iPad Pro How long do you plan on keeping your iPad Pro?

[Sensamic]

Just recently bought an iPad Pro 11 M1 128GB Wifi Space Grey and I’m quite happy and pleased with the purchase. Before I tried the Air 64GB Wifi and the iPad 9 64GB Wifi. Both returned due to dead pixels, dust under the screen and scuffs on the borders of the tablets.

I’ve always wanted the Pro 11, so this time, with all the huge upgrades it got this year plus the difficulty in buying the base model due to stock limitations, I decided to try the Pro 11. My last iPad was the 6th gen 128GB Wifi for 3 years.

Decided to change because it was getting a little bit old and slow, and wanted a change in design, but the 9th gen was also so good a deal that I tried it to see if I could keep it for the next years.

The old design and 60Hz started to feel really old news. My tablet is my most used device at home. Only use the iMac 27 1019 for work, but I also didn’t want to spend 800 euros on a tablet. Felt too much, but did it anyways due to the actual situation with stock and wanted something that I could keep for many many years.

I knew having the 9th gen I would have wanted to upgrade again in 2/3 years.

Pro is GREAT. Got a perfect screen with no issues. 120Hz is much more important than I first thought. It makes web surfing so nice. It feels like there is no webpage that can slow this thing. It flies.

FaceID is algo awesome. I much prefer it to the TouchID of the Air, for example. M1, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, WIFI 6, BT 5, modern design, 120Hz and FaceID is a perfect combo for many years.

Can’t see a need to upgrade this Pro for at least 6 years. OLED screen? Would be nice, but not enough reason to change. Wireless charging? Never will use it. New design? This one will never feel outdated. FaceID is fast and reliable so don’t need TouchID.

I’m sure Apple will update iPadOS in this device for at least 6 years, since it has the M1 and they will want to show it’s endurance for years.

So I will keep this Pro until the battery degrades a lot and then I will try to get it replace (whole device) at an Apple service repair store. If I lasted 3 years with an iPad 6 with this one I can do 6 years easily I hope. In 6 years not even the base iPad will have 8GB RAM, for example.

How long is everyone planing on keeping their Pros?

 

[Bodhitree]

I think my iPad Pro 12.9” (2015) is getting a little long in the tooth. I might exchange it for a regular iPad sometime soon.

 

[Sensamic]

I see people in the forums still using an Air 2, so I’m sure this 2021 model can last more than 5/6 years.

With 120Hz it’ll never feel slow or sluggish.

I’m also thinking of buying the Magic Keyboard, but all the talk around poor longevity due to it getting dirty might cancel my plans. Right now I’m using the Apple wireless Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse 2.

 

[Chaparral02]

No way to really answer this question as it goes by what future updates the ipad pro will receive
If there nothing in the updates over the next few years that interest me then i just hang onto my 2021 ipad 11" & 12.9 pro's

Not sure if i change my 2021 11" pro for the new one if it gets a miniled, See what other interests and cash flow is like at the time

 

[Rafterman]

Until the next one comes out.

 

[Isengardtom]

Depends how big the upgrade is and how much software improvements we see this year. Currently very happy with the 12.9 M1 iPad Pro. A spec bump alone to an M2 isn’t going to make me buy a new one since the M1 power isn’t even fully utilised.

 

[sparksd]

I can see keeping my 12.9 M1 for some years. I can't think of any h/w change that would get me to upgrade given the current price point on these higher-end devices.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Will keep my M1 iPad Pro 11 till late 2023 until I even consider upgrading it. Then will probably keep it for a few years more.

 

[rui no onna]

Three years minimum given the cost ($2K for 12.9” 1TB 5G and $1.5K for 11” 1TB 5G). Need to replenish the tech war chest.

The 2017 iPad Pro with A10X, 4GB RAM and 512GB lasted me 4 years though. With M1, 16GB RAM and 1TB, I expect it will last quite a bit longer than 4 years. Heck, my desktop with i5-4570 Haswell, 16GB RAM and 1TB SATA SSD still performs fine barring 4K HEVC playback.

 

[sparksd]

Three years minimum given the cost ($2K for 12.9” 1TB 5G and $1.5K for 11” 1TB 5G). Need to replenish the tech war chest.

The 2017 iPad Pro with A10X, 4GB RAM and 512GB lasted me 4 years though. With M1, 16GB RAM and 1TB, I expect it will last quite a bit longer than 4 years. Heck, my desktop with i5-4570 Haswell, 16GB RAM and 1TB SATA SSD still performs fine barring 4K HEVC playback.

