Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Can't say it's entirely unexpected, can we? It's Apple after all.

I was not shocked either, especially given the price hike with their other products including the iPhone, Apple Watch and now the iPad. Its Apples pricing, but the consumer make the choice if they support these prices or not.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Broadus
It’s funny. Those of us who balked out the new phone prices were ridiculed. Now many buyers of those new phones scoffing at new IPad prices. LMFAO. Pot meet kettle.
Lol, I'm balking at both iPhone and iPad prices. Still rocking an iPhone 7. I just don't use it enough to justify the cost. :p

The iPad is my primary device but current prices are testing the limits of what I'm willing to bear. I don't upgrade on a schedule. Just when there are new features I like but storage is usually one of those features that trigger an auto-buy (it had always been a day 1 purchase/pre-order prior to this announcement). :rolleyes:
 
It’s funny. Those of us who balked out the new phone prices were ridiculed. Now many buyers of those new phones scoffing at new IPad prices. LMFAO. Pot meet kettle.

I use my all day every day, I use my iPad... not so much. There’s my justification.
 
I will stick to my iPad Pro 10.5 for the next few years for sure. For what I do, it has plenty horsepower! Besides, I can’t justify the new price line for the iPad Pro.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Broadus
I wanted to upgrade and am on the fence. I mostly use my Air 2 to listen to music, browse the web, play games, etc. So all of this extra power isn't something I needed and my Air 2 works well on iOS 12. At the same time, I use the iPad more than any other device, especially at home.
 
IPad Pros are aim at business users! $150 increase will just be tacked on to their billing so it not a cost to the business.
 
That remains to be seen. Macrumors forum members make up an insignificant fractional percentage of Apple's market.
If anything MacRumors members are MORE likely to buy exuberantly expensive Apple devices, we’re the “hardcore Apple fans.” I think that Apple missed the mark here. The price elasticity for this increase will come back to bite them in the ass; they might actually make less money from these models than the ones last year.
 
I love the new iPad Pro. But what is justifying the huge price jump.

Heck the LTE 64GB model is $999

My 2016 LTE iPad Pro 9.7" model costs
$529 bucks on Sprint over 24 months.

Just gonna buy the base WiFi model.

Because consumers will pay. I was going to say idiots, but I myself am fully an idiot as I purchased a XS max phone for a ridiculous price. Apple is smart in selling their product at a price the market will pay. If this had MacOS, mouse support and a keyboard that wasn't awful I'd pay that price all day long.
 
Because consumers will pay. I was going to say idiots, but I myself am fully an idiot as I purchased a XS max phone for a ridiculous price. Apple is smart in selling their product at a price the market will pay. If this had MacOS, mouse support and a keyboard that wasn't awful I'd pay that price all day long.
Apple is smart at making people forget about the opportunity cost. Start listing some of the other things you could have bought instead, and the price starts to hurt a lot more.
 
Last edited:
If anything MacRumors members are MORE likely to buy exuberantly expensive Apple devices, we’re the “hardcore Apple fans.” I think that Apple missed the mark here. The price elasticity for this increase will come back to bite them in the ass; they might actually make less money from these models than the ones last year.

Well the issue with the tablet market is how long consumers keep their devices, this will only exacerbate that issue. We already see it becoming worse in the smartphone market where a recent study found consumers are keeping their phones 2-3 years because they are so expensive. It will be interesting to see how it pans out as Apple seems intent on making their money off of gouging that last couple hundred from less consumers versus selling more quantity.
[doublepost=1540996094][/doublepost]
Apple is smart at making people forget about the opportunity cost. Start listing about some of the other things you could have bought instead, and the price starts to hurt a lot more.

Absolutely. My xs max was worth it to a certain degree because I find the functionality of having a larger screen in a smaller package worth it. With that said it's still grossly overpriced, but I wouldn't touch Android with a 10 foot pole so it's really my only choice. I can see many consumers getting the ipad pro even with the price upgrade because the functionality improvement of removing the bezels is so great, but those same consumers will most likely hang onto those ipads for 2-3 years or most likely longer. So in the short term Apple will make lots of money, but in the long term profit might be more questionable unless they can come up with innovations that make upgrading make sense. Although I must say Apple has come up with those innovations every few years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tapiture
Apple is smart at making people forget about the opportunity cost. Start listing about some of the other things you could have bought instead, and the price starts to hurt a lot more.
This is actually one of the sticking points for me. How much do I want the new iPad versus other things I could get with that money? $1500-1700 + 10% tax is quite a lot and while the new features are nice, one of the primary reasons for upgrading is to get a storage bump from my 256GB Pro 9.7.
 
