Why are iPad cellular models almost never discounted?

[Adelphos33]

Seeing all of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals for iPad Pros with WiFi, I'm struck that basically no retailers are offering $100 off of iPad models with cellular capabilities. Why is this? If a retailer is willing to discount a WiFI model (and likely take a loss on it to get shoppers into the store), why won't they do the same thing with a cell model?

After playing with the 10.5" at the Apple Store more, I'm more and more convinced that a 10.5" could suit my needs - however, the lack of sales frustrates me.

 

[Tapiture]

Good sales on iPhones are also quite rare. It could be that Apple has a deal with carriers not to allow retailers to do sales on their cellular products so that more people buy them from their carrier using the 2 year financing.

Additionally, people buying cellular models usually have more disposable income, as the LTE on an iPad is seen more as a luxury feature than a necessity.

Idk, just my two cents.

 

[0000757]

T-Mobile is giving away iPads for free.

 

[Spinrite]

Because they are geared more for business professionals

 

[Adelphos33]

T-Mobile is giving away iPads for free.

Only the 2017 iPad in 32G. Looking at a 256G iPad Pro, either in 10.5" or 12.9"

 

[sparksd]

I got a 10.5" 256GB cellular for $80 off ($849) at B&H early last week.

 

[StarShot]

Why would anyone want a cellular iPad today? Extra monthly cellular line charges? IF you have an iPhone, why not just tether for those moments when you need cellular for an iPad?

With the way these cellular plans keep changing, I have no idea as to what a cellular plan only would cost for an cellular iPad.

 

[sparksd]

Why would anyone want a cellular iPad today? Extra monthly cellular line charges? IF you have an iPhone, why not just tether for those moments when you need cellular for an iPad?

With the way these cellular plans keep changing, I have no idea as to what a cellular plan only would cost for an cellular iPad.

Because I don't want to tether and my cell plan does not have tethering built into it. I get 5GB for 150 days for $10 from T-Mobile on my iPad, which works for me.

 

[Adelphos33]

Why would anyone want a cellular iPad today? Extra monthly cellular line charges? IF you have an iPhone, why not just tether for those moments when you need cellular for an iPad?

With the way these cellular plans keep changing, I have no idea as to what a cellular plan only would cost for an cellular iPad.

It's much more seamless to simply pull out an iPad without having to worry about tethering. If I am going to a meeting and need to quickly use Office or Safari, I can pull my iPad out of my bag and use, no need to look for Wi-Fi or tethering. Plus, iPad with cell has GPS, which I use for navigation occasionally.

 

[sparksd]

It's much more seamless to simply pull out an iPad without having to worry about tethering. If I am going to a meeting and need to quickly use Office or Safari, I can pull my iPad out of my bag and use, no need to look for Wi-Fi or tethering. Plus, iPad with cell has GPS, which I use for navigation occasionally.

When I first got an iPad with cellular I got the cellular for the GPS but later found the cell use convenient and have stuck with it on follow-on buys.

 

[JPack]

Black Friday 2017: Save $200 on Apple's Latest 9.7-Inch iPad With Cellular on Two-Year Contract

The wireless providers already discount the cellular iPad. Neither the retailer nor Apple need to do much more.

 

[StarShot]

Black Friday 2017: Save $200 on Apple's Latest 9.7-Inch iPad With Cellular on Two-Year Contract

The wireless providers already discount the cellular iPad. Neither the retailer nor Apple need to do much more.

So, what's the monthly charge for cellular service? I think it's $10 for the cellular iWatch, but I'm guessing there isn't that much throughput for an iWatch. Using cellular for an iPad is a whole different ballgame (streaming Netflix, etc) and we're talking about a lot of data.

 

[chriscl]

Why would anyone want a cellular iPad today? Extra monthly cellular line charges? IF you have an iPhone, why not just tether for those moments when you need cellular for an iPad?

With the way these cellular plans keep changing, I have no idea as to what a cellular plan only would cost for an cellular iPad.

For me, as a frequent international business traveller, one of the best things about my iPad Pro is the ability to get a short-term, no obligation Cellular data plan for a few days when I go abroad.

Whilst I have an iPhone, it is (of course) limited to one cellular provider, and even though I can roam (in the EU, the cost is the same, but elsewhere...!) it often takes up more expense when roaming with the iPhone.

With the iPad and the built-in Apple SIM, I can quickly and easily set up a new data connection in less than two minutes, often whilst waiting for my luggage and passport-control. That for me was an absolute game-changer of a use case.

 

[rui no onna]

Black Friday 2017: Save $200 on Apple's Latest 9.7-Inch iPad With Cellular on Two-Year Contract

The wireless providers already discount the cellular iPad. Neither the retailer nor Apple need to do much more.

Except that's tied to a 2-year contract with ETF of ~$200 plus an activation fee of ~$20-40.

 

[ActionableMango]

Why would anyone want a cellular iPad today? Extra monthly cellular line charges? IF you have an iPhone, why not just tether for those moments when you need cellular for an iPad?

