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Bring on those new MBairs… but get more market competitive on RAM & SSD pricing if you want MY money.

Else, I’ll just squeeze more use out of the old MB I have.
Their margins on RAM and SSD upgrades is insane. I doubt they’ll ever give up that markup. If anything, they’ll increase the cost and, after a bit of public complaining, people will just pay it.
 
Maybe, but a reason they didn't bring the 11" to mini LED previously is they couldn't hit a competitive price target. Samsung has has their 11" AMOLED tablet at $799 (and that includes a pen and 256GB of storage currently). I really don't see them going too much higher than that.
Apple is using a new dual-stack OLED tech (https://www.thelec.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=3874), and the iPad panels are reported to be three times as expensive as regular OLED panels (https://9to5mac.com/2023/02/27/ipad-oled-panels/). From that last link, the cost of the 11" model would be $100-$200 higher than for regular panels. I'd expect Apple to start at $999 at least. Other resources have reported a starting price of $1500 (https://www.macrumors.com/2024/01/08/oled-ipad-prices-to-start-1500-dollars/). That seems a bit excessive, but I'd brace myself for some price hike.
 
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Let’s have 128GB base storage for ipads. Enough of the 64GB already!
If I was a betting man, it would start at 64GB, skip 128GB, and only allow an upgrade to 256GB.
The objective is get buyers close enough to the price of a base model iPad Pro so customers fall into their pricing ladder strategy and purchase the Pro instead. This is how many people “justify” getting the 11” iPad Pro instead of a 10.x” iPad Air. Now they’ll have the same sales tactic with people going from an iPad Air 11.x” to the 12” Pro.
 
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What no new iPad mini?!….
398669E5-9FD8-437B-94CC-7A0D4A96CCEC.gif
 
landscape front camera on the Pro

magsafe like a macbook rather than an iphone would be better imo

My M2 11" is fine for now i will wait until the 2025-2026 update which should be M4
 
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Bring on those new MBairs… but get more market competitive on RAM & SSD pricing if you want MY money.

Else, I’ll just squeeze more use out of the old MB I have.
Have you checked competitors? Apple is competitive with others on RAM and storage pricing. But only Apple gets crap for it. Microsoft, for instance, charges $250 for each step while Dell is about $150. Apple’s right in there with them. They ALL overcharge. Apple’s not cutting prices until the others do.
 
landscape front camera on the Pro

magsafe like a macbook rather than an iphone would be better imo

My M2 11" is fine for now i will wait until the 2025-2026 update which should be M4
2025 should be M4 or M5, and 2026 M5 or M6, based in last few years' release cadence.
 
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I'm not sure what basic stuff you're doing on an iPad and then projecting on others, but even in my small work environment the developers that make the apps we use are begging for more power from the iPads.




Dude, except for 3D modeling and video editing, (and perhaps AAA gaming) there is no need of more power on iPads. If people had to chose between more power and more desktop-like functions, I bet the great majority would chose the latter.
 
Have you checked competitors? Apple is competitive with others on RAM and storage pricing. But only Apple gets crap for it. Microsoft, for instance, charges $250 for each step while Dell is about $150. Apple’s right in there with them. They ALL overcharge. Apple’s not cutting prices until the others do.

For the $2200 that Apple charges for an 8TB SSD upgrade, I purchased an entire gaming PC with good graphics card AND 10 (that's TEN) TB of Fast SSD (2 sticks, including one as 8TB) and 32GB of RAM as "old fashioned bootcamp." And just a few weeks ago, I purchased 8TB of fast m.2 SSD to go into an external enclosure for my Mac. How much was it? LESS than a THIRD of Apple's pricing for only an upgrade.

Pick any upgrade for Apple and shop for the same at retail. For example, here's 32GB of DDR5 RAM as a quantity 1 at retail on Amazon for $87. How much is the 32GB RAM "upgrade" purchased in Apple mass volume purchasing if someone wants 32GB in their new Mac?

Shall we try SSDs? Here's 4TB of fast m.2 SSD for $204 for retail quantity 1. How much is a 4TB upgrade from Apple, purchased at Apple mass volume?

That shared, I think you are right: Apple will not cut profit- I mean- prices of their thoroughly marked-up customizations. How nice it is to be the sole supplier with no direct competition for either! And while they cling to 3X-5X market prices vs. retail pricing, I continue to kick the can on replacing an aging MB. Yes, I'm aware of the Apple premium and for over 20 years, I've generally just paid up... but this pricing is well beyond traditional Apple premium. And I- for one- will NOT just pay this much more.

