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Will Apple really skip updating the iPad Air 2?
- Thread starter pika2000
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To be fair, I don't think anyone expects their device to be the fastest, most powerful at all times in the future. Most of the concern about the iPad Air 2 has been about Apple expecting today's top dollar for yesterday's hardware - considering that they did not reduce prices on the Air 2. The debate is not whether the device is fast enough or not. There was a similar situation on the cMBP a few years ago; with Apple asking top dollar for a machine with 3 year old internals. It was fully capable of doing what 90% of users would have expected, but it was not a good value amidst what was cutting edge. And most people on these forums were in agreement with that value sentiment.
Running Geekbench 3 on my iPad Air 2 and my 6s+ 128 GB I get:
Single-core Multi-Core
iPad Air 2 1831 4622 A8X @ 1.5 GHz 1 Processor, 3 Cores
Integer 1826 5250
Floating 1712 4950
Memory 2079 2711
iPhone6s+ 2520 4406 Apple A9 @ 1.85 GHz 1 Processor, 2 Cores
Integer 2523 4945
Floating 2499 4800
Memory 2557 2541
Single-core Multi-Core
iPad Air 2 1831 4622 A8X @ 1.5 GHz 1 Processor, 3 Cores
Integer 1826 5250
Floating 1712 4950
Memory 2079 2711
iPhone6s+ 2520 4406 Apple A9 @ 1.85 GHz 1 Processor, 2 Cores
Integer 2523 4945
Floating 2499 4800
Memory 2557 2541
There are now more Apple products that are likely to get a yearly update than there have ever been before. 3 lines of iPads, two lines of iPhones, and the Apple Watch. Apple would be insane to update them all at the same time each year. For one thing, businesses like to show profit in all 4 quarters, and it's hard to do that if you concentrate all your sales into one quarter. Second, even hardcore Apple fans don't upgrade all their devices yearly, and most don't upgrade all their devices at the same time, so Apple would be cannibalizing their own sales. If I have $1,000 to spend on an iPad in April, that doesn't mean I'll necessarily have $1,800 to spend on an iPad AND an iPhone in October.
The iPad Pro and Apple Watch both throw a monkey wrench into the predictability of the upgrade cycles. I think we'll start to see things becoming staggered between all these different lines, except for the iPhone which will remain around September because it's their biggest moneymaker and they know a lot of people are on financing plans or in contracts so will become eligible for an upgrade around the same time of the year.
But it would be wise of Apple to retain a spring and fall keynote and to stagger their product releases.
Then you are welcomed not to participate in the thread. Thank you.
That's interesting point in terms of revenue cycle. A lot of companies pushed new products around the fall season in order to take advantage of the holiday buying season. Consumers usually don't have much buying power in the beginning of the year.
However, I think that's the generalisation of the western market. The big consumers are now China. Plus, sales of iPads are not that strong anymore. It is interesting to see if the regular sized iPad returned to its original release cycle (that was broken by the iPad 4).
the name "pro" does seem to imply the aple pencil will be exclusive to ipad pro... but then again a lot of average apple fans are buying the expensive third party stili and I'm sure most of them would love to be part of the fun.
But does it really matter if it's "yesterday's hardware" if it's still among the best available? It's not like what Apple did with the Mini 3 where they released it as a new generation of the Mini with no actual internal improvements
If the Air 2 is yesterday's hardware, the Mini 4 is the day before yesterday's hardware. Apple should have a huge iPad sale...
This is it.
My new iPad Air 2, supposedly yesterdays hardware was made in August of this year so it's not as if it's been sitting on a shelf for a year.
Regardless of when the Air 2 came out, it's still a current generation product.
The components may be up to date today, but should the price remain unchanged after 12 months?
There are plenty of places to find an iPad Air 2 cheaper - I paid £85 less on Amazon than on the official store.
All products you buy are quickly outdated. The question you need to ask yourself is does this product do what you need it to do? If not then you should probably wait. Otherwise just buy it and stop worrying about what tomorrow might or might not bring.
Well, that is a value question consumers ought to ask themselves. I say, no. I am not paying cutting edge prices for older hardware, no matter how good Apple says it is. Just like I won't pay Apple $1500 if they released a rMBP with Sandy Bridge i7 tomorrow - no matter that processor could certainly be more than good enough for 90% of my needs.
Certainly. I am not buying the iPad Mini 4. I am sticking with my current Mini 2 until there is some more clarity on Apple's iPad lineup next year.
I feel that Apple is working on miniaturising the iPad Pro to make the iPad Air 3... Maybe new tech will come to the Pro, then it will slowly work down into the air and pro. Similar to the Mini 4 being a miniaturised Air 2 and the Mini 1 being a miniaturised iPad 2.
Its a bit annoying though, if they move away from the October/November upgrade cycles. I had a plan set up that I'd be getting the air 4 in December of next year, if iOS 10 doesn't run on my iPad 2, as i wanted to get the iPad shortly after it came out. If the Air 3 comes out mid next year, i'd have to settle for a model thats been out for a while :O
Its a bit annoying though, if they move away from the October/November upgrade cycles. I had a plan set up that I'd be getting the air 4 in December of next year, if iOS 10 doesn't run on my iPad 2, as i wanted to get the iPad shortly after it came out. If the Air 3 comes out mid next year, i'd have to settle for a model thats been out for a while :O
While my iPad Air 2 is going great guns with iOS9 I would think they would show some love to the line and get the new CPU in it sooner than later. Then again the latest mini didn't get the full love now did it 
Apple please don't make the original sized iPad the "red headed stepchild".
Apple please don't make the original sized iPad the "red headed stepchild".
i dont think it will.
The Pro is just too expensive and over-kill for the 'average' user. too big. the mini is more niche, nicely portable, but maybe too small and fiddly for anything more than regular usage. the middle size/normal ipad is juuuuuust right in all respects
i cant see Apple dumping this.
If you haven't noticed this whole forum and Apple as a company is a first world problem. I'm just seeking to get the longest possible out of my next tablet.
Three cheers for a logical and consistent approach! (Really, not being sarcastic at all.) Carpe diem.
Just adjust your calendar.
And you're right about the whole thing being a first world problem. I think if the iPad pro doesn't sell as well as I think it will then it can go two ways. Either they will keep it as pro features to keep it as a selling feature or move it to the 9.7 iPad to sell more 9.7 inch iPad's. I for one would buy a new Air if they added the pencil. Force touch and everything else from the iPhone line Idc really
To me the mini is a kids toy, it's very cute. but useless because it's too small. At least it's somewhat reasonably priced, so buying a mini for 2 years life expectancy is fine because the kids will end up breaking it, I have 3 mini's for the family and went with the smallest GB lowest end model and I always wait for some sort of sale through Best Buy to knock off $100 on the price. I don't know a single adult age 30+ who would use a mini for more than 5 minutes.
For the iPad I expect a solid 3-4 years for an $800 device, for the iPad mini 2 years for $300, and at $1200+ the Pro better be rippin' fast for a solid 4 years before Apple releases a version of iOS that makes the A9X perform at 1/10th it's power forcing an upgrade.
i dont think it will.
The Pro is just too expensive and over-kill for the 'average' user. too big. the mini is more niche, nicely portable, but maybe too small and fiddly for anything more than regular usage. the middle size/normal ipad is juuuuuust right in all respects
i cant see Apple dumping this.
The Pro isn't really much more expensive then iPad 1-4 where. The only cheaper iPads where Air and Air2.
Been using A mini2 for around 3 to 6 hours daily for the past 2 years and I am well over 30.