Apple Introduces Redesigned iPad Pro and Apple Pencil

Originally published at: https://tidbits.com/2018/10/30/apple-introduces-redesigned-ipad-pro-and-apple-pencil/

Grab your wallet as a set of spiffy new iPad Pros come to town, featuring Face ID, USB-C, and A12X Bionic brains. Apple also released an improved Apple Pencil that charges inductively, sticks to the iPad Pro itself, and won’t roll off your desk.

…and costs 33% more.

The Pencil that is.

Congratulations in using the international date format and not mentioning American seasons.

We try to be sensitive about that, so I’m glad people notice!

Nothing in the Apple line up is getting any cheaper other than the parts they use and stick it to the buyer. SSD’s are a good example. No I don’t expect them to take a loss on them but it gets to a point where sticking it to the user base just because the Apple name is on a product, starts to wear thin really fast.

I haven’t noticed the prices of cereal, just about everything else, going anything other than up over the years. Having an Apple name on a device is likely one reason some people buy Apple hardware, but the overriding reason is that in addition to advanced engineering, they are also buying into to the Apple ecosystem of services and devices that play nice with one another, leading edge technology that’s easier to use, faster, lighter, sleeker and better designed.

The pricing structure might be wearing thin for you, but it’s proven to be a brilliant strategy for Apple, which became the first company to break the billion dollar valuation line and also the first to stay there. Let’s see what today’s quarterly report brings; analysts are predicting Apple will be the only FAANG that’s not in the minus column.

Is it possible that part of the price increase is due to the US and China trade policy changes? Since it’s a dynamic situation, Apple may be hedging its bets and trying to avoid raising prices mid-cycle.

I’ll bet you’re 1000% right about this. And since they aren’t really competing with the millions of low priced Android and PC models of phones and laptops out there, they can get away with raising their prices more. When they introduced iPhone X last year, they dramatically raised prices. Sales of top of the top of the line iPhones pretty much stagnated, but profits went through the roof. Prices for the Mini and Air went up significantly too this year.

Tim Cook did mention that the iPad Pro was the best selling tablet in the world, which I think is pretty cool. And Apple and other PC manufacturers have been making noises for a while about how tablets will replace laptops in the not distant future.

And once again, no new iPad Mini! :angry:

Yeah, I think the iPad mini falls into the same category as the iPhone SE: it’s seen as cheaper for being smaller, and Apple is moving away from cheaper products. It’s too bad, since smaller could be seen as better and sold at a premium for that reason.

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The ipad mini already sells at a premium. $400 compared to $329 for 9.7”

I too love the smaller size.

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Adam Engst

    November 6

Yeah, I think the iPad mini falls into the same category as the iPhone SE: it’s seen as cheaper for being smaller, and Apple is moving away from cheaper products. It’s too bad, since smaller could be seen as better and sold at a premium for that reason.

I suspect they are keeping the Mini around as is for the time being to keep it as a less expensive alternative for the education market. IMHO, it’s still not competitive price wise with the competition.

If Apple doesn’t come out with an updated iPad Mini, then I’ll have to get an Android tablet in the same form factor. Any suggestions as to brand?

Yep, but when it started at that price it was the cheap option. The sixth-generation iPad dropped below the iPad mini’s pricing, making it a premium price for old technology, which is never a good combination for a product’s future at Apple.

My mother is upset too, purely on the form factor, since she really likes her iPad mini 2, but doesn’t see the iPad mini 4 as worth upgrading too at this point in the lifecycle.

Where have you been? It was introduced over a month ago for $1000+ and is called iPhone XS Max :wink:

I think you’re 100% on the money there, Adam. I think it’s a real shame. I’d be happy to pay extra for all the added engineering that goes into making performance fit into small packages. Obviously, Apple doesn’t believe there’s a market there (any more).

Unlike the SE, the iPad mini 4 was not dropped as a product, and there have been rumors that there will be a new mini in the future (next spring?) See https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/23/kuo-predicts-new-ipad-mini-5-airpower-launch-in-late-2018-or-early-2019-more/

No, that is the wrong form factor and has unrequired hardware installed:

2 inches (51mm) too short and 2 inches too narrow. Also an iPad does not need phone circuitry. :grin:

Adam, I’d suggest you get a Mini 4 to have on hand when her Mini 2 dies. That is what I did for when my Mini 3 dies.

  • An improved 12-megapixel rear camera to take advantage of Apple’s latest computational photography capabilities, like Smart HDR. Alas, it does stick out of the back slightly, much like the newer iPhones.

I wonder why Apple insists on making their devices thinner and thinner, so much so that cameras start sticking out? Esthetics aside, thinner also comprises battery life, as a thicker device could hold a thicker battery with more capacity.

I guess a case is no longer optional on an iPad anymore than it is on an iPhone.