iPad IPad 9, interesting observation.

[nph]

Those are my thoughts as well... Will go to an Apple store today and chat with them a bit and do some comparison.

 

[*~Kim~*]

The 10 should be about 5 months away, the question then is whether you can get hold of one. When I checked recently the iPad 9 had a longer waiting time for delivery than the Air 5, despite having been released 6 months earlier.

I would wait, but I would say that having been caught by the iPad 3 debacle. I bought the Mini 5 and 6 at launch, which I thought was a good strategy as there wouldn’t be something else coming along soon after purchase. Then again, I didn’t see the M1 8GB Air 5 coming.

Apple have released a new base iPad in September for the last 3 years, with no more than 18 months between updates going back to the 5th Gen. Whether they would hold off if the 9 continues to be backordered, who knows.

 

[rui no onna]

The 10 should be about 5 months away, the question then is whether you can get hold of one. When I checked recently the iPad 9 had a longer waiting time for delivery than the Air 5, despite having been released 6 months earlier.

I would wait, but I would say that having been caught by the iPad 3 debacle. I bought the Mini 5 and 6 at launch, which I thought was a good strategy as there wouldn’t be something else coming along soon after purchase. Then again, I didn’t see the M1 8GB Air 5 coming.

Yeah, the Air 5 was a pleasant surprise. A14, A15 and M1 perform quite similarly except for heavily threaded or GPU intensive tasks. However, the extra RAM really helps cut down on annoyances for me.

Oh well, I’m still happy with my mini 6 purchase. If Apple had released a mini 7 with A15+6GB or M1+8GB, I would’ve been quite annoyed. However, for my targeted usage, the Air 5 isn’t a good alternative for the mini. Besides, I already have a 2021 iPad Pro 11, anyway.

Apple have released a new base iPad in September for the last 3 years, with no more than 18 months between updates going back to the 5th Gen. Whether they would hold off if the 9 continues to be backordered, who knows.

I remember the iPad 8th gen was pretty much constantly out of stock before the 9th gen’s release, too. I don’t think the long backorders would delay the release of a new regular iPad.

 

[mikiee]

Base iPads are heavily used in grade and high schools and involve bulk purchasing. It's no wonder they are hard to get.

 

[rui no onna]

Base iPads are heavily used in grade and high schools and involve bulk purchasing. It's no wonder they are hard to get.

During normal times, they’re not that hard to get. Alas, the pandemic greatly increased demand for computers and tablets while at the same time disrupting the supply chain.

I paid $230 for a brand new iPad 7th gen holiday 2019 and during 2020-2021, it was going for around $300 used. I even remember seeing the iPad 8th gens selling for $100 more than MSRP on ebay.