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New iPad Air Now Shipping From China Ahead of Announcement

Heelpir8 said:
You’re thinking of the iPad Pro. Air has Touch ID.
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Correct. Face ID showed up on the iPad Air web page but in a comparison list for the iPad Pro. Doh!

bigpoppamac31 said:
It just means that a person would buy the same size in the iPad Air. I would never buy a standard iPad cause it lacks certain features like the anti reflective coating and such on the screen that the others have. I would get the air. Apples whole product lineup is too big and weird. The iPhone has too many offerings as well.
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That's you, not everyone. Most people don't actually even care about the anti-reflective coating.

If I were to delete anything from the tablet line, it'd be the iPad mini. However, I have no problem leaving it there.
 
What is big release about just putting M chip into an ipad? I don't see anything big about it especially when iPad doesn't fully utilise that power anyway.

swiftapplefan said:
Honestly wow, this is shaping up to be a big release, since there have been many articles about these new iPads. Even the iPhone releases didn't have as many stories documenting every step, like starting the import. Now I'm excited.
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joeblow7777 said:
Regarding 64GB entry models, people forget how many of these are bought in bulk for the education sector, and those devices really don't store anything on them except apps.
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While I think 64 GB is fine for the standard iPad line, I don't think we can use edu as an argument for it. Apple sometimes releases edu-specific models that don't exist in retail, when it makes sense to do so. For example, for a while, the MacBook Air had a base 128 GB storage model that was only available for institutional edu purchases. It was unavailable at retail, and it was also unavailable for individual non-institutional edu purchases.
 
128 GB iPad Air would be at an awkward price point in the current lineup.

It might have a place in the refreshed lineup when the iPad Pro price goes up.
 
Of folks filling up the 64gb , what I have found is it's usually due to 10gb+ in just old iMessages.

Apple still has no decent way to clean this up. In settings you have to either do delete everything older than 1 year, or you go one image/video at a time to select delete the video/photo one at a time if you dont want to erase the text messages. Couple things would help such as just telling users "hey you have 30gb of stuff in your iMessages, you might want to delete" or an option to selectively delete all media from a message thread.
 
coachgq said:
Definitely has limitations compared to a macbook air, but I use the Pro 12.9 M1 and am able to do a large majority of my tasks on it, I'd say 90-95%, most of it on the web or web apps. But when you compare the 1000 nits of brightness vs the 500 or 600, for my eyes it's worth it. The remaining work I do is on a laptop/27 monitor but I'm not on it as much as the ipad.
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Totally agree with you. I use it 90 to 95% for work and personal use, plus I have the cellular version, which keeps connected anywhere in the world and so much better than a hotspot. Could not go back to a normal laptop.
 
boak said:
128 GB iPad Air would be at an awkward price point in the current lineup.

It might have a place in the refreshed lineup when the iPad Pro price goes up.
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That iPad Pro price increase might come as soon as next week, or next month.
That would bode well for a 128 GB iPad Air as soon as next week, or next month.

WannaGoMac said:
Of folks filling up the 64gb , what I have found is it's usually due to 10gb+ in just old iMessages.

Apple still has no decent way to clean this up. In settings you have to either do delete everything older than 1 year, or you go one image/video at a time to select delete the video/photo one at a time if you dont want to erase the text messages. Couple things would help such as just telling users "hey you have 30gb of stuff in your iMessages, you might want to delete" or an option to selectively delete all media from a message thread.
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Same is true on the Mac. My wife's MacBook Air 128 GB was getting full, and it turned out it was because of ~40 GB (!) of iMessages.

OTOH, my daughter is still using under 50 GB on her MacBook Pro, partially because she doesn't use iMessage much.

GDF said:
Totally agree with you. I use it 90 to 95% for work and personal use, plus I have the cellular version, which keeps connected anywhere in the world and so much better than a hotspot. Could not go back to a normal laptop.
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While still not perfect, tethering the iPad to your iPhone is way better than it was just 3 years ago.
 
krspkbl said:
Are they still going to rip us off with 64GB base storage and have the only upgrade option be 256GB which is overkill for many people. Why not offer a 128GB version?

I like the iPad but the line up is a mess.
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of course
 
krspkbl said:
Are they still going to rip us off with 64GB base storage and have the only upgrade option be 256GB which is overkill for many people. Why not offer a 128GB version?

I like the iPad but the line up is a mess.
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You're right on both points. 64GB is a bad joke in 2024 for anything but a $40 Chinese tablet, and the whole iPad lineup is a complete clusterf*ck.
 
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krspkbl said:
Are they still going to rip us off with 64GB base storage and have the only upgrade option be 256GB which is overkill for many people. Why not offer a 128GB version?

I like the iPad but the line up is a mess.
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Honestly 256 should be the base IMO. Storage is so cheap - it's just a money grab at this point. 256, 512, 1TB. Pro should be 512GB, 1TB, 2TB.
 
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EugW said:
256 GB base is overkill for the iPad Air. 128 GB is the sweet spot IMO.
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It's about a $2 difference to Apple. Providing plenty of space that allows users to expand into, should they wish, isn't a bad thing or "overkill". It's not like natural resources are being wasted in vast quantities to provide the extra storage.
 
