A 6,45 iPhone with use of the pencil wil be the end of the iPad mini. The iPhone SE build in a new plant in India wil stay for year, but in 2019 or 2020 with a OLED 5,28 display (same form factor).
Exactly.
And that's why its going to happen.
The iPad Mini has been a totally financial disaster for Apple. They want to get rid of the iPad Mini as soon as possible. Why? Because margins were absolutely dreadful on that device. And the Mini also canibalized much more profitable devices such as the as the regular iPad and iPhones.
iPad Mini needs to die.
What about the margins on iPad 2017, the refresh to iPad Air with A9 processor done just 5 months ago? I agree with you on the other part - They want to get rid of the iPad Mini as soon as possible. That is why they released "inferior" Mini versions 3 & 4, compared to the bigger size 9.7" (Air 2) or 12.9" (Pro first generation) tablets launched in the same year respectively.
A 6,45 iPhone with use of the pencil wil be the end of the iPad mini. The iPhone SE build in a new plant in India wil stay for year, but in 2019 or 2020 with a OLED 5,28 display (same form factor).
Exactly.
And that's why its going to happen.
The iPad Mini has been a totally financial disaster for Apple. They want to get rid of the iPad Mini as soon as possible. Why? Because margins were absolutely dreadful on that device. And the Mini also canibalized much more profitable devices such as the as the regular iPad and iPhones.
iPad Mini needs to die.
You make it sound as if the Mini was a raging success, but for users only .
That's reason enough to stick with it and develop it. The Mini hasn't lost Apple any money. If it canibalised more expensive models it's because users didn't really need those models in the first place.
Apple has to adapt to users' needs, not the other way around.
WRONG.
Unlike Cheap POS China brands, Apple actually has a sustainable business plan that requires making profits.
Bottom line is the MIni may have been great for consumers, but it was horrible for Apple.
My estimate is that the low level Mini actually made Apple only about $10 in profit per unit. That is HORRIBLE. But even worse it probably stopped people from buying other Apple products that actually make decent margins.
I'm sorry but Apple needs to make decent profits. Unlike cheap POS China brands that have political advantages in China and simply copy Apple.
If Apple needs to make decent profits, Apple should price it accordingly and then let the buyers decide whether it is worth it or not. Not releasing a product OR releasing a "inferior" product is NOT the right way to go about it.
iPhone (new mid tier phone, think iPad 2017) $599 iPhone Plus $699
iPhone X1 iPhone X1 Plus
I think you got this wrong imo Apple will drop the # convention this year. So this year will be iPhone iPhone plus and iPhone pro 5.8"
The rumored device in this article is them is the iPhone plus pro. Imo so Apple will have three maybe four phones iPhone, iPhone plus, iPhone pro, iPhone plus pro.
With Apple coming out with iPhone Pro its the new toy so it will get apples marketing attention. You don't hear a lot about the iPhone se but it's there. I feel the iPhone itself will go that way when the pro is released.
Imo ever since I saw the LG G4 (2014)I've been waiting for Apple to come out with there version of a minimal bezel screen. I want to fit as much screen real estate as possible in a phone designed for one handed use. Like the iPhone 6s I'm using right now.
They're not using pro in a phone. Anniversary Edition this year and next year they just move up the whole line up so the current 7s+ and the anniversary edition merge. The main reason there is no merge this year is because of OLED supply constraints.
Apple isn’t going to release an “Anniversary Edition” of the iphone.
A 6,45 iPhone with use of the pencil wil be the end of the iPad mini Samsung Galaxy Note lineup. The iPhone SE build in a new plant in India wil stay for year, but in 2019 or 2020 with a OLED 5,28 display (same form factor).
Corrected that for you. IPad mini seems to be dead already, with no refresh in last 2 years. Also it would not be surprising that Mini sales were low in the last 2 years of its existence, because it was designed that way - with a joke of an upgrade from Mini 2 to Mini 3 (same as Mini 2 and just TouchID added), and small upgrade from Mini 3 to Mini 4 (A8 in Mini 4, compared to A9X in iPad Pro which launched at the same time).
