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Anyone else oscillating between getting a cheapo base Air (13”) and a souped up, 1TB nano texture device, maybe with cellular?

I have an m2 MacBook Air. If I have serious work, I’m going to use that at home. I’m a radiologist, so at work I have a triple monitor display PC that I have to use anyway. The iPad would just be a secondary screen, for fun and to read journal articles (is what I will tell myself) but actually mostly to browse the internet, Netflix on trips. I hope to be able to ditch my laptop on international trips.

I saw it side by side. The air looked choppy when scrolling but in isolation I think it would be fine. Sometimes I feel like I missed out by not getting a MBP when I got my laptop last year - I’m always reaching to increase the brightness and I feel like things aren’t as crisp as they could be. However, this is just a secondary screen for casual use around the house and on planes… so does it matter?

Re cellular: meh… would be nice to have. Would be nice to not be under the sneaky eyes of my hospital WiFi at work.

Someone help me out 😅

Sounds like a souped-up 1TB unit would be overkill for your usage unless you really feel the need for the nano. You could go for a smaller Pro with cellular for less cost.
 
Anyone else oscillating between getting a cheapo base Air (13”) and a souped up, 1TB nano texture device, maybe with cellular?

I have an m2 MacBook Air. If I have serious work, I’m going to use that at home. I’m a radiologist, so at work I have a triple monitor display PC that I have to use anyway. The iPad would just be a secondary screen, for fun and to read journal articles (is what I will tell myself) but actually mostly to browse the internet, Netflix on trips. I hope to be able to ditch my laptop on international trips.

I saw it side by side. The air looked choppy when scrolling but in isolation I think it would be fine. Sometimes I feel like I missed out by not getting a MBP when I got my laptop last year - I’m always reaching to increase the brightness and I feel like things aren’t as crisp as they could be. However, this is just a secondary screen for casual use around the house and on planes… so does it matter?

Re cellular: meh… would be nice to have. Would be nice to not be under the sneaky eyes of my hospital WiFi at work.

Someone help me out 😅
Given your usage, I don’t think nano would be for you. As such, you may dislike the results of nano.
 
That’s not really a valid argument. Especially in 2024 where everyone including Apple is encouraging using credit cards or buy now, pay later schemes. Most can’t truly afford apple products along with lots of other stuff. The amount of people maxed out or in default on their credit cards is the highest in over a decade. People have been living off cards since inflation started running rampant.
2014: iPhone Users Earn Higher Income, Engage More on Apps than Android Users. The median iPhone app user earns $85,000 per year, which is 40 percent more than the median Android phone user with an annual income of $61,000.

2018: There are details and caveats to the research, but the economists found that owning an iPhone gave them a 69% chance to correctly infer that the owner was "high-income," which they defined as being in the top quartile of income for households of that type — like single adult or couple with dependents, for example.

2024: A 2024 survey by Slickdeals found that iPhone users have an average annual income of $53,251, compared to $37,040 for Android users.

Important to note that the 2014 research measured the median, and the 2024 survey measured the mean.

Not at all disagreeing that credit debt is rampant, but saying that maxed out credit folks, instead of high income affluent folks, are Apple's main customers is not supported by valid data.

It's the richest company in the world, with the richest customers in the world. If someone wants to spend a grand or two cause they want their Youtube videos in the best 4k then by golly more power to them. Customers from all usage spectrums (hyper-casual to total Pros) can objectively benefit by opting for these new Pro models IF they choose they want to spend the money (which research I've shared says they are already likely to have).

That's been my main point from the start but people keep coming here and saying Pros are a waste even if you want them and have disposable income for them.
 
Casual users on the whole do not spend £1500 on an iPad for consumption, some do, most absolutely do not. The proof of that is in the existence of standard iPads and Airs which sell very well.

My opinion is if Apple was aiming the Pro iPads at casual, none productive users, they certainly would have priced it competitively. They haven’t and have kept the price higher than some MacBooks, hence the selective audience they are going for.
Google's free mate: In 2022, CIRP's data showed the 12.9-inch iPad Pro as the most popular single tablet with 35% of sales with the iPad Air coming in second with 24%.
 
Casual users on the whole do not spend £1500 on an iPad for consumption, some do, most absolutely do not. The proof of that is in the existence of standard iPads and Airs which sell very well.