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joeblow7777 said:
Regarding 64GB entry models, people forget how many of these are bought in bulk for the education sector, and those devices really don't store anything on them except apps.
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Grasping at straws?

What do you actually think it costs Apple to up those 64GB to 128GB or 256GB?

If iPhone 12 can launch at $799 with 64GB in 2020 and iPhone 13 jump to 128GB but start at the same $799 as iPhone 12 then there's no reason Apple can't do the same for iPad.

iPads being stuck at 64GB is just a tool to increase profit margins by giving you extortionately low value/$ if you opt for the 64GB models and aggressively overcharge you for going up to 256GB while "conveniently" not offering a 128GB that's priced somewhere in-between the 64GB and 256GB options.

Apple's main concern is not what school kids and teachers are going to do with their products. If that was the case then they'd offer even lower spec'ed models at extreme discounts. Or they'd give iPads away to school kids in need.

Apple designs its products and price-points for maximum profit first and foremost. End of story.
 
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ric22 said:
It's about a $2 difference to Apple. Providing plenty of space that allows users to expand into, should they wish, isn't a bad thing or "overkill". It's not like natural resources are being wasted in vast quantities to provide the extra storage.
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$2 difference in cost but a substantially larger difference in opportunity cost.

High-storage models essentially subsidise the low-storage models. If you're not buying the top storage configuration of any device, consumers buying the top configuration is what allows you to buy your device at the current price.
 
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I have an M1 iPad Air. I use it almost every day for note taking and various consumption. 64 GB of storage is more than enough. Sure I wouldn't mind having more, but I'm not really storing much on it so it doesn't matter. If I needed more storage, I'd have bought more (or will just plug in a USB C drive).

My other computers are my power devices.
 
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ApplesAreSweet&Sour said:
Grasping at straws?

What do you actually think it costs Apple to up those 64GB to 128GB or 256GB?

If iPhone 12 can launch at $799 with 64GB in 2020 and iPhone 13 jump to 128GB but start at the same $799 as iPhone 12 then there's no reason Apple can't do the same for iPad.

iPads being stuck at 64GB is just a tool to increase profit margins by giving you extortionately low value/$ if you opt for the 64GB models and aggressively overcharge you for going up to 256GB while "conveniently" not offering a 128GB that's priced somewhere in-between the 64GB and 256GB options.

Apple's main concern is not what school kids and teachers are going to do with their products. If that was the case then they'd offer even lower spec'ed models at extreme discounts. Or they'd give iPads away to school kids in need.

Apple designs its products and price-points for maximum profit first and foremost. End of story.
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I'm not grasping at straws or trying to defend Apple. As a teacher, I just thought it was worth mentioning. When all work is accessed via the cloud (since the iPads aren't personally assigned to students, but rather class sets), they definitely don't need more than 64GB of storage. I think we still have sets with 32GB even.

On my own department issued work iPad I'm only using 29.3 of 64GB. On my personal iPad I'm using 185.9 of 256GB. So I really can see people still buying 64GB models if their iPad is purely a productivity tool, not being used to store media/content or games.

I do agree that they should just offer a minimalist education model at an even lower price. I don't expect them to just give perfectly functional iPads to schools for free though. They're not a charity.
 
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boak said:
$2 difference in cost but a substantially larger difference in opportunity cost.

High-storage models essentially subsidise the low-storage models. If you're not buying the top storage configuration of any device, consumers buying the top configuration is what allows you to buy your device at the current price.
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That's what many people don't realize. Apple's gross hardware margins are in the mid to high 30% range. We don't know how much comes from the higher margins of upgrades, but given the prices Apple charges for upgrades, it's likely gross margins are lifted substantially by those upgrades. Even if it's only 5% overall, for a margin-seeking company like Apple (which has always been the case for Apple, even back in the early 1980s), that's a substantial increase that keeps the base models less expensive than they otherwise would be.

Many companies function this way. The $3 hamburger at a fast food restaurant will almost always have lower margins than the $8 hamburger. The $30,000 sedan will almost always have slimmer margins than the $75,000 truck. The base model of a car will almost always have slimmer margins than the "Limited" model with various upgrades.

Margins are padded by upselling. That's not just an Apple thing. Yes, many people would rather Apple just give their products away or have much slimmer margins, but Apple is also a competently run business. Some consumers might not like that, but it's one reason Apple is a highly profitable, influential, and successful company.

I'd love to have less expensive upgrades too, but things are what they are and there isn't much we can do about it.
 
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CausticSoda said:
As for the rational-thinking people who like Apple products, but hate this sort of thing and realise it is okay to criticise things, you are quite right.
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A = base price of an Mac/iPhone/iPad
B = price to increase storage or memory
C = End price

A + B = C

What's not rational is treating an iPad as parts and criticise B. People should criticise the price they end up paying for their configuration, not how that price was calculated.
 
EugW said:
Well, my predicted price list includes base price increases for 3 classes of iPads:

+US$100 - iPad Pro
+US$50 - iPad Air
+US$50 - iPad mini
+US$0 - iPad
+US$0 - Old iPad

Furthermore, having a 128 GB base iPad Air would push the upsell from the 64 GB iPad.
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Yes, but the current difference between a 10th gen and iPad Air 5 is $150.
So your price list wouldn’t make Tim very happy.
 
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