Definitely. The Mini is perhaps the iDevice that has seen the least Apple love over the last few years. It's the MBA of the iDevice world.
It's almost as if they want users to back away from it so they have an excuse for when they finally kill it.
For me it's the perfect size at a reasonable price. A gem. And it seems perfectly suited -size wise - for AR. Not too small, not too big and not as expensive as a Plus sized iPhone.
I will get a Mini 4 when it gets killed off officially and discounted.
Another thread ruined by Sog and his ever changing predictions in the hopes that one will be right by accident so he can claim he's clairvoyant. :sigh:
Too bad he didn’t self-ban as he promised he would when his predictions were a flop.
A 6,45 iPhone with use of the pencil wil be the end of the iPad mini. The iPhone SE build in a new plant in India wil stay for year, but in 2019 or 2020 with a OLED 5,28 display (same form factor).
Exactly.
And that's why its going to happen.
The iPad Mini has been a totally financial disaster for Apple. They want to get rid of the iPad Mini as soon as possible. Why? Because margins were absolutely dreadful on that device. And the Mini also canibalized much more profitable devices such as the as the regular iPad and iPhones.
iPad Mini needs to die.
You make it sound as if the Mini was a raging success, but for users only .
That's reason enough to stick with it and develop it. The Mini hasn't lost Apple any money. If it canibalised more expensive models it's because users didn't really need those models in the first place.
Apple has to adapt to users' needs, not the other way around.
Bottom line is the MIni may have been great for consumers, but it was horrible for Apple.
My estimate is that the low level Mini actually made Apple only about $10 in profit per unit. That is HORRIBLE. But even worse it probably stopped people from buying other Apple products that actually make decent margins.
You are high. Care to explain how you estimate Apple only made ten bucks per ipad?
Another thread ruined by Sog and his ever changing predictions in the hopes that one will be right by accident so he can claim he's clairvoyant. :sigh:
How's my $170 Apple stock prediction for 2017 looking?
Citing a price near its current while it’s trending doesn’t require any special ability. You don’t posses amazing skills here.
A 6,45 iPhone with use of the pencil wil be the end of the iPad mini Samsung Galaxy Note lineup. The iPhone SE build in a new plant in India wil stay for year, but in 2019 or 2020 with a OLED 5,28 display (same form factor).
Corrected that for you. IPad mini seems to be dead already, with no refresh in last 2 years. Also it would not be surprising that Mini sales were low in the last 2 years of its existence, because it was designed that way - with a joke of an upgrade from Mini 2 to Mini 3 (same as Mini 2 and just TouchID added), and small upgrade from Mini 3 to Mini 4 (A8 in Mini 4, compared to A9X in iPad Pro which launched at the same time).
Definitely. The Mini is perhaps the iDevice that has seen the least Apple love over the last few years. It's the MBA of the iDevice world.
It's almost as if they want users to back away from it so they have an excuse for when they finally kill it.
For me it's the perfect size at a reasonable price. A gem. And it seems perfectly suited -size wise - for AR. Not too small, not too big and not as expensive as a Plus sized iPhone.
I will get a Mini 4 when it gets killed off officially and discounted.
The Mini rocks!
Yup, the iPad Mini rocks. And it is the perfect device for kids to handle, in terms of weight. Profits are also not a valid excuse - there is no way iPad 2017 is having a significantly higher profit margin than iPad Mini. Apple just did not like it, for reasons known only to themselves.
A 6,45 iPhone with use of the pencil wil be the end of the iPad mini. The iPhone SE build in a new plant in India wil stay for year, but in 2019 or 2020 with a OLED 5,28 display (same form factor).
Exactly.
And that's why its going to happen.
