2024 OLED iPad Pros Set to Be a Lot Pricier Due to Costly Panel Production Process

[citysnaps]

And you're defending Apple while knowing absolutely nothing about the situation.

Checked prices of solid state drives lately? Prices are in the basement. Manufacturers can't dump them fast enough. Yet Apple charges hundreds $$$ for each bump in storage. Greedy Apple for sure.

Nope. Nice try. It's not a matter of "defending." Apple receives a reasonable 40% GPM on COGS. Simple as that.

 

[darngooddesign]

At what point does the iPad Pro price have to reach that people start looking into other options like a MacBook Pro? I have always found my MacBook to be far more useful than any iPad that I have ever owned. Like someone else said, once you add the pencil and keyboard, you are close if not over the price of a 14 inch MacBook Pro but limited to iPadOS. The hardware has gone far beyond what the iPad was intended to be used for while the operating system has stayed the same.

I have a 16” M1 MBP and a 13” M1 iPad Pro; I enjoy using my iPad as much, if not more.

 

[floral]

It’s originally a photography term: https://blog.dehancer.com/articles/bloom-what-it-is-and-how-it-works/

CCD camera sensors were also prone to it.

Oh! Wow. I look like a real goofball.

 

[EugW]

At what point does the iPad Pro price have to reach that people start looking into other options like a MacBook Pro? I have always found my MacBook to be far more useful than any iPad that I have ever owned. Like someone else said, once you add the pencil and keyboard, you are close if not over the price of a 14 inch MacBook Pro but limited to iPadOS. The hardware has gone far beyond what the iPad was intended to be used for while the operating system has stayed the same.

Ever since I changed jobs 3 years ago, I never use my MacBook. My main machine is an M1 Mac mini (which replaced my 27" iMac), and my secondary machine is an iPad Pro with Apple Smart Keyboard. My MacBook just sits unused.

My MacBook was my travel work machine. Interestingly, at that time, I sometimes used to take BOTH my iPad Pro and my MacBook while traveling, but I no longer travel for my job so my MacBook become superfluous. (While traveling, my iPad Pro would be for content consumption*, notes, and use as a secondary screen for the MacBook for work related usage.)

Although now I still use my iPad Pro more for content consumption, if I do use the iPad Pro for work, it's usually just light work in office productivity applications and most of them work fine on an iPad with keyboard. Most of my work is on my desktop Mac. I could get by with just a regular iPad with keyboard, but I prefer the screen of the iPad Pro, and luckily I can write off the cost though my business.

*Note that you can't download Netflix shows onto a MacBook for offline viewing. This was a royal pain on the plane for example.

 

[jarman92]

To make more money, of course. Samsung can sell an OLED tablet for 1/3 the price of an iPad Pro. And it's cheap enough that people can actually consider replacing it each year and getting a new one. OLED is not magical. Apple will have you think it is, though.

Lol what? If Apple wants to make more money they can just raise the price; they don't need an "excuse." They utilize more expensive components only when they think it will significantly improve the experience, and it almost always results in them making less margin.

 

[EugW]

They utilize more expensive components only when they think it will significantly improve the experience, and it almost always results in them making less margin.

AFAIK, this is not really correct. They are willing to make less margin when necessary, but often times higher end Apple products have higher margin.

 

[VaruLV]

What a surprise 🙄!

Seriously, Apple product prices with all of their latest devices have been way out of hand and too high!

Nobody in their right mind will buy an iPad Pro if will cost even more, 100-250 euros more, given that, for example, in large parts of Europe 11" iPP starts at 1049€ and 12.9" at 1449€ !!!

If they raise prices even more, the only way to save iPad is to either release them with macOS dual boot capability or allow iPad Pro's to run any Mac app without any limitations.

 

[rpmurray]

My 2018 iPad Pro continues to be the best Apple product I've ever bought in terms of longevity.

Same with my 2010 first gen iPad.

 

[chucker23n1]

Presumably because they want a minimum number of zones horizontally/vertically.

Yup. They claim 10,000 LEDs for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. That means they're a lot smaller than those on the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which also claims 10,000. (By my calculations, the 16-inch has 10,368 LEDs, and the 14-inch has 7,952.)

For the iPad Pro, I'm actually unsure. The MBPs have a dedicated LED row for the menu bar and separate rows for the rest; perhaps the iPad Pro does the same for the status bar. I haven't found a grid size that adds up.

