Apple debuts 2019 iPad Air with A12 Bionic chip and enhanced 10.5-inch display

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 59
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member

    So the iPad lineup gets confusing again. Why the need for iPad and iPad Air? Just so they can fill a price point at $499? And why aren’t they moving all iPads to Pencil 2 support? And the new mini starts at $399 while the bigger iPad is $329. So confusing.
    Second-gen Pencil requires more expensive hardware to implement, raising the price. This is a less expensive, mid-tier offering. If you require the more advanced features, buy the top-tier. If you don’t, buy this. If you don’t require it at all get the cheap entry-level model.

    Only the most dedicated of haters could be mad or upset about three price tiers (Apple’s familiar Good, Better, Best). 
    I can understand why Apple would make Pencil 2 a Pro-level feature but not 4 speakers.  Overall, the new iPad Air is a nice device though I wish it did have quad-speakers as I don't personally see that as being a pro feature.  I'm still gonna purchase it because this is all the iPad that I truly need.
    Doubling the speakers means redesigning the entire device. This is a re-tooling of the existing iPad Air, but with better specs and now Pencil support, which is probably more useful than slightly louder sound when not using headphones. And I'd imagine adding Pencil support is via a drop-in replacement component that doesn't require a re-design the interior the way adding speakers to all four corners would.
    edited March 2019 williamlondonpscooter63watto_cobra
  • Reply 42 of 59
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member


    Hey nice, a another price increase for a new model, apple gets moremgreedy every yearߘ⦬t;/div>
    Nonsense. This is the same price as iPad launched for, 499. Now it does more. Don’t need pencil support? Buy the entry-level for $329, which is cheap. How is that greedy? They gave you more options! You people and your entitlement.
    The entire iPad line from the $329 model right up to the $999 model now has Pencil support.
    Oh that's right. The base iPad is cheaper due to the less-expensive screen. Hey, even better. The choices are there for someone to spend as they can afford to. It's a great time to buy an iPad.
    edited March 2019 canukstormmuthuk_vanalingamwilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 43 of 59
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,695member

    So the iPad lineup gets confusing again. Why the need for iPad and iPad Air? Just so they can fill a price point at $499? And why aren’t they moving all iPads to Pencil 2 support? And the new mini starts at $399 while the bigger iPad is $329. So confusing.
    Second-gen Pencil requires more expensive hardware to implement, raising the price. This is a less expensive, mid-tier offering. If you require the more advanced features, buy the top-tier. If you don’t, buy this. If you don’t require it at all get the cheap entry-level model.

    Only the most dedicated of haters could be mad or upset about three price tiers (Apple’s familiar Good, Better, Best). 
    I can understand why Apple would make Pencil 2 a Pro-level feature but not 4 speakers.  Overall, the new iPad Air is a nice device though I wish it did have quad-speakers as I don't personally see that as being a pro feature.  I'm still gonna purchase it because this is all the iPad that I truly need.
    Doubling the speakers means redesigning the entire device. This is a re-tooling of the existing iPad Air, but with better specs and now Pencil support, which is probably more useful than slightly louder sound when not using headphones. And I'd imagine adding Pencil support is via a drop-in replacement component that doesn't require a re-design the interior the way adding speakers to all four corners would.
    This new iPad Air is using the same chassis as the now-discontinued 10.5" iPad Pro which did have quad-speakers
    edited March 2019
  • Reply 44 of 59
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member

    So the iPad lineup gets confusing again. Why the need for iPad and iPad Air? Just so they can fill a price point at $499? And why aren’t they moving all iPads to Pencil 2 support? And the new mini starts at $399 while the bigger iPad is $329. So confusing.
    Second-gen Pencil requires more expensive hardware to implement, raising the price. This is a less expensive, mid-tier offering. If you require the more advanced features, buy the top-tier. If you don’t, buy this. If you don’t require it at all get the cheap entry-level model.