The iPad Mini has been a totally financial disaster for Apple. They want to get rid of the iPad Mini as soon as possible. Why? Because margins were absolutely dreadful on that device. And the Mini also canibalized much more profitable devices such as the as the regular iPad and iPhones.
iPad Mini needs to die.
You make it sound as if the Mini was a raging success, but for users only .
That's reason enough to stick with it and develop it. The Mini hasn't lost Apple any money. If it canibalised more expensive models it's because users didn't really need those models in the first place.
Apple has to adapt to users' needs, not the other way around.
WRONG.
Unlike Cheap POS China brands, Apple actually has a sustainable business plan that requires making profits.
Bottom line is the MIni may have been great for consumers, but it was horrible for Apple.
My estimate is that the low level Mini actually made Apple only about $10 in profit per unit. That is HORRIBLE. But even worse it probably stopped people from buying other Apple products that actually make decent margins.
I'm sorry but Apple needs to make decent profits. Unlike cheap POS China brands that have political advantages in China and simply copy Apple.
If Apple needs to make decent profits, Apple should price it accordingly and then let the buyers decide whether it is worth it or not. Not releasing a product OR releasing a "inferior" product is NOT the right way to go about it.
Apple doesn’t lose money on hardware. We can be sure of that. Software, well, very possibly. But software distribution adds very little cost to the product these days, so it’s trivial. As Apple uses software to sell hardware, where they make most of their money (except for services and content), they don’t care if they lose $100 million a year there to make $10 billion elsewhere, which is a very good trade off.
but I doubt they deliberately have inferior products.
A 6,45 iPhone with use of the pencil wil be the end of the iPad mini Samsung Galaxy Note lineup. The iPhone SE build in a new plant in India wil stay for year, but in 2019 or 2020 with a OLED 5,28 display (same form factor).
Corrected that for you. IPad mini seems to be dead already, with no refresh in last 2 years. Also it would not be surprising that Mini sales were low in the last 2 years of its existence, because it was designed that way - with a joke of an upgrade from Mini 2 to Mini 3 (same as Mini 2 and just TouchID added), and small upgrade from Mini 3 to Mini 4 (A8 in Mini 4, compared to A9X in iPad Pro which launched at the same time).
Definitely. The Mini is perhaps the iDevice that has seen the least Apple love over the last few years. It's the MBA of the iDevice world.
It's almost as if they want users to back away from it so they have an excuse for when they finally kill it.
For me it's the perfect size at a reasonable price. A gem. And it seems perfectly suited -size wise - for AR. Not too small, not too big and not as expensive as a Plus sized iPhone.
I will get a Mini 4 when it gets killed off officially and discounted.
The Mini rocks!
Yup, the iPad Mini rocks. And it is the perfect device for kids to handle, in terms of weight. Profits are also not a valid excuse - there is no way iPad 2017 is having a significantly higher profit margin than iPad Mini. Apple just did not like it, for reasons known only to themselves.
Or, much more likely, trailing off sales caused them to reevaluate the product, and to only keep one that they thought would have enough sales to be profitable.
its just like the iPod. After the iPhone came out, and began to accumulate more storage space, iPod sales began to drop precipitously. So they did what any good business would do. They cut R&D, and began to cut models. The same thing is happening with the Mini. I’ve seen estimates that said that much of the growth of the iPad came from the Mini, and most of the decline in sales came from the Mini. I see no reason why that’s not true.
Now, with the new 9.7” iPad, sales are growing again, and I hope that will continue. With the price of that being $329, it seems to be a sweet spot. It’s also cheaper than Samsung’s competing model by a good deal, while having much better performance. That’s the only other tablet that sells well enough in the premium area to have any impact on Apple’s tablet sales. It’s also possible that Apple can’t find a price for the Mini that’s profitable enough to make it worthwhile, while being lower by enough to have people want to buy it. All of these things together would be good enough for discontinuing the line.
