iFixit calls the 10.9-inch iPad an iPad Air, but worse

AppleInsider

The iFixit teardown of the 10.9-inch iPad shows that the tablet is mostly a recycled iPad Air 4 with odd shortcomings.

Apple's 10.9-inch iPad

Apple announced the 10.9-inch iPad via a press release in October, and the product has drawn a lot of criticism since. It has improvements like a USB-C port and landscape selfie camera, but lacks Apple Pencil 2 support and Magic Keyboard compatibility.

iFixit did a routine teardown of the 10.9-inch iPad to see what differed about the product and exactly why the second-generation Apple Pencil wouldn't work. Rather than find a redesigned 9th-generation 10.2-inch iPad, they found what was essentially an iPad Air 4.

The speakers, Touch ID, and battery are the same between the 10.9-inch iPad and the iPad Air 4. The landscape selfie camera is obviously in the way of where the Apple Pencil magnetic attachment would be located, and space appears limited.

iFixit calls the 10.9-inch iPad baffling, interesting, and disappointing all in one. They recommend customers just buy an older iPad Air 4 and avoid the oddities.

Read on AppleInsider

mike1

Apple should hire these guys while they still know everything. Just like teenagers.

tht

iFixit calls the 10.9-inch iPad baffling, interesting, and disappointing all in one. They recommend customers just buy an older iPad Air 4 and avoid the oddities.

Heh. Remember, never listen to iFixit regarding your product choices. They really don'y have a good perspective on product design.

Well, the video guy reading the script at least comes off as more snark than actual product review. Ie, they aren't making a serious recommendation.

edited December 2022

elijahg

tht said:

iFixit calls the 10.9-inch iPad baffling, interesting, and disappointing all in one. They recommend customers just buy an older iPad Air 4 and avoid the oddities.

Heh. Remember, never listen to iFixit regarding your product choices. They really don'y have a good perspective on product design.

Well, the video guy reading the script at least comes off as more snark than actual product review. Ie, they aren't making a serious recommendation.

AI has said pretty much the same thing themselves. It's a bodge of bits. For example you can only use a first gen Apple Pencil with it, and need a stupid dongle to convert the USB-C port to a lightning socket.

tht

elijahg said:

tht said:

iFixit calls the 10.9-inch iPad baffling, interesting, and disappointing all in one. They recommend customers just buy an older iPad Air 4 and avoid the oddities.

Heh. Remember, never listen to iFixit regarding your product choices. They really don'y have a good perspective on product design.

Well, the video guy reading the script at least comes off as more snark than actual product review. Ie, they aren't making a serious recommendation.

AI has said pretty much the same thing themselves. It's a bodge of bits. For example you can only use a first gen Apple Pencil with it, and need a stupid dongle to convert the USB-C port to a lightning socket.

Oh, I definitely disagree with them then, though I think they caveated everything. If someone is actually choosing between the two, I'd recommend the iPad 10 over the iPad 9. I think anyone who recommends the 9 over the 10 is doing a disservice for that buyer.

The 10 has 4 GB RAM while the 9 has 3 GB. That makes a huge difference for the longevity of the device. Then the 10.9" versus the 10.2" is also a big difference for the usability of the device. 

clexman

iPad 10 is a product of inflation. Apple needed to make something seem different enough for them to raise the price of the lowest tier iPad. Since it’s a mediocre improvement, but still an upgrade, from the iPad 9, they get to charge more for it. 

When the next Apple product launch happens (any product), the iPad 9 will disappear and >$400 will be the new low for an iPad. 

Time will tell if my guess is right or not. 

charlesn

"This doesn't make sense" has pretty much been the tech press's reaction since the iPad 10 debuted. But what doesn't make sense to me is that reaction.

Does anyone really believe that Apple introduced a new iteration of iPad without its voluminous customer data indicating that there was a market for the new model? Are we thinking Apple just took a flyer on this and thought, "Who knows who this is for, but let's put it out there and see!" Yes, that sounds ridiculous because it is. 

So who is the customer Apple is targeting? That seems pretty easy to see. Prior to the iPad 10, the iPad lineup leapt from the Gen 9 base price of $329 to the Air base price of $599, a difference of $270, which is huge. I think Apple data showed that while they never going to upsell Gen 9 buyers to an Air, they could upsell a subset of those buyers to something in-between, if it existed. And now it does--the iPad 10, which is essentially a repackaged Air 4. I thought the lack of Pencil 2 support was intentional, so it wouldn't be TOO much like the current Air, but the iFixit video changed my mind about that--it seemed clear Apple had to choose between the landscape camera and Pencil 2 support, and felt the former was more important to the target buyer of the 10, and they're probably right about that.

So there you have it: for the iPad buyer who wants something more than the Gen 9 but won't pay the price of an Air, there's now an in-between model. At this point in the iPad's lifespan, it's harder to drive revenue increases, but being able to upsell at least some significant portion of budget buyers is one way to do that. 

strangedays

Yep. They’re called “price umbrellas” — Apple creates product pricing tiers, and if they don’t offer something underneath it, a competitor can stand under the price umbrella with a lower-priced alternative. This was much discussed when the the iPad mini came out. It just made sense for Apple to offer something rather than let the knock-offs gain a foothold.