This is actually one of the sticking points for me. How much do I want the new iPad versus other things I could get with that money? $1500-1700 + 10% tax is quite a lot and while the new features are nice, one of the primary reasons for upgrading is to get a storage bump from my 256GB Pro 9.7.

This is what many of us said about the Xs/Max. Same exact scenario. i will say, here on MR, I see most people wanting high storage options which just exacerbates the price increases even more. My pads I have bought have always been the lowest tier storage, and my phones only went middle of the road once iOS became a hog. It's just too easy to migrate photos and music into iTunes and run the phone and pad light. Even easier for those who utilize Apple's cloud.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Broadus
This is what many of us said about the Xs/Max. Same exact scenario. i will say, here on MR, I see most people wanting high storage options which just exacerbates the price increases even more. My pads I have bought have always been the lowest tier storage, and my phones only went middle of the road once iOS became a hog. It's just too easy to migrate photos and music into iTunes and run the phone and pad light. Even easier for those who utilize Apple's cloud.
My photo and video library are fairly small (~30GB). I don't actually have any music or videos on my small iPad. There's no space for it and streaming those are fairly easy.

It's the comics library that's huge and it's a pain having to download those from Amazon/comiXology. I have to babysit downloads because they time out after a few minutes if left in the background or if the display turns off. Fast internet isn't always a given and even with fast internet, it takes a while to download HD comics (I've got some that are 1GB+ for a volume).

For me, the lowest tier 64GB storage will not meet my usage requirements. It will actually provide a worse user experience than what I currently have. I see no point spending $1K on an iPad that's a downgrade for my usage scenario. I'm now weighing the value proposition (for me) of spending almost $2K after taxes on an 11" iPad. Since, its unit cost is more than $1,000, I'd have to pay the tax either way—sales tax now or use tax when I file my 2018 taxes.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Broadus
It's interesting that a $749 iPhone XR is a great buy, but a $799 iPad Pro is way overpriced.
That's because Apple already shocked us last year with the $999 iPhone X so the XR looks like a bargain in comparison. :p

It was also a fairly gradual increase to the XR. $649/749 iPhone 7, $699/$799 iPhone 8+, $749 iPhone XR.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Broadus
Problem is the market is saturated. Those who want an iPad have one already. And because all iPads made in the 4 years are still working fine today Apple is realizing that this isn't a product they can charge someone annually or bi-annually for. So they have to build price increases into it to keep their numbers up otherwise they will have to report making less money as time goes on and their products get more durable/used for long periods.

This is also a subtle hint to users that instead of upgrading every year when a new feature comes out, upgrade once every few years. The price will be easier to swallow. I think the current Pros are a good entry point now because the big changes like Face ID and new style pencil are probably not going to change again for the next few years.

I bought the 256GB 11" model with the pencil and the keyboard and my intention is to keep it for 3+ years before considering another upgrade.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Davefevs
Problem is the market is saturated. Those who want an iPad have one already. And because all iPads made in the 4 years are still working fine today Apple is realizing that this isn't a product they can charge someone annually or bi-annually for. So they have to build price increases into it to keep their numbers up otherwise they will have to report making less money as time goes on and their products get more durable/used for long periods.

This is also a subtle hint to users that instead of upgrading every year when a new feature comes out, upgrade once every few years. The price will be easier to swallow. I think the current Pros are a good entry point now because the big changes like Face ID and new style pencil are probably not going to change again for the next few years.

I bought the 256GB 11" model with the pencil and the keyboard and my intention is to keep it for 3+ years before considering another upgrade.
Not for iPad Mini buyers! We have not had a new release iPad Mini since 2014? We still roll with the A8 and 1 GB of LPDDR3. Many did not upgrade who own the Mini 3 since it to has the A8 inside but with less RAM. Mini 2 has the A7 and less RAM. We need a brand new iPad Mini after such a long, long time!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.