Another thread ruined by Sog and his ever changing predictions in the hopes that one will be right by accident so he can claim he's clairvoyant. :sigh:
How's my $170 Apple stock prediction for 2017 looking?
Citing a price near its current while it’s trending doesn’t require any special ability. You don’t posses amazing skills here.
1) And there have been many real analysts—whom I also give no credit for making obvious claims—suggesting that Apple could hit $170.
2) What amazes me is that he thinks that by throwing out a bunch of random numbers that "feel good" to him makes him look intelligent to anyone. Even the analysts back up their predictions with a flurry of reasons why they believe the stock will hit a certain price point.
3) Additionally, if he was really all about the future—as he likes to claim—he wouldn't give two shit about what the stock price will do in 2017. My holdings are so long that I'm not even going to predict what 10 or 20 years from now will look like for Apple as that's when I'll likely sell (or when my stocks will be held by family members who are set to obtain them in my will and have no idea just how wealthy they'll likely be once I kick off).
A 6,45 iPhone with use of the pencil wil be the end of the iPad mini Samsung Galaxy Note lineup. The iPhone SE build in a new plant in India wil stay for year, but in 2019 or 2020 with a OLED 5,28 display (same form factor).
Corrected that for you. IPad mini seems to be dead already, with no refresh in last 2 years. Also it would not be surprising that Mini sales were low in the last 2 years of its existence, because it was designed that way - with a joke of an upgrade from Mini 2 to Mini 3 (same as Mini 2 and just TouchID added), and small upgrade from Mini 3 to Mini 4 (A8 in Mini 4, compared to A9X in iPad Pro which launched at the same time).
Definitely. The Mini is perhaps the iDevice that has seen the least Apple love over the last few years. It's the MBA of the iDevice world.
It's almost as if they want users to back away from it so they have an excuse for when they finally kill it.
For me it's the perfect size at a reasonable price. A gem. And it seems perfectly suited -size wise - for AR. Not too small, not too big and not as expensive as a Plus sized iPhone.
I will get a Mini 4 when it gets killed off officially and discounted.
The Mini rocks!
Yup, the iPad Mini rocks. And it is the perfect device for kids to handle, in terms of weight. Profits are also not a valid excuse - there is no way iPad 2017 is having a significantly higher profit margin than iPad Mini. Apple just did not like it, for reasons known only to themselves.
Or, much more likely, trailing off sales caused them to reevaluate the product, and to only keep one that they thought would have enough sales to be profitable.
its just like the iPod. After the iPhone came out, and began to accumulate more storage space, iPod sales began to drop precipitously. So they did what any good business would do. They cut R&D, and began to cut models. The same thing is happening with the Mini. I’ve seen estimates that said that much of the growth of the iPad came from the Mini, and most of the decline in sales came from the Mini. I see no reason why that’s not true.
Now, with the new 9.7” iPad, sales are growing again, and I hope that will continue. With the price of that being $329, it seems to be a sweet spot. It’s also cheaper than Samsung’s competing model by a good deal, while having much better performance. That’s the only other tablet that sells well enough in the premium area to have any impact on Apple’s tablet sales. It’s also possible that Apple can’t find a price for the Mini that’s profitable enough to make it worthwhile, while being lower by enough to have people want to buy it. All of these things together would be good enough for discontinuing the line.
Agree with almost all of your points, except one. Trailing off sales caused them to reevaluate the product - This was designed by Apple to be that way, with iPad Mini 3 and 4 generations. iPad Mini 2 and iPad Air 1st generation had "equal" specs, except size. Apple deliberately put "inferior" specs in Mini lineup for 2 consecutive years!!! And the end result is - anybody can guess it - lower sales. The question is - why Apple did it? No one knows, except Apple themselves.
Even while deciding to introduce a $329 tablet, Apple could have chosen $300 for Mini refresh and say $350 for 9.7" refresh. But Apple did not do it. Why? They didn't like Mini alone for whatever reasons.