My opinion is if Apple was aiming the Pro iPads at casual, none productive users, they certainly would have priced it competitively. They haven’t and have kept the price higher than some MacBooks, hence the selective audience they are going for.
Your intuitive arguments are so wrong, I can't help but keep doing you one better:

most-popular-ipad-2023.webp


say again about "most absolutely do not?" LOLOLO majority choose the Pros. I don't understand why you keep doubling down on saying Pros aren't meant for casuals. They absolutely are, and the sales reflect that. They're just a better device, and Apple's affluent customer base statistically tend to want the best option available.
 
Your intuitive arguments are so wrong, I can't help but keep doing you one better:

most-popular-ipad-2023.webp


say again about "most absolutely do not?" LOLOLO majority choose the Pros. I don't understand why you keep doubling down on saying Pros aren't meant for casuals. They absolutely are, and the sales reflect that. They're just a better device, and Apple's affluent customer base statistically tend to want the best option available.

That just shows marketshare/shipments for a single year (well 2 years, 2022 & 2023).

You’re not seeing all the folks who bought their iPads in prior years and are continuing to use them. Majority do not choose the Pros. They probably just didn’t buy tablets in 2022 and 2023.



The following is in the US, btw, where iPads have 50+% of the tablet market.

 
That just shows marketshare/shipments for a single year (well 2 years, 2022 & 2023).

You’re not seeing all the folks who bought their iPads in prior years and are continuing to use them. Majority do not choose the Pros. They probably just didn’t buy tablets in 2022 and 2023.



The following is in the US, btw, where iPads have 50+% of the tablet market.

On the first point, I’m not making claims on the longevity of devices or even long term satisfaction. You show me more data saying people like and use Airs more over longer periods of time, it wouldnt really bother me. Doesn’t change the fact more people buy Pros than Airs.

On your second point, the data is too skewed to make any point of whether or not people buy Pros or Airs more. I don’t know why we need a data pool composed of 50% or more non-Apple products to make vague counterclaims against my concrete black and white sales numbers showing Pros overwhelmingly outselling the Airs in the last two years.
 
2014: iPhone Users Earn Higher Income, Engage More on Apps than Android Users. The median iPhone app user earns $85,000 per year, which is 40 percent more than the median Android phone user with an annual income of $61,000.

2018: There are details and caveats to the research, but the economists found that owning an iPhone gave them a 69% chance to correctly infer that the owner was "high-income," which they defined as being in the top quartile of income for households of that type — like single adult or couple with dependents, for example.

2024: A 2024 survey by Slickdeals found that iPhone users have an average annual income of $53,251, compared to $37,040 for Android users.

Important to note that the 2014 research measured the median, and the 2024 survey measured the mean.

Not at all disagreeing that credit debt is rampant, but saying that maxed out credit folks, instead of high income affluent folks, are Apple's main customers is not supported by valid data.

It's the richest company in the world, with the richest customers in the world. If someone wants to spend a grand or two cause they want their Youtube videos in the best 4k then by golly more power to them. Customers from all usage spectrums (hyper-casual to total Pros) can objectively benefit by opting for these new Pro models IF they choose they want to spend the money (which research I've shared says they are already likely to have).

That's been my main point from the start but people keep coming here and saying Pros are a waste even if you want them and have disposable income for them.
Considering the simple stat that about 2/3 of America can’t afford an emergency $1000 expense….yet most of those have iPhones…..you get the point. As far as iPads are concerned, there’s a reason those who have a little extra cash actually have that cash. Because they tend to think carefully about purchases. You average fiscally responsible millionaire (not multi) tends to live in middle/upper middle class areas and drive average/above average cars. It’s the dude in the Mercedes at the red light that most likely can’t afford it and about to auction off a kidney to keep driving it. A lot of people just don’t see the value of spending apples huge price increase for very little return. And that’s fine. If others wanna rack up debt to have the best iPad Pro….thats fine too. It’s not people’s cash making these companies rich and “stable” in 2024….its banks. And we are starting to see that house of cards tremble. When McDonald’s is panicking about a massive drop in sales you know something’s up. And I fully realize mose people would rather go hungry than give up their glowing screens 🤣
 
On your second point, the data is too skewed to make any point of whether or not people buy Pros or Airs more. I don’t know why we need a data pool composed of 50% or more non-Apple products to make vague counterclaims against my concrete black and white sales numbers showing Pros overwhelmingly outselling the Airs in the last two years.

I’m looking at it from the perspective of all current iPad users (so more or less the entire iPad market). Not just customers who bought iPads in 2022 and 2023.

