We differ significantly in what we each define as a "high-end" task.
Playing Call of Duty and editing a TikTok clip is something that almost every Gen Z or Alpha child, teenager, or young adult can do. This is something many do everyday and probably several times a day.
To be fair, I do totally lump this into "high-end" tasks because it's a gamer function and why wouldn't you want as good of an iPad to do gaming?. Then again, gaming is still consumption and it's not like you need any of the iPad Pro features to be able to enjoy these kinds of games on an M-series iPad. I do wonder how many titles on iPadOS will be that much better on M1 than on A14 (considering it's the same family/generation of cores for both). Most reviews of the 5th Generation iPad Air that I read didn't say that 4th Generation iPad Air owners would feel any kind of need to rush out and upgrade. the 4th Generation iPad Air and the 10th Generation iPad are ALMOST the same iPad under the hood.
We're talking tapping to add filters and dragging sliders to cut a video, not running Adobe Lightroom.
That one could be subjective in and of itself, but I get the point you were trying to make here.
And admittedly, I do discount those folks too.
It really isn't from my observation of young adults using iPad Air. We're talking entertainment use for iPad Air, not productivity. Call of Duty is 3GB. TikTok is a few GB. Not everyone saves their stuff locally. Once uploaded to TikTok, it's not needed locally.
It's needed locally until the upload finishes, which would still entail requiring however much space your video took until it was fully uploaded and then . And sure Call of Duty Mobile maybe 3GB, but most other big mobile titles are way larger. Hearthstone would consume one sixth the storage capacity of a 64GB iPad; Diablo Immortal takes up even more.
I think that if the iPad Air was one sole model at 256GB, most of your points would make perfect sense. For a 64GB 5th Generation iPad Air, I don't see the point. To be fair, the original exercise was from Apple's marketing perspective; not necessarily what makes the most sense to buy as a consumer.
I think you're missing the majority of users in the middle. Also assuming that anything gaming related or editing a video is "high end" when anybody including grandmas do it these days.
Oh sure. I get that. And I don't think you're wrong at all here, for what it's worth. Again, (a) I wonder just how big the A14 vs. M1 difference really is at any kind of a practical level on an iPad Air and (b) how pointless a 64GB iPad Air is to anyone buying one intentionally over a base iPad. To your point, it doesn't matter per the exercise; Apple is marketing it correctly and folks are still buying it.
A14 is slow as in, "I heard from friends and read on the Internet that M1 is super fast. I dunno how much faster it is than A-whatever, but this M-chip sounds fast. I want to try."
See, I'm not sure that folks are that conscious of the spec differences (which, when you get down to it, don't make a whole lot of sense). I think folks knowing that they don't want a mini and don't want a 12.9-inch Pro, have more or less a low, mid, and high-end option, like you say. From that standpoint, Air makes sense. I think if folks look at specs and start thinking about it that way, the Air makes less sense. I'd imagine that Apple is almost counting on it. Then again, I really don't know why they gave the iPad Air the M1 in the first place.
Many consumers, when they buy something and aren't sure what they need, will buy the middle option. Do you want small, medium, or large Coke? Do you want an iPad, iPad Air, or iPad Pro? What's the safest choice?
(Addressed above)
If someone is serious about drawing, need to draw fast (for work), and can afford iPad Pro, they'll go for the Pro.
That's kind of why I think 2nd Generation Apple Pencil support isn't as important of an iPad Air feature as it would be an iPad Pro feature. I'm not saying I'm complaining that the Air has it (or the 6th Generation mini for that matter). Just that it doesn't seem like it's as important. I've had friends borrow my 4th Generation iPad Air and then get an 11-inch iPad Pro of their own because the difference between using a 2nd Generation Apple Pencil on the Air vs. the 11-inch Pro was that substantial.
The iPad Air is for media consumption and light content creation. Many buyers fall into that category.
I get that. But if we're PURELY talking about media consumption and light content creation, the standard iPad isn't so much worse than the iPad Air. It probably isn't even all that different for most of the people that fall into that category. b
Stage Manager and external display support.
Though that‘s about it.
And the real kicker there is that I'm not even sure that either feature is worth it to anyone other than the most intensive of iPad Pro users. Again, the Air's only viable storage capacity for heavy work is 256GB.
Again, "good enough" is relative. The lower-end Apple Pencils are theoretically "good enough" relative to the level of seriousness that one would be using the iPad Air for.
…and I still don’t believe them. I straight up doubt these figures.
I sort of buy it. The standard iPad is positioned as lower-end and to the point where all but the most casual users will lean toward something higher end. The mini is, for reasons I don't fully understand, niche. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro really is prohibitively expensive for all but the wealthy and/or those who obviously need it. I think it might be a case of Apple having done a good job of marketing an iPad that, relative to others in the line, doesn't offer the best bang for buck, despite still being a very good iPad.
Not sure how they sampled and gathered data, arrived at these figures (since Apple does not publicly break down their unit sales). But I seriously doubt they’re representative for the overall iPad market.
I'd be curious. I did buy the 6th Generation iPad mini listed in my signature within that range. I wonder whether or not that got lumped in with that 8% figure.
The high-end models leading sales is plausible shortly after release - but not in June 2022 & 2023, when the iPad Pro refresh was only in October of 2022.
Some folks don't buy the second a new model comes out. Most casual buyers don't keep their ears to the ground about new releases either. Personally, I DO keep my ears to the ground about new releases and I STILL don't like buying before reviews come out and folks have had a chance to identify key issues.
PS: As another data point, you can google for
another analyst firm pegging Apple's
entry-level iPad as the most best-selling tablet worldwide for the first quarter of 2022. Followed by the iPad mini.
👉 The numbers don't quite add up (as being plausible)
CIRP data represents polling from U.S. customers only. Globally, this is likely very different. It also changes significantly depending on time. Below is their Dec. 2023 data.
View attachment 2371316
But the general trend in the U.S. seems to be the same across most periods: iPad Pro 11, 12.9, and iPad Air are the top sellers. iPad mini is always last. This is consistent with the length of Apple's refresh cycles (effort) towards those products.
I think there being two standard iPad models sort of muddles this a bunch. But, otherwise, sure. That checks out, for the most part.
In other words, if you clicked iPad Pro or iPad Air in this thread's poll, you were wrong.
Kind of depends on what you base your vote in that poll on. If you're playing from the whole "keep your best seller in the line" angle, then removing the iPad Air is absolutely the wrong choice. I think you've slowly helped me realize that throughout the course of this thread.
However, if you're trying to optimize for bang-for-buck or even to promote further upsale to the iPad Pros, then the Air would make sense. You could definitely come up with reasons to nix the 11-inch iPad Pro in lieu of the Air (or rebrand one with the other one's name).
Part of what I like about this topic is that it's subjective. I feel like I could come up with good reasons for nixing any of them as well as reasons why not to.
