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iPad Pro Cellular vs Storage?

If you had only these choices which would you opt for?

  • 128GB Cellular (£1149)

    Votes: 17 30.4%

  • 256GB WiFi Only (£1099)

    Votes: 39 69.6%
  • Total voters
    56
James Godfrey

James Godfrey

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Oct 13, 2011
2,074
1,711
I am tied between the 2021 12.9” 128GB Cellular or the 12.9” 256GB WiFi...

In the past whenever I have had a cellular iPad I have found I literally never use cellular, however, you can never say never....

On the same note I have always found 128GB to be fine for storage purposes on my iPhone, however, I do have cellular on that so keep a lot of stuff in the cloud...

So with the 2021 iPad Pro I am tied between either getting the cellular 128GB or the 256GB WiFi only option...

Can anyone help swing me in one direction or the other?
 
For a 12.9, wifi only, I only take cellular on my mini or on the mid-sized one, never on larger tablets...
 
I was happy to pay extra for cellular on my current iPad, because I wanted to undeniably prove whether I needed it or not. Had I gone with WiFi-only, there would have always been that nagging "maybe" at the back of my head.

Four years later and I'm 100% sure I don't need cellular on my iPad. I have never used it once. I still consider it money well spent, because I don't want to be one of those people who go on forums to try and make up their own mind based on the opinions of total strangers.

... 😇
 
Last edited:
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Had both cellular and WiFi over the years. Almost never used cellular, especially these days when tethering can be done with just a tap on the iPad and no interaction on the phone.
 
James Godfrey said:
Yes I do unlimited subject to fair use (which I think is a stupidly high amount)
Click to expand...
I bought the LTE 12.9 2020 iPad Pro and haven’t used the LTE once. I have a hotspot and I should have just stuck with using it when needed. Unless you think you would go over your cap (when you would get throttled down with unlimited) then I’d go wifi to save $. That’s just me though.
 
Celluar everytime for my main productivity Ipad. Yes can use Iphone as a hotspot but the freedom it gives not needing to rely having your iphone with you has proved valuable Within my workflow. Again, it depends on your own needs.
 
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All depends how much you use it away from your home. Personal hotspot is useful but depends if you want to always connect it that way.

I use mine with hotspot on my lunch breaks but theres times where it won’t connect so I may go with cellular this time will see on pricing
 
McScooby said:
Depends on your use, IIRC the cellular has a GPS chip (you can use without a data plan) & there's the eSim if you travel somewhere, whereas the WiFi only doesn't.
Click to expand...

Yes, cellular does have GPS, WiFi does not. When I found I wanted GPS on my current WiFi iPad I ended up buying a Bluetooth GPS device for what adding cellular would have cost me.
 
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Every time I order cellular on an iPad I use it once for a very specific purpose, nav off the grid. Otherwise hotspot works fine.
 
I am getting cellular this time just for the convenience, but if I had to pick between storage or cellular, especially considering you can hotspot, I'd choose storage. Wifi-only isn't THAT big of an inconvenience honestly and 128GB will go fast.
 
James Godfrey said:
I am tied between the 2021 12.9” 128GB Cellular or the 12.9” 256GB WiFi...

In the past whenever I have had a cellular iPad I have found I literally never use cellular, however, you can never say never....

On the same note I have always found 128GB to be fine for storage purposes on my iPhone, however, I do have cellular on that so keep a lot of stuff in the cloud...

So with the 2021 iPad Pro I am tied between either getting the cellular 128GB or the 256GB WiFi only option...

Can anyone help swing me in one direction or the other?
Click to expand...
Go with the WiFi version. You don't use cellular.
 
Well, I think you answered your own question when you said you never use cellular. Early on, I had several with cellular and it did come in handy a few times-when traveling and when we have a power outage. So, it was handy in those instances but once they enabled hotspot I no longer get the cellular. Interested to hear what you decide.
 
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i have a NAS box at home
so
wifi for me.

the storage might be handy; i download to the iSomehting what content i need as a direct local to the device.
 
I’m going with cellular this time around. I think if I add a cellular iPad to my Verizon plan, I only pay $15 more each month. Of course, it’s purely for convenience.
 
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I’d go cellular, and I wouldn’t downgrade storage capacity to get it, but we are all different and have different financial circumstances.
 
After reading this thread I realised I should go cellular this time around even though I previously stated I don’t use it. Gonna go for 11” and start bringing it with me the days I go into the office (after covid) and use for notes and whatnot.
 
Puonti said:
I was happy to pay extra for cellular on my current iPad, because I wanted to undeniably prove whether I needed it or not. Had I gone with WiFi-only, there would have always been that nagging "maybe" at the back of my head.

Four years later and I'm 100% sure I don't need cellular on my iPad. I have never used it once. I still consider it money well spent, because I don't want to be one of those people who go on forums to try and make up their own mind based on the opinions of total strangers.

... 😇
Click to expand...
So you paid extra for something you don’t use?
 
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