iPad Pro Is the iPad Pro a niche product?

[EugW]

Yes, the iPad Pro is niche.

The only feature that I might truly value going from the iPad Air (5th gen) to the iPad Pro 11" (3rd gen) is Face ID.

I currently have a 10.5" iPad Pro with ProMotion, but I don't really care about ProMotion. The quad speakers are nice, but my main issue with the other iPads was that their dual speakers are both on the same side when the iPad is in landscape mode. The iPad Air 4 solves this problem, even though it only has two speakers.

That said, if the 11" iPad Pro gets OLED in 2024, I'll probably buy one.

 

[bscheffel]

Or ProMotion. This is a game-changer. If you are doing any sort of extended work (or even reading/scrolling), 120hz is simply in another world when it comes to easiness on the eyes.

I used a relatives Air 4 the other day and had to put it down after a couple of minutes. The blur and stutter compared to my 11” pro was horrible.

I’d qualify that by saying if you’ve only ever used a 60hz screen then you’d likely be ok, but I for one could never, ever go back. It really is that much better.

Same goes for the IP13 pro, I’m never going back to a regular 60hz screen there either.

You must have good eyes. I alternate all day between my 12.9" iPad Pro with promotion and my 16" 2019 MacBook with no promotion and I don't notice any difference. Similarly when I upgraded from iPhone 12 Pro Max to iPhone 13 Pro Max, I couldn't really tell any difference in scrolling.
Of course, if I put my iPad and my MacBook next to each other and scroll the same page, I can see the difference but I usually don't find myself trying to read text that is scrolling on by...

 

[EugW]

Of course, if I put my iPad and my MacBook next to each other and scroll the same page, I can see the difference but I usually don't find myself trying to read text that is scrolling on by...

Same here. If I really look for the difference, I can see it, but I basically just don't care about that feature.

However, I know a lot enthusiasts here do (not mainstream users).

 

[SkiHound2]

100% it is. It has specific uses and they’re not without their own limitations. Everything basic iPad does, Pro does it better so there is one question everyone has to ask themselves: is it worth it? It is, for me. It’s a better entertainment device, better productivity device. Every day, you are looking at the better, larger screen, making it worth it.

iPadOS limits both devices. I found iPadOS also unreliable, copying large files from and to external storage can lead to irreversible file corruption. Once that happens, you can’t take it as a serious device to rely on. Still, I love the HDR capabilities of the device, the speakers, the smart connector making it 2in1 in a snap. Great for note taking, with pencil or keyboard.

As you said, basic iPad is 5/5 in value, especially considering the OS is identical in both. I’d give the Pro 2/5 in value if you plan to use it as productivity device, Mac does it better. But it is the best entertainment Apple device in its class, no doubt.
It would be 4/5 overall if I could edit, manage and export my video projects on it as I initially planned.

This largely sums it up for me as well.The base iPad is the value iPad and it would do everything I need. I am by no means a power user. I was still using a 9.7" Pro from 2016. I wanted something with a larger screen in about the same form factor and bought an 11" pro. The better screen, speakers, more responsive when using a pencil to take notes, etc. were worth it for me. Did I need the Pro, no. But I wanted it and really enjoy the device. For most things a Macbook is a much better productivity tool.

 

[ozapple]

Of course, if I put my iPad and my MacBook next to each other and scroll the same page, I can see the difference but I usually don't find myself trying to read text that is scrolling on by...

The difference is blatantly and uncomfortably obvious to me at least.

It’s not just scrolling that’s affected. Opening and closing app animations is much much smoother and easier to look at on 120hz.

Same with fast moving scenes in video. Far fewer artifacts and noise.

 

[spiderman0616]

The difference is blatantly and uncomfortably obvious to me at least.

It’s not just scrolling that’s affected. Opening and closing app animations is much much smoother and easier to look at on 120hz.

Same with fast moving scenes in video. Far fewer artifacts and noise.

Agree. I use one monitor with Spaces most of the time, and that forces me to be pretty efficient with gestures, which I don't find difficult at all on macOS. When you're rapidly swiping back and forth between spaces or zooming out into mission control to rearrange windows or whatever else, everything is just smoother and crisper. It's not a must have, but it's definitely a nice to have.

 

[gshocked]

I purchased the first USB-C iPad Pro (2018 I think) and I was so hopeful that the WWDC of that year would unlock its true potential! The promise of USB-C dongles and using external SSD/HDDs was the dream and the killer feature that would elevate the iPad Pro. Unfortunately, this excitement was a bit of a fizzle. iPadOS was just not ready and it seems to still be that 4 years on. It surprises me (in a good way) me that new iPads now have M1 processors, however, Apple needs to be bold and give it a MacOS (lite). We all know why they won't give it a fully functional MacOS, as it would cannibalise sales of Macbook Airs and other products but they need to be bold and not play it safe!

Now my winge has finished, I still use my iPad pro for "on the go" video edits. Premiere on iPad is still crap and it's such a shame that all my leg work cannot just sync with Premiere Desktop. Again iPADOS vs MacOS and again another argument for MacOS on the iPad.

Using the Apple Pencil and the Adobe Creative Cloud apps such as Photoshop and Illustrator is a great example of how the iPad can be used in a digital workflow.

So is it niche, in the uses I outlined above it can be but I think that depends on which one you get? The 12" iPad Pro is certainly targeting a particular audience.

It's the 11" iPad Pro that is now the odd one out, I just get the iPad Air M1.

 

[Coolpher]

Some I personal laptop journey started with a PowerBook G4 in 2004 2005 and it continued as it switched to the MacBook Pro all the way up until 2015 when Apple released its first iPad Pro 12.9 inch I knew that that was my future Apple product I started using it next to my 2015 MacBook Pro but realized that Everything I needed to do on my MacBook Pro could easily be done on the iPad Pro and that’s when I decided to sell off my 2015 MacBook Pro and from then forward upgrading every Time they upgraded the iPad Pro‘s biggest model except for in 2018 where I tried out the 11 inch redesign pro model I would love it if they released pro apps like final cut on the iPad Pro but if they don’t I get it when they released the first Mac mini M1 I decided to pick it up just so that I could experience the current version of macOS I still use my iPad 90% of the time and The Mac 5% and my gaming PC 5% of the time this is my own personal use case from what I’ve seen on iPadOS I don’t quite know if I’ll upgrade to the latest iPad Pro because I feel like my current version is years ahead but will wait and see what Apple has planned in the future

 

[ackmondual]

Unlike the Mac, the more money you spend on iPads the less value you get in return. The 9th Gen iPad is 5/5 in terms of value but has no fun factor and the 12.9 iPad Pro is 1/5 in value but is extremely enjoyable to use. If you had to guess, how many people are buying the iPad Pros's? It has to be a very small percentage of the total iPad sales, right? Maybe the base iPad and the Air represent 80% of the sales and that's why Apple is reluctant to make iPadOS more "pro" like MacOS.

Sounds about right. IPPs start at $800 and up. At that price point, it's gotta compete with laptops. This being a MacOS fan site, I'm sure I can still get people to agree that at that price, you'll find quite a few solid and capable Windows laptops. Even on the MacBook side, you should be able to get something decent. Or, it may have to be an older model that's used. Or, you use that money to go a long way towards a new MacBook (and perhaps get even more "value" out of that).

OTOH, the IPP does have a whole slew of nicer features vs. Air and base models... better quality display, larger ones (this alone is awful since it's only a few inches, but for such relatively small devices, I'll still say it isn't trivial), support for 2nd gen Apple Pencil, more RAM/storage/processing power. Alas, some of these were "gated" by Apple, but that's what the lineup holds.