Apple has more than 50% share in the US so that chart is already favorable for the iPad Pros. The iPad Pro 12.9 has 5.49% share there. If you go worldwide, the 12.9’s share drops down to 3.14%.

By the way, they didn’t make the top 6 but the Pro 11 and Mini 6 were 3.76% and 3.01% respectively.

I reckon we’ll see 1376x1032 (M4 13”) and 1210x834 (M4 11”) on the stat counters in a couple of months or so.

Tablet Screen Resolution Stats United States Of America April 2024.png


What one might infer based on the data from both the CIRP chart and tablet resolution charts is this:

iPad Pro buyers are a small percentage of Apple’s total iPad market but they likely upgrade devices more frequently compared to other iPad users.
 
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Your intuitive arguments are so wrong, I can't help but keep doing you one better:

most-popular-ipad-2023.webp


say again about "most absolutely do not?" LOLOLO majority choose the Pros. I don't understand why you keep doubling down on saying Pros aren't meant for casuals. They absolutely are, and the sales reflect that. They're just a better device, and Apple's affluent customer base statistically tend to want the best option available.

The vast majority of iPads in use are not iPad Pro’s. People keep them many years and casual users aren’t regularly upgrading, and certainly not to the Pro. Schools are also buying iPads in the millions with set budgets. Picking a selective time period and applying it across the board is misleading. You aren’t ’doing me one better’ at all, just proving my point.
 
Extremely rare exception that is a defect and not an inevitable outcome.

It’s not ‘extremely rare’, we’ve had burn in threads on here with examples for many years. You’re new to the forum and haven’t been around long enough to know this. iPads used for business where apps are used for hours a day could be an issue with OLED long term. They are often used to display info on exhibition stands or to display data etc. I have a series 5 Apple Watch that’s been used daily for more than 4 years and the screen has burn in when set to a white background. Thats OLED, we’ve known about it for years.
 
Some have said they'd never get a iPhone pro too for all the same reasons, but!! ;)

Unless you buy an old SE, OLED is on all iPhones now so there is no choice. I bought an older model Pro at the time that cost the same as a standard iPhone. I certainly can’t justify a Pro iPad for what I use it for, it would be rather pointless. The Air I have is overkill and I probably should have bought an iPad 9th gen in hindsight.
 
iPad Pro buyers are a small percentage of Apple’s total iPad market but they likely upgrade devices more frequently compared to other iPad users.
I'm going to try again because I think there's miscommunication. I can be convinced non-Pro models have a both higher overall lifetime usage and longer-term satisfaction from all global consumers. It's not a hard intuitive leap and there's ample data, like the one you showed, that could back it up.

But, my original position with Real, was that recently and up to today, in the US, Pro models are bought at a higher rate vs the Air models, countering their original position that Airs are both a more popular purchase (real-time purchases, not lifetime-usage) vs the Air, and dismissing the notion that casual users don't buy or need Pro models. I still strongly believe the data backs up this latter paragraph and argument.
 
I'm going to try again because I think there's miscommunication. I can be convinced non-Pro models have a both higher overall lifetime usage and longer-term satisfaction from all global consumers. It's not a hard intuitive leap and there's ample data, like the one you showed, that could back it up.

But, my original position with Real, was that recently and up to today, in the US, Pro models are bought at a higher rate vs the Air models, countering their original position that Airs are both a more popular purchase (real-time purchases, not lifetime-usage) vs the Air, and dismissing the notion that casual users don't buy or need Pro models. I still strongly believe the data backs up this latter paragraph and argument.

I would say based on available data that some (likely even many) casual users buy iPad Pro models but the vast majority of casual users get other models (and likely keep them until they break). And yes, I do have relatives who spent ~$1.5K on the 12.9 Pro just to watch Netfilx/Viki/iQiyi.

Going back to this though (note this is US only, not worldwide):


In April 2024, 9.25% of US tablet users used iPad Pros (11 & 12.9 combined) while ~41.81% used other iPads.

Looking purely at the iPad market (51.06%), then the iPad Pros have ~18% market share with the 12.9” having ~10.8% and the 11” having ~7.4%.

The iPad Pros definitely sell a lot (based on the annual shipment) and they’re likely the most profitable for Apple. However, chances are they’re selling those to mostly the same customer base upgrading from older Pros (so likely more on the iPad enthusiast side than purely casual). Otherwise, the stats would reflect ~50% Pro/50% Other iPad instead of the current ~20% Pro/80% Other iPad split.
 