A 6,45 iPhone with use of the pencil wil be the end of the iPad mini. The iPhone SE build in a new plant in India wil stay for year, but in 2019 or 2020 with a OLED 5,28 display (same form factor).
Exactly.
And that's why its going to happen.
The iPad Mini has been a totally financial disaster for Apple. They want to get rid of the iPad Mini as soon as possible. Why? Because margins were absolutely dreadful on that device. And the Mini also canibalized much more profitable devices such as the as the regular iPad and iPhones.
iPad Mini needs to die.
You make it sound as if the Mini was a raging success, but for users only .
That's reason enough to stick with it and develop it. The Mini hasn't lost Apple any money. If it canibalised more expensive models it's because users didn't really need those models in the first place.
Apple has to adapt to users' needs, not the other way around.
WRONG.
Unlike Cheap POS China brands, Apple actually has a sustainable business plan that requires making profits.
Bottom line is the MIni may have been great for consumers, but it was horrible for Apple.
My estimate is that the low level Mini actually made Apple only about $10 in profit per unit. That is HORRIBLE. But even worse it probably stopped people from buying other Apple products that actually make decent margins.
I'm sorry but Apple needs to make decent profits. Unlike cheap POS China brands that have political advantages in China and simply copy Apple.
If Apple needs to make decent profits, Apple should price it accordingly and then let the buyers decide whether it is worth it or not. Not releasing a product OR releasing a "inferior" product is NOT the right way to go about it.
Apple doesn’t lose money on hardware. We can be sure of that. Software, well, very possibly. But software distribution adds very little cost to the product these days, so it’s trivial. As Apple uses software to sell hardware, where they make most of their money (except for services and content), they don’t care if they lose $100 million a year there to make $10 billion elsewhere, which is a very good trade off.
but I doubt they deliberately have inferior products.
iPad Mini 3 and Mini 4 were definitely "inferior" products, from a specs perspective.
iPad Mini 2 & iPad Air launched in 2013 - A7, 1 GB RAM for both iPad Mini 2 and iPad Air
iPad Mini 3 & iPad Air 2 launched in 2014 - A7 & 1GB RAM for Mini 3 Vs A8X & 2 GB RAM for Air 2
iPad Mini 4 & iPad Pro 12.9 1st generation launched in 2015 - A8 & 2 GB RAM for Mini 4 Vs A9X & 4 GB RAM for iPad Pro (at a triple price point admittedly, but still inferior to iPad Air 2 which was launched more than 1 year ago)
A 6,45 iPhone with use of the pencil wil be the end of the iPad mini Samsung Galaxy Note lineup. The iPhone SE build in a new plant in India wil stay for year, but in 2019 or 2020 with a OLED 5,28 display (same form factor).
Corrected that for you. IPad mini seems to be dead already, with no refresh in last 2 years. Also it would not be surprising that Mini sales were low in the last 2 years of its existence, because it was designed that way - with a joke of an upgrade from Mini 2 to Mini 3 (same as Mini 2 and just TouchID added), and small upgrade from Mini 3 to Mini 4 (A8 in Mini 4, compared to A9X in iPad Pro which launched at the same time).
Definitely. The Mini is perhaps the iDevice that has seen the least Apple love over the last few years. It's the MBA of the iDevice world.
It's almost as if they want users to back away from it so they have an excuse for when they finally kill it.
For me it's the perfect size at a reasonable price. A gem. And it seems perfectly suited -size wise - for AR. Not too small, not too big and not as expensive as a Plus sized iPhone.
I will get a Mini 4 when it gets killed off officially and discounted.
The Mini rocks!
Yup, the iPad Mini rocks. And it is the perfect device for kids to handle, in terms of weight. Profits are also not a valid excuse - there is no way iPad 2017 is having a significantly higher profit margin than iPad Mini. Apple just did not like it, for reasons known only to themselves.