I was ready to buy that new MBair 15" on launch day... until I configured it as I wanted it and the markups derailed the purchase. Instead, I put a $55 new battery in an old MB and now I wait for Apple to get more competitive on those parts while squeezing more time out of the oldie but goodie. If they never do that, my next laptop may be a PC. I don't want to go that way... but I won't ridiculously overpay for commodity items like RAM & SSD.
 
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Same for the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max as a FYI. The older iPhone 13 series offered just a 1200 nits peak brightness (HDR).
Peaklevel is anyway HDR-stuff. So most of us will never see that. it's as if a vehicle manufacturer only unlocks the engine's high smoothness when you listen to CD. WTF...
 
I'm waiting for the next iteration of the ipad mini. Really don't want or need OLED, especially since it's so much more expensive. If the price is too high, I will buy current gen instead. Will have to wait and see what apple wants for next gen.
 
For the $2200 that Apple charges for an 8TB SSD upgrade, I purchased an entire gaming PC with good graphics card AND 10 (that's TEN) TB of Fast SSD (2 sticks, including one as 8TB) and 32GB of RAM as "old fashioned bootcamp." And just a few weeks ago, I purchased 8TB of fast m.2 SSD to go into an external enclosure for my Mac. How much was it? LESS than a THIRD of Apple's pricing for only an upgrade.

Pick any upgrade for Apple and shop for the same at retail. For example, here's 32GB of DDR5 RAM as a quantity 1 at retail on Amazon for $87. How much is the 32GB RAM "upgrade" purchased in Apple mass volume purchasing if someone wants 32GB in their new Mac?

Shall we try SSDs? Here's 4TB of fast m.2 SSD for $204 for retail quantity 1. How much is a 4TB upgrade from Apple, purchased at Apple mass volume?

That shared, I think you are right: Apple will not cut profit- I mean- prices of their thoroughly marked-up customizations. How nice it is to be the sole supplier with no direct competition for either! And while they cling to 3X-5X market prices vs. retail pricing, I continue to kick the can on replacing an aging MB. Yes, I'm aware of the Apple premium and for over 20 years, I've generally just paid up... but this pricing is well beyond traditional Apple premium. And I- for one- will NOT just pay this much more.

I was ready to buy that new MBair 15" on launch day... until I configured it as I wanted it and the markups derailed the purchase. Instead, I put a $55 new battery in an old MB and now I wait for Apple to get more competitive on those parts while squeezing more time out of the oldie but goodie. If they never do that, my next laptop may be a PC. I don't want to go that way... but I won't ridiculously overpay for commodity items like RAM & SSD.
Nobody disagrees they don’t overcharge. They ALL overcharge. Picking on just Apple means nothing because Apple will charge whatever competitors do. Since the other companies do it, too, arguing about Apple’s stuff isn’t going to change anything. Why isn’t anyone bashing Microsoft, who charges more than Apple does for their RAM and storage upgrades?
 
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Face ID. Unless ALL iPads finally get this most basic of security features, Apple will be a joke expecting only Pro iPad users to have such a convenience.

And yes Apple, that means the iPad Mini as well as the iPad Air. 🙄
 
The larger iPad Air will be good. Should be significantly cheaper than the Pro. Will be good for those who want a bigger screen but are ok with not having ProMotion. As for M3 Air, not expecting to see any major changes.

Also looking forward to seeing the new OLED iPad Pros.
 
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This is always exciting news.
To be fair, even though we want more and better constantly (depending on who got what and when), with the M-chips move it feels like non stop releases.
For me it feels like the previous WWDC23 was quite recent, yet we are already at the eve of the Apple Vision Pro release (announced then), new iPads and MacBook Airs and right away talking again about the next WWDC
 
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Nice to hear the M3 MBA is coming relatively soon.
Im very keen for this but a little torn between the Air and say a second hand 14 inch pro (either m1 or m2). The latter may even be cheaper and offer much more in terms of tech...but then again the whole appeal of the light weight wouldn't be there.
 
Bring on those new MBairs… but get more market competitive on RAM & SSD pricing if you want MY money.

Else, I’ll just squeeze more use out of the old MB I have.
The amount of 8GB machines i say on sale on the internet is hilarious. There is obviously a market for them or they wouldn't exist but I think an increasing amount of even non-techy people are realising its not enough.
 
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