choice of screen size
Larger model supports smart KB
Laminated display
Current chipset
Basic iPad use with a few extra features, plus the KB for the larger Air
Moderate pricing

Pro:
iPad pros
Largest screens
Smart KB
ProMotion
Custom AX chipset
Pushing into laptop replacement territory in use
Premium pricing

I think they could have simplified things a bit by rebranding the iPad mini as the 7.9" iPad Air, as that's effectively what it is. Then you would have had three lines of iPad, two of which available in two size options.

 

[profets]

It’s funny, when the original iPad Pro was introduced in 2015, it looked like they were going for a lineup of 3 sizes:

iPad mini
iPad Air
iPad Pro

Very easy lineup to understand. And then when they suddenly dropped the Air, ignored the mini for many years, and started doing annual releases of the 9.7” iPad, along with multiple size iPad Pro, it looked like their goal was to move the iPads into 2 lines, kind of similar to MacBooks at the time:

iPad (9.7”)
iPad Pro (10.5/11” and 12.9”)

Now we’re suddenly back to a larger lineup. Though with the new mini and Air being essentially identical in specifications except for display size, they likely could have gone under the same branding (Air), which actually was considered by Apple according to Gruber.

iPad
iPad Mini
iPad Air
iPad Pro

I get what they’re doing with he current lineup, but it feels like a bit much. Similar to the MacBook lineup right now. Customer going into the store has too many options to look at. That was always the beauty of Apple, simplicity in choices.

I think either doing a lineup based on sizes (mini, Air and Pro) or feature sets / lines (iPad and iPad Pro, each with a few sizes) would be much cleaner and simpler for customers to understand. I do love though, that you can recommend any iPad (maybe except the 9.7”) and you know they all have the latest internals.

Makes you wonder about the conversations at the exec level that lead to these lines, naming, etc. They always seem to be trying to get the line somewhere, only to change direction before they arrive there.

 

[ElectronGuru]

I don’t have any inside info but I do make stuff for a living. Deciding how many to make of a given part or family of parts is tricky and often results in to few or too many.

With that in mind it feels like the base iPad 9.7 is made from left over parts apple had millions of, with a total value of fractions of a billion dollars. Leaving them with few options:

-Release a12 with alternate name
-Don’t release an a12 model
-Discount the old parts even more (faster sell through) then do the a12 as a non air.

If so, that would explain why they keep shifting between ‘air’ and non air. And if so, the true in-production parts are limited to these models:

iPad Mini 7.9”
iPad Air 10.5”
iPad Pro 11”
iPad Pro 12.9”

And if so, everything else will disappear when their existing parts and models sell through.

 

[sracer]

I don’t have any inside info but I do make stuff for a living. Deciding how many to make of a given part or family of parts is tricky and often results in to few or too many.

With that in mind it feels like the base iPad 9.7 is made from left over parts apple had millions of, with a total value of fractions of a billion dollars. Leaving them with few options:

-Release a12 with alternate name
-Don’t release an a12 model
-Discount the old parts even more (faster sell through) then do the a12 as a non air.

If so, that would explain why they keep shifting between ‘air’ and non air. And if so, the true in-production parts are limited to these models:

iPad Mini 7.9”
iPad Air 10.5”
iPad Pro 11”
iPad Pro 12.9”

And if so, everything else will disappear when their existing parts and models sell through.

I agree. That is the same conclusion that I drew. The 2018 9.7 iPad may continue on as a special EDU-only offering, but the release of the Air and not updating 9.7 leads me to believe that the 9.7 will be discontinued for the general public.

This time last year when the 2018 iPad was released with an updated processor and support for the Pencil, I said that it was a clear indication (clear to me) that there would be no updated Mini in 2018 in spite of all the expert rumors to the contrary. (I've been mentioning my previous predictions recently because I discovered that I've been more correct than I initially thought.

)

 

[AJB1971]

I think the current line-up makes more sense than it has done for a long time, but I’m not sure that was their original intention.

The increasing price gap between the budget/education markets and the professional market could have forced them into introducing another line.

The iPad 9.7, Air 10.5 and Pro 11 are remarkably similar in terms of size and weight. I suppose you could say that they represent a good-better-best pricing strategy.

iPad 9.7 - 240mm * 169.5mm * 7.5mm 469-478g
iPad Air - 250.6mm * 174.1mm * 6.1mm 456-464g
iPad Pro 11 - 247.6mm * 178.5mm * 5.9mm 468g

As far as the Mini is concerned, they’ve already tried aiming that at multiple markets. The Mini 1, 2 and 3 were sold simultaneously for a period of time -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad#Timeline

The lack of updates suggests that Apple regard this as a niche model and I suppose it’s sensible that they would place this in the better category to satisfy the largest amount of customers.

Similarly, the 12.9 Pro will also be a niche model and it makes sense that this would fall into the best category.

I don’t know where they will go from here, but I do think that the budget/education line is extremely important to Apple. I expect them to introduce a 7th generation iPad, probably in the summer, in time for the new school year.

I think the Air will be a success, especially if it’s discounted by retailers. I’m sure that many people will consider purchasing it over the budget iPad and that’s the main reason Apple introduced it. It will also appeal to those dissatisfied by the pricing of the current Pro models.

 

[UltimateSyn]

I have been extremely critical of how messy some of Apple's product lines have become over the past ~5 years, but I actually really like the state of the iPad lineup. Super cheap iPad for education users and budget-conscious people, a mini iPad for small tablet diehards, a mid-range tablet for people who want better specs and a larger screen without paying an arm and a leg, and the two sizes of the Pro for those who want the absolute best or are trying to replace their laptop.

The mini and Air are really just two sizes of the same tablet. So even if not by nomenclature they essentially have two sizes of the Air, two sizes of the Pro, and the baseline iPad. Pretty nice variety and price coverage ($329 - $1899) without being overly confusing, IMO.

 

[profets]

I have been extremely critical of how messy some of Apple's product lines have become over the past ~5 years, but I actually really like the state of the iPad lineup. Super cheap iPad for education users and budget-conscious people, a mini iPad for small tablet diehards, a mid-range tablet for people who want better specs and a larger screen without paying an arm and a leg, and the two sizes of the Pro for those who want the absolute best or are trying to replace their laptop.

The mini and Air are really just two sizes of the same tablet. So even if not by nomenclature they essentially have two sizes of the Air, two sizes of the Pro, and the baseline iPad. Pretty nice variety and price coverage ($329 - $1899) without being overly confusing, IMO.

I agree - and when you look at it like this it really is a nice lineup. Even better that all options besides the base model have current internals with the A12! Now it’ll be interesting to see if they keep them updated in the coming years.

 

[Minimalist_Tech]

I have been extremely critical of how messy some of Apple's product lines have become over the past ~5 years, but I actually really like the state of the iPad lineup. Super cheap iPad for education users and budget-conscious people, a mini iPad for small tablet diehards, a mid-range tablet for people who want better specs and a larger screen without paying an arm and a leg, and the two sizes of the Pro for those who want the absolute best or are trying to replace their laptop.

The mini and Air are really just two sizes of the same tablet. So even if not by nomenclature they essentially have two sizes of the Air, two sizes of the Pro, and the baseline iPad. Pretty nice variety and price coverage ($329 - $1899) without being overly confusing, IMO.

Don’t forget the even bigger draw of the iPad mini - the business market. Tons of stores, companies, and similar use iPad minis for interfaces with specialty hardware or similar. The same applies for the iPod Touch, which is why the 6th gen has survived so long, and further, why I believe we’ll see another iPod Touch in the coming days/months.