Or, much more likely, trailing off sales caused them to reevaluate the product, and to only keep one that they thought would have enough sales to be profitable.
its just like the iPod. After the iPhone came out, and began to accumulate more storage space, iPod sales began to drop precipitously. So they did what any good business would do. They cut R&D, and began to cut models. The same thing is happening with the Mini. I’ve seen estimates that said that much of the growth of the iPad came from the Mini, and most of the decline in sales came from the Mini. I see no reason why that’s not true.
Now, with the new 9.7” iPad, sales are growing again, and I hope that will continue. With the price of that being $329, it seems to be a sweet spot. It’s also cheaper than Samsung’s competing model by a good deal, while having much better performance. That’s the only other tablet that sells well enough in the premium area to have any impact on Apple’s tablet sales. It’s also possible that Apple can’t find a price for the Mini that’s profitable enough to make it worthwhile, while being lower by enough to have people want to buy it. All of these things together would be good enough for discontinuing the line.
Agree with almost all of your points, except one. Trailing off sales caused them to reevaluate the product - This was designed by Apple to be that way, with iPad Mini 3 and 4 generations. iPad Mini 2 and iPad Air 1st generation had "equal" specs, except size. Apple deliberately put "inferior" specs in Mini lineup for 2 consecutive years!!! And the end result is - anybody can guess it - lower sales. The question is - why Apple did it? No one knows, except Apple themselves.
Even while deciding to introduce a $329 tablet, Apple could have chosen $300 for Mini refresh and say $350 for 9.7" refresh. But Apple did not do it. Why? They didn't like Mini alone for whatever reasons.
I understand what you’re saying. But at the same time, Apple does research into what their customers like and don’t like, as well as what they would like to see. Don’t believe it when Apple says that they don’t. Since the Minimwas being sold to people who weren’t using it for heavier purposes, it’s very possible that they believed that it had gone about as far as needed. But, at the same time, the new larger phones had been coming out. I read a lot of posts here, that people would be buying a bigger phone instead of a Mini. I’m sure that Apple saw what was coming, and so expected it. Since iPad sales had begun to slump at that time, and a lot of it was from the Mini, what I said likely holds true, that they saw a continued sales slump with the Mini, and so, as I also said, cut back in R&D on that line.
really, it’s not just one thing, though all of what you see was precipitated by dropping sales. In addition, the 9.7” is far more important to Apple than the Mini. It simply has more potential.
But prices aren’t just “chosen”. They have to have an accounting reason to exist. People have to understand that.
A 6,45 iPhone with use of the pencil wil be the end of the iPad mini. The iPhone SE build in a new plant in India wil stay for year, but in 2019 or 2020 with a OLED 5,28 display (same form factor).
Exactly.
And that's why its going to happen.
The iPad Mini has been a totally financial disaster for Apple. They want to get rid of the iPad Mini as soon as possible. Why? Because margins were absolutely dreadful on that device. And the Mini also canibalized much more profitable devices such as the as the regular iPad and iPhones.
iPad Mini needs to die.
You make it sound as if the Mini was a raging success, but for users only .
That's reason enough to stick with it and develop it. The Mini hasn't lost Apple any money. If it canibalised more expensive models it's because users didn't really need those models in the first place.
Apple has to adapt to users' needs, not the other way around.
WRONG.
Unlike Cheap POS China brands, Apple actually has a sustainable business plan that requires making profits.
Bottom line is the MIni may have been great for consumers, but it was horrible for Apple.
My estimate is that the low level Mini actually made Apple only about $10 in profit per unit. That is HORRIBLE. But even worse it probably stopped people from buying other Apple products that actually make decent margins.
I'm sorry but Apple needs to make decent profits. Unlike cheap POS China brands that have political advantages in China and simply copy Apple.
If Apple needs to make decent profits, Apple should price it accordingly and then let the buyers decide whether it is worth it or not. Not releasing a product OR releasing a "inferior" product is NOT the right way to go about it.