I had the same thought myself and so I switched from LTE to tethering. I now know that tethering sucks. It is slower, laggier, and burns the batteries of two devices.

But worst of all, by far, it keeps disconnecting such that you have to keep reestablishing the tether. LTE just works 24/7 like you'd expect. Tethering turns off at the drop of a hat. Didn't use it for a few minutes? Disconnected. Let the screen go dark? Disconnected. I am sick of constantly reestablishing the tether.

 

[Adelphos33]

I had the same thought myself and so I switched from LTE to tethering. I now know that tethering sucks. It is slower, laggier, and burns the batteries of two devices.

But worst of all, by far, it keeps disconnecting such that you have to keep reestablishing the tether. LTE just works 24/7 like you'd expect. Tethering turns off at the drop of a hat. Didn't use it for a few minutes? Disconnected. Let the screen go dark? Disconnected. I am sick of constantly reestablishing the tether.

Nowadays, I only use tethering when I need to use my laptop on the internet and I can sit down somewhere and tether while using consistently. I actually tend to use my iPad as the source for tethering, not my iPhone.

 

[eggdog]

I just picked up an unlocked 10.5, 256g, cellular at B&H for $799 ( 130 off retail). No tax and free shipping. Best price I found during the Black Friday sales...I also use mine for occasional international travel and like having the unlocked " pay as you go" cellular service. Just be aware of ATT and Verizon "sale price". While at a good discount, they will lock the embedded sim card to their carrier, so when you travel or want to go to another service, you will need to buy a sim from that carrier and put it in. Not a big deal, but I like having the flexibility to purchase as I need internationally. By the way I chose the T-Mobile $10 for 5 mos plan on my Ipad pro. T-mobile won't lock your embedded sim like ATT and Verizon will do.

 

[livlif]

I just picked up an unlocked 10.5, 256g, cellular at B&H for $799 ( 130 off retail). No tax and free shipping. Best price I found during the Black Friday sales...I also use mine for occasional international travel and like having the unlocked " pay as you go" cellular service. Just be aware of ATT and Verizon "sale price". While at a good discount, they will lock the embedded sim card to their carrier, so when you travel or want to go to another service, you will need to buy a sim from that carrier and put it in. Not a big deal, but I like having the flexibility to purchase as I need internationally. By the way I chose the T-Mobile $10 for 5 mos plan on my Ipad pro. T-mobile won't lock your embedded sim like ATT and Verizon will do.

Where do I find this plan?

 

[sparksd]

Where do I find this plan?

I use the same plan. Look under Settings->Add a New Plan and select T-Mobile - it's one of the plans available.

 

[livlif]

I use the same plan. Look under Settings->Add a New Plan and select T-Mobile - it's one of the plans available.

Thanks

 

[Hexley]

How about buying last year's model? Those are probably on sale.

 

[darkarn]

Why would anyone want a cellular iPad today? Extra monthly cellular line charges? IF you have an iPhone, why not just tether for those moments when you need cellular for an iPad?

With the way these cellular plans keep changing, I have no idea as to what a cellular plan only would cost for an cellular iPad.

That's because iOS 11 still has that tethering issue!

 

[StarShot]

That's because iOS 11 still has that tethering issue!

Interesting, my IPX doesn't have a problem tethering with my MacBook Air or my iPad Air.
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I had the same thought myself and so I switched from LTE to tethering. I now know that tethering sucks. It is slower, laggier, and burns the batteries of two devices.

But worst of all, by far, it keeps disconnecting such that you have to keep reestablishing the tether. LTE just works 24/7 like you'd expect. Tethering turns off at the drop of a hat. Didn't use it for a few minutes? Disconnected. Let the screen go dark? Disconnected. I am sick of constantly reestablishing the tether.

Maybe it's the strength of the wifi signal. I have a 100Mbps wifi and running speedtest.org, I get 99Mbps/84Mbps on my MacBook Air. Switching to tethering from my iPhone, I get 20 Mbps/2.5 Mbps. So I assume if I were on a weaker signal like some of the hotel rooms (actually most) with slow internet, tethering wouldn't cut the mustard.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Why would anyone want a cellular iPad today? Extra monthly cellular line charges? IF you have an iPhone, why not just tether for those moments when you need cellular for an iPad?

With the way these cellular plans keep changing, I have no idea as to what a cellular plan only would cost for an cellular iPad.

GPS. The cellular models have it while the non-cellular one do not. That alone is worth the cost for me plus I do use cellular occasionally.

 

[darkarn]

Interesting, my IPX doesn't have a problem tethering with my MacBook Air or my iPad Air.

Sorry, didn't clarify earlier. What is happening to some of us now is that our Android phones cannot share their Internet from cellular plans to iOS 11 iPads. I have spoken to Apple a few times, they always insisted that the Android manufacturers should update their software until I pointed out that this occurs only on iOS 11 iPads and across many Android phones instead of just one brand.