It would be interesting to see a breakout of sales figures by iPad model. You noted, as did I, the increased price effect on your buying decision - I wonder to the degree that skipping generations due to high price affects sales. Do the sales even out, i.e. will those who skipped 2021 buy the next gen? And are the average unit sales lower as price goes up?

 

[fwmireault]

It will depend what the next iterations have to offer. To be honest, I have the latest 12.9 M1 iPad Pro, and I can't really think of a must-have feature on the hardware side in the near future. The OS is where the need for improvement is bigger in my opinion. I will follow closely what Apple will deliver in the next gen iPad Pro, but wireless/magnetic charging will not be enough for me. So I don't know how long I will keep mine, but probably at least for 2 more years

 

[rui no onna]

It would be interesting to see a breakout of sales figures by iPad model. You noted, as did I, the increased price effect on your buying decision - I wonder to the degree that skipping generations due to high price affects sales. Do the sales even out, i.e. will those who skipped 2021 buy the next gen? And are the average unit sales lower as price goes up?

I used to buy a new iPad every year (~$1.2K annual budget). Alas, the price for the top config suddenly jumped from $1079/1229 for 2017 10.5/12.9 to $1699/1899 for 2018 11/12.9. That price increase put the brakes on annual upgrades. It ended up being 4 years before there were enough improvements to be worth the new high price for me.

With that said, hardware improvements have slowed down over the years. I mean just look at the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pros, and A14 vs A15 CPU. Maybe to begin with, the sky-high iPad Pro prices were a hedge against expected sales slowdown due to slower development.

Last sales statistics I saw was something like 57% iPad, 19% Air and 17% Pro. I expect within these product lines, there’s a similar breakdown based on pricing.

 

[Hunter5117]

For the most part (I am not familiar with any high-end pro apps), Ipad software has not kept up with the IPP hardware capabilities. I am selling my 2018 12.9" IPP just because I can't use all the devices that I have accumulated. I am keeping my 2018 11" with cellular for a good long time until I really have a software/lagging reason to upgrade.

 

[saudor]

Got a M1 this year too. my previous one was an Air 2. So at least that long

 

[Username-already-in-use]

12.9 M1 1TB here. I have an option to upgrade in 2025, but I think this could easily last until 2026-7.

 

[MBAir2010]

How long is everyone planing on keeping their Pros?

until 3:15 next friday afternoon

 

[kltmom]

I have the 2021/5th Gen iPad Pro 12.9 256GB. If/when Apple comes out with a bigger screen iPad Pro (crossing my fingers for a 15 inch!) I will upgrade immediately. Otherwise, I usually go about 2 years or so between upgrades.

 

[Tripps9000]

The iPad 9 is a perfect tablet for me it offer’s some ipad Pro features without having to buy the the more expensive iPad Pro I like the iPad pro M1 but that is just to expensive for me!

 

[Traverse]

Normally about 3 years, but I’ll be jumping from a 2021 12.9” iPad Pro to a 2022 11” iPad Pro once I can.

 

[Abazigal]

I am still on my 2018 iPad Pro and it's come to a point where performance is still more than enough for what I do with it. So probably until the next iPad comes with some feature I deem a must-have (like how the 9.7" iPad Pro had Apple Pencil support), or the battery gives out.

 

[Dingster101]

Still on my 10.5 from 2018. It’s relegated to preaching duties these days as I have a MB Air doing the heavy duty portable lifting, which is about to be replaced soon

 

[TheRealAlex]

2018 11” iPad Pro here. Wake me up when a new iPadPro gets a feature I don’t have or is real world faster at anything.

also iPhone 13 ProMAX and 14” MacBook Pro were worthy upgrades And bring value and Market dom features.

Meanwhile the iPad Pro line has stagnated.

 

[AVBeatMan]

I'd love to say every 3 years but Apple always drag me in and usually upgrade every year. Always sell my "old" iPad's but at a loss (of course).

 

[VaruLV]

M1 12.9 iPP - if nothing fails on it, then, since the day of purchase somewhere in july 2021, some 3-4 years in total should be acceptable. After that its either upgrade to something more current or if iPadOS is still fast and stable on it, then another year/two should be fine for it.

 

[Hunter5117]

Ipad Pro has been leading the pack with new technology, lidar, pro-motion, HDR screen (other than the pro monitor).

It may well be something new like this that eventually makes me switch.