Apple doesn’t lose money on hardware. We can be sure of that. Software, well, very possibly. But software distribution adds very little cost to the product these days, so it’s trivial. As Apple uses software to sell hardware, where they make most of their money (except for services and content), they don’t care if they lose $100 million a year there to make $10 billion elsewhere, which is a very good trade off.
but I doubt they deliberately have inferior products.
iPad Mini 3 and Mini 4 were definitely "inferior" products, from a specs perspective.
iPad Mini 2 & iPad Air launched in 2013 - A7, 1 GB RAM for both iPad Mini 2 and iPad Air
iPad Mini 3 & iPad Air 2 launched in 2014 - A7 & 1GB RAM for Mini 3 Vs A8X & 2 GB RAM for Air 2
iPad Mini 4 & iPad Pro 12.9 1st generation launched in 2015 - A8 & 2 GB RAM for Mini 4 Vs A9X & 4 GB RAM for iPad Pro (at a triple price point admittedly, but still inferior to iPad Air 2 which was launched more than 1 year ago)
None of that means that they were inferior products. Apple doesn’t exist in a vacuum. They are competing with others. When compared to others, these tablets were, and are, still ahead in performance. And I doubt that Apple even intended for the Mini to compete in performance with the full sized models, long term. That doesn’t make them inferior, just more suited to the uses it was bought for.
A 6,45 iPhone with use of the pencil wil be the end of the iPad mini. The iPhone SE build in a new plant in India wil stay for year, but in 2019 or 2020 with a OLED 5,28 display (same form factor).
Exactly.
And that's why its going to happen.
The iPad Mini has been a totally financial disaster for Apple. They want to get rid of the iPad Mini as soon as possible. Why? Because margins were absolutely dreadful on that device. And the Mini also canibalized much more profitable devices such as the as the regular iPad and iPhones.
iPad Mini needs to die.
You make it sound as if the Mini was a raging success, but for users only .
That's reason enough to stick with it and develop it. The Mini hasn't lost Apple any money. If it canibalised more expensive models it's because users didn't really need those models in the first place.
Apple has to adapt to users' needs, not the other way around.
WRONG.
Unlike Cheap POS China brands, Apple actually has a sustainable business plan that requires making profits.
Bottom line is the MIni may have been great for consumers, but it was horrible for Apple.
My estimate is that the low level Mini actually made Apple only about $10 in profit per unit. That is HORRIBLE. But even worse it probably stopped people from buying other Apple products that actually make decent margins.
I'm sorry but Apple needs to make decent profits. Unlike cheap POS China brands that have political advantages in China and simply copy Apple.
If Apple needs to make decent profits, Apple should price it accordingly and then let the buyers decide whether it is worth it or not. Not releasing a product OR releasing a "inferior" product is NOT the right way to go about it.
Apple doesn’t lose money on hardware. We can be sure of that. Software, well, very possibly. But software distribution adds very little cost to the product these days, so it’s trivial. As Apple uses software to sell hardware, where they make most of their money (except for services and content), they don’t care if they lose $100 million a year there to make $10 billion elsewhere, which is a very good trade off.
but I doubt they deliberately have inferior products.
iPad Mini 3 and Mini 4 were definitely "inferior" products, from a specs perspective.
iPad Mini 2 & iPad Air launched in 2013 - A7, 1 GB RAM for both iPad Mini 2 and iPad Air
iPad Mini 3 & iPad Air 2 launched in 2014 - A7 & 1GB RAM for Mini 3 Vs A8X & 2 GB RAM for Air 2
iPad Mini 4 & iPad Pro 12.9 1st generation launched in 2015 - A8 & 2 GB RAM for Mini 4 Vs A9X & 4 GB RAM for iPad Pro (at a triple price point admittedly, but still inferior to iPad Air 2 which was launched more than 1 year ago)
The fact you dribble numbers like they mean jack shit makes me think you never used a Apple product EVER. People don't use specs, they use devices. Actual performance is what counts. Funny how Android devices have twice the memory and they're still much slower...