Either way, they claim 10,000 for the 12.9-inch:

and the 16-inch:

but not the 14-inch:

So by the same pattern, the 11-inch would have LEDs that are slightly smaller than the 12.9-inch's, but also fewer.

It's probably the 'smaller' part that kills it. They'd be the smallest of them all, and probably about 8,000 of them each, and maybe Apple just can't find someone who will produce enough yield at volume at that size.

 

[applepotato666]

Snapped up*, snapped reads as something completely different

To be fair they do also do that 😂

 

[zubikov]

Does ist actually matter?

Given the price of the iPad Pro and the associated accessories, it seems these customers aren't price-sensitive at all.

Apple's iPad sales have been flat for a long time. They sell fewer units these days at a higher price and fatter margins. Raising prices on what's already considered a niche product at current prices, while staring a recession in the face, looking at dangerous levels of consumer credit card debt again...I dunno good luck Apple. I'm sure you guys know smth we all don't, as usual.

If you read recent forums about iPad pros here, the one constant is that people tend to think: if I'm paying $1500+ for an electronics device, it will be a fully functional Macbook or macbook pro w/ a real OS.

 

[VaruLV]

Remember before the first iPad launched in 2010 that the chatter was about how it would cost the same as a MacBook? That day is no approaching...

Of course, another way to look at it is if Apple adopts OLED in MacBooks, these will also need the tandem OLED panels so the cost of MacBooks will go up too, maintainin the price difference between the iPad and MacBook ranges.

Hopefully, by that time Windows on ARM will be much better and there will some ARM competiton in regards to power consumption vs performance.
Im quite sure that plenty of people are interested in Mseries Macbooks only because of their long battery life and quieter operation, me being one of them.

miniLED is utterly garbage and they know it, this is proof of that.

It was a cheap stop gap before OLED so that they could bump up the price and market it as something great and new.

Blooming is gross.

For the price I paid for my 12.9 M1 I certainly expected both less visible blooming and edge shadowing.

I'm wondering whether the additional 0.1" is for pixel shifting.

I wonder if it will be visible to the naked eye just like edge shadowing is now on miniLED screens?

Would you accept a decrease in your salary so that your company can eat some costs?

If I wouldnt be greedy ****** who is detached from reality that the rest of the world is living in and with sallary that amounts to hundreds of millions or even billion dollars, then, yes, I WOULD!

 

[Bodhitree]

For me it’s not worth it to buy another iPP, especially not if they get even more expensive. I think the next tablet I buy will be a Samsung Tab A8 for €200 which will do everything I want because I just tend to use my tablet for browsing and foruming.

 

[klasma]

Yup. They claim 10,000 LEDs for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. That means they're a lot smaller than those on the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which also claims 10,000. (By my calculations, the 16-inch has 10,368 LEDs, and the 14-inch has 7,952.)

For the iPad Pro, I'm actually unsure. The MBPs have a dedicated LED row for the menu bar and separate rows for the rest; perhaps the iPad Pro does the same for the status bar. I haven't found a grid size that adds up.

Either way, they claim 10,000 for the 12.9-inch:

View attachment 2165294

and the 16-inch:

View attachment 2165295

but not the 14-inch:

View attachment 2165296

So by the same pattern, the 11-inch would have LEDs that are slightly smaller than the 12.9-inch's, but also fewer.

It's probably the 'smaller' part that kills it. They'd be the smallest of them all, and probably about 8,000 of them each, and maybe Apple just can't find someone who will produce enough yield at volume at that size.

The number of zones is smaller than the number of LEDs (multiple LEDs make up one zone). I just checked the numbers:

iPad Pro 12.9": 10384 LEDs in 2596 zones
MacBook Pro 16": 10216 LEDs in 2554 zones
MacBook Pro 14": 8040 LEDs in 2010 zones

(Note that due to different aspect ratios, the diagonals cannot be compared 1:1 between iPad and MacBook. The iPad Pro 12.9" is actually minimally taller in landscape than the MacBook Pro 14" (which is 13-14% wider). Screen area differs by ~12%.)

So maybe my theory is wrong insofar as they went with fewer zones in the MBP 14". I still think it’s likely that there are technical reasons making mini-LED not viable on the 11". If the only reason was feature differentiation for the 12.9", planning OLED for both now would be a U-turn.

 

[klasma]

[pixel-shift area]
I if it will be visible to the naked eye just like edge shadowing is now on miniLED screens?

It probably will be barely visible, like the edge on an OLED iPhone between a black screen and the black bezel.