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I'm going to try again because I think there's miscommunication. I can be convinced non-Pro models have a both higher overall lifetime usage and longer-term satisfaction from all global consumers. It's not a hard intuitive leap and there's ample data, like the one you showed, that could back it up.

But, my original position with Real, was that recently and up to today, in the US, Pro models are bought at a higher rate vs the Air models, countering their original position that Airs are both a more popular purchase (real-time purchases, not lifetime-usage) vs the Air, and dismissing the notion that casual users don't buy or need Pro models. I still strongly believe the data backs up this latter paragraph and argument.

iPad Pro’s may be more popular in the US, but that’s one country in the World and one that many of us can’t relate to. Selecting a couple of years and saying most casual users buy £1k+ iPads doesn’t mean most casual users generally buy Pro iPads. It just means in that time period a certain Pro model was popular in a single country. The fact people generally keep iPads long term most likely suggests most casual users aren’t and haven’t been upgrading in recent years. The iPad is one of those products where upgrade cycles are anything from 4 to 8 years.
 
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To be honest, I'll probably end up with a new OLED iPad, I use my M1 11" to watch a LOT of You Tube videos, and when they are videos like this one, I can tell you they look better on my iPhone 14 Pro Max OLED screen then my iPad Pro M1 LCD screen:


The scenery this guy shoots is breathtaking.
 

Screenshot 2024-05-21 at 12.43.46 PM.png


Bottom left is 12.9" M2 iPad Pro - Mini-LED has lots of blooming.
Top right is 13" M4 iPad Pro - OLED has no blooming.
 
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There was literally just a report that said 40% of iPad users keep it 3 years or longer. Meaning 60% are upgrading in less than 3 years.

Not necessarily. That only shows 60% upgraded in the last 3 years, not that they will continue at that rate in the future. There’s even a trend from 2022-2024 towards keeping iPads longer.

If you look at the trends for those who have less than 1 year old iPads, that’s also been steadily dropping.


Of course, there were no new iPads released in 2023 so maybe we’ll see that change this year.
 
My Apple Watch Series 5 had very noticeable burn in after about 2 years….
Interesting. I bought my Series 5 in 2020 and am still using it today. I've used Always-On-Display for the past four year too. No burn-in. So, as always, YMMV. Also, Series 5 OLED is single-stack OLED, not dual-stack.

Just saw the new OLED IPP 13 in person and it was very hard to notice any marked improvement over my M1 IPP 12.9. I don't know what people are smoking when they claim significant improvement over MiniLED. To me, it was not night and day and I had to look hard to spot differences.
This is just a reminder again that if you're looking in a relatively bright environment, it's much harder to see the difference between a mini-LED iPad Pro and an OLED iPad Pro. If it's really bright, like outside, then the OLED will be better because it can go brighter, but IMO, the real advantage is in very low light (eg. watching a video on the couch at night with the room lights dimmed). OLED blacks just look so much better than mini-LED, with no blooming. See the picture I posted above.

BTW, I was able to compare the 2024 OLED iPad Pro vs. the non-mini-LED LCD 2024 iPad Air. The 2024 iPad Air looks noticeably worse than the 2024 iPad Pro even in moderately bright room light. The contrast looks worse, and the viewing angles are slightly more narrow. The Air's screen is definitely a step down.
 
Interesting. I bought my Series 5 in 2020 and am still using it today. I've used Always-On-Display for the past four year too. No burn-in. So, as always, YMMV. Also, Series 5 OLED is single-stack OLED, not dual-stack.


This is just a reminder again that if you're looking in a relatively bright environment, it's much harder to see the difference between a mini-LED iPad Pro and an OLED iPad Pro. If it's really bright, like outside, then the OLED will be better because it can go brighter, but IMO, the real advantage is in very low light (eg. watching a video on the couch at night with the room lights dimmed). OLED blacks just look so much better than mini-LED, with no blooming. See the picture I posted above.

BTW, I was able to compare the 2024 OLED iPad Pro vs. the non-mini-LED LCD 2024 iPad Air. The 2024 iPad Air looks noticeably worse than the 2024 iPad Pro even in moderately bright room light. The contrast looks worse, and the viewing angles are slightly more narrow. The Air's screen is definitely a step down.

The moral of the story is if you have an Air from this year and previous years, don’t compare and overly scrutinise the display against OLED panels and you won’t care less. It’ll be a cheaper outcome too.
 
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