Comments
It's almost as if they want users to back away from it so they have an excuse for when they finally kill it.
For me it's the perfect size at a reasonable price. A gem. And it seems perfectly suited -size wise - for AR. Not too small, not too big and not as expensive as a Plus sized iPhone.
I will get a Mini 4 when it gets killed off officially and discounted.
The Mini rocks!
Too bad he didn’t self-ban as he promised he would when his predictions were a flop.
Yup, the iPad Mini rocks. And it is the perfect device for kids to handle, in terms of weight. Profits are also not a valid excuse - there is no way iPad 2017 is having a significantly higher profit margin than iPad Mini. Apple just did not like it, for reasons known only to themselves.
but I doubt they deliberately have inferior products.
its just like the iPod. After the iPhone came out, and began to accumulate more storage space, iPod sales began to drop precipitously. So they did what any good business would do. They cut R&D, and began to cut models. The same thing is happening with the Mini. I’ve seen estimates that said that much of the growth of the iPad came from the Mini, and most of the decline in sales came from the Mini. I see no reason why that’s not true.
Now, with the new 9.7” iPad, sales are growing again, and I hope that will continue. With the price of that being $329, it seems to be a sweet spot. It’s also cheaper than Samsung’s competing model by a good deal, while having much better performance. That’s the only other tablet that sells well enough in the premium area to have any impact on Apple’s tablet sales. It’s also possible that Apple can’t find a price for the Mini that’s profitable enough to make it worthwhile, while being lower by enough to have people want to buy it. All of these things together would be good enough for discontinuing the line.
2) What amazes me is that he thinks that by throwing out a bunch of random numbers that "feel good" to him makes him look intelligent to anyone. Even the analysts back up their predictions with a flurry of reasons why they believe the stock will hit a certain price point.
3) Additionally, if he was really all about the future—as he likes to claim—he wouldn't give two shit about what the stock price will do in 2017. My holdings are so long that I'm not even going to predict what 10 or 20 years from now will look like for Apple as that's when I'll likely sell (or when my stocks will be held by family members who are set to obtain them in my will and have no idea just how wealthy they'll likely be once I kick off).
Agree with almost all of your points, except one. Trailing off sales caused them to reevaluate the product - This was designed by Apple to be that way, with iPad Mini 3 and 4 generations. iPad Mini 2 and iPad Air 1st generation had "equal" specs, except size. Apple deliberately put "inferior" specs in Mini lineup for 2 consecutive years!!! And the end result is - anybody can guess it - lower sales. The question is - why Apple did it? No one knows, except Apple themselves.
Even while deciding to introduce a $329 tablet, Apple could have chosen $300 for Mini refresh and say $350 for 9.7" refresh. But Apple did not do it. Why? They didn't like Mini alone for whatever reasons.
iPad Mini 3 and Mini 4 were definitely "inferior" products, from a specs perspective.
iPad Mini 2 & iPad Air launched in 2013 - A7, 1 GB RAM for both iPad Mini 2 and iPad Air
iPad Mini 3 & iPad Air 2 launched in 2014 - A7 & 1GB RAM for Mini 3 Vs A8X & 2 GB RAM for Air 2
iPad Mini 4 & iPad Pro 12.9 1st generation launched in 2015 - A8 & 2 GB RAM for Mini 4 Vs A9X & 4 GB RAM for iPad Pro (at a triple price point admittedly, but still inferior to iPad Air 2 which was launched more than 1 year ago)
really, it’s not just one thing, though all of what you see was precipitated by dropping sales. In addition, the 9.7” is far more important to Apple than the Mini. It simply has more potential.
But prices aren’t just “chosen”. They have to have an accounting reason to exist. People have to understand that.
People don't use specs, they use devices. Actual performance is what counts.
Funny how Android devices have twice the memory and they're still much slower...