 

[hajime]

The iPad Pro is already approaching Macbook Pro prices. If they become even more expensive they will become niche products I’m afraid…

If Apple uses OLED in future Macbook Pro, will the price be raised? The current screen for the MacBook Pro is good. If they could increase the nits, that would be perfect.

Then the price gap between iPad Pro and MacBook Pro can still be maintained.

 

[one more]

And this is exactly why I will be patiently waiting for OLED to trickle down to iPad Air.

Besides, Samsung have been using OLED panels in their tablets for quite a while now. Their current Super AMOLED models are not as expensive either:

 

[Bodhitree]

It's already too expensive and too limited by iPadOS. Can't think of a single good reason to use one.

For the same money you could add a Windows-based gaming laptop to your array of tech devices.

 

[jarman92]

AFAIK, this is not really correct. They are willing to make less margin when necessary, but often times higher end Apple products have higher margin.

The higher-end products often do, but what we're talking about here is replacing a component in an existing product with a more expensive version. When that happens, Apple typically eats the cost difference, resulting in less margin.

As just one example, the A16 costs Apple more than twice what the A15 costs. Since the 14 Pro is the same price as the 13 Pro, Apple's margin on the 14 Pro is lower.

Here, Apple could increase the price to make up the cost difference, but they certainly wouldn't want to if they didn't have to.

 

[Bodhitree]

I'd love to know how many have actually bothered to buy the keyboard or pencil.

I bought the Pencil (1st gen) when it came out, thinking that I might use the iPad Pro for art, but beyond a little hobbyist tinkering it hasn’t happened for me. Was a waste of money, it just didn’t catch on.

With the keyboard I was more cautious, I tried it in the Apple store and I didn’t think it was robust enough at the time. I prefer to do my long typing sessions at a real keyboard, and use the on-screen keyboard for forum posts and things.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Nope. Nice try. It's not a matter of "defending." Apple receives a reasonable 40% GPM on COGS. Simple as that.

Good deflection on your false original reply. The article title "OLED iPad Pros Set to Be a Lot Pricier Due to Costly Panel Production Process" says they're pricier due to costly panel, not inflation.

Check your math -- 1TB iPP is $400 more than 512GB version. Retail pricing for an entire SSD stick (NAND + Controller) is about $50. Just the NAND chip is probably half that ($25). That's a 40% profit by your math? More like 1600%.

 

[EugW]

The higher-end products often do, but what we're talking about here is replacing a component in an existing product with a more expensive version. When that happens, Apple typically eats the cost difference, resulting in less margin.

As just one example, the A16 costs Apple more than twice what the A15 costs. Since the 14 Pro is the same price as the 13 Pro, Apple's margin on the 14 Pro is lower.

Here, Apple could increase the price to make up the cost difference, but they certainly wouldn't want to if they didn't have to.

I wouldn't at all be surprised if they raised the price when it goes OLED. I'm about 60/40 on this one. I'm not sure they will, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do raise the price.

However, even if they do raise the price, it's entirely possible they increase the storage too at the same time. That said, I think 128 GB is reasonable as a starting point for iPad Pros, so I'm not convinced they'd increase the storage.

ie. I'll see when it comes. In the meantime I'll just continue to use my 2017 10.5" iPad Pro. In terms of SoC performance, it's adequate. I don't need M3 or 16 GB RAM or whatever, but I do want OLED. 8 GB RAM with less Safari tab and app refreshing would be nice too. And landscape FaceTime is a must!

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

And this is exactly why I will be patiently waiting for OLED to trickle down to iPad Air.

Besides, Samsung have been using OLED panels in their tablets for quite a while now. Their current Super AMOLED models are not as expensive either:

View attachment 2165333

Pretty hard for Tim and shareholders to get their record profits selling an iPad Pro w/OLED for $899.

 

[Manzanito]

What price? We don't know what the price is yet of course.

My guess is there may be an increase in price, but I don't think it will be hundreds of $ contrary to what some might think after reading this article.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ipad/comments/ygwx86

I’d say they’re already very expensive for what they do. But that’s just me, of course you can think otherwise.

 

[ctg7w6]

My iPad Pro is my favorite device ever. But I need an actual MacBook to do my work. My iPad Pro helps a lot with certain tasks, but it can’t do everything like my MacBook can. It’s a luxury device for me. I love it. But I already pay 2k for a laptop and 1.2k for the iPad. I can’t do more. They’re pricing me out.

Once the iPad can do everything a MacBook is, I’d be happy to pay 2k for it. But not for the gimped product it currently is.