    Only the most dedicated of haters could be mad or upset about three price tiers (Apple’s familiar Good, Better, Best). 
    I can understand why Apple would make Pencil 2 a Pro-level feature but not 4 speakers.  Overall, the new iPad Air is a nice device though I wish it did have quad-speakers as I don't personally see that as being a pro feature.  I'm still gonna purchase it because this is all the iPad that I truly need.
    Doubling the speakers means redesigning the entire device. This is a re-tooling of the existing iPad Air, but with better specs and now Pencil support, which is probably more useful than slightly louder sound when not using headphones. And I'd imagine adding Pencil support is via a drop-in replacement component that doesn't require a re-design the interior the way adding speakers to all four corners would.
    This new iPad Air is using the same chassis as the now-discontinued 10.5" iPad Pro which did have quad-speakers
    Same shell, same motherboard, same internals/components design? How is this known yet? Without tear-downs, I'd still conclude it's easier to drop in a display panel with pencil sensitivity.
    edited March 2019 williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 45 of 59
    hentaiboyhentaiboy Posts: 1,252member
    So why isn’t this called the iPad Air 3?
  • Reply 46 of 59
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,695member

    So the iPad lineup gets confusing again. Why the need for iPad and iPad Air? Just so they can fill a price point at $499? And why aren’t they moving all iPads to Pencil 2 support? And the new mini starts at $399 while the bigger iPad is $329. So confusing.
    Second-gen Pencil requires more expensive hardware to implement, raising the price. This is a less expensive, mid-tier offering. If you require the more advanced features, buy the top-tier. If you don’t, buy this. If you don’t require it at all get the cheap entry-level model.

    Only the most dedicated of haters could be mad or upset about three price tiers (Apple’s familiar Good, Better, Best). 
    I can understand why Apple would make Pencil 2 a Pro-level feature but not 4 speakers.  Overall, the new iPad Air is a nice device though I wish it did have quad-speakers as I don't personally see that as being a pro feature.  I'm still gonna purchase it because this is all the iPad that I truly need.
    Doubling the speakers means redesigning the entire device. This is a re-tooling of the existing iPad Air, but with better specs and now Pencil support, which is probably more useful than slightly louder sound when not using headphones. And I'd imagine adding Pencil support is via a drop-in replacement component that doesn't require a re-design the interior the way adding speakers to all four corners would.
    This new iPad Air is using the same chassis as the now-discontinued 10.5" iPad Pro which did have quad-speakers
    Same shell, same motherboard, same internals/components design? How is this known yet? Without tear-downs, I'd still conclude it's easier to drop in a display panel with pencil sensitivity.
    Same shell, yes.  Can't say anything about the internal design / configuration
  • Reply 47 of 59
    macgui said:

    HAHAHA. I knew it. Of course they did not update the low end iPad with a compelling offering. Nope. Just invented a new price point to gouge people even more.
    Bullshit and FUD.
    No it isn't. This is pretty obvious to anyone who wants to see it.

    Apple used to update their products with compelling new offerings, and value-added proposition. Now they invent new tiers every time they have something new to offer, so that they can charge more.

    By all accounts these modest updates should have applied to the iPad. But instead Apple creates another iPad (and reaches into the well for the iPad Air name) so that they can charge $499 instead of $329. That is all that happened here.
    williamlondonrogifan_newbrucemc
  • Reply 48 of 59
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,695member
    macgui said:

    HAHAHA. I knew it. Of course they did not update the low end iPad with a compelling offering. Nope. Just invented a new price point to gouge people even more.
    Bullshit and FUD.
    No it isn't. This is pretty obvious to anyone who wants to see it.

    Apple used to update their products with compelling new offerings, and value-added proposition. Now they invent new tiers every time they have something new to offer, so that they can charge more.

    By all accounts these modest updates should have applied to the iPad. But instead Apple creates another iPad (and reaches into the well for the iPad Air name) so that they can charge $499 instead of $329. That is all that happened here.
    When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPad in 2010, do you remember the starting price of that? $499 USD.  The people in the audience were ecstatic because they thought it was going to be much more expensive.  Now Apple is essentially filling that $499 price with this new iPad Air which is head & shoulders better than any iPad / iPad Air that's come before and people complain it's too expensive and should be $329.  Maybe it could be that the current iPad 9.7" is priced too low at $329 or is sticking around at that price point to satisfy the education market.  To make a long story short, since the iPad 1, $499 was always the sweet for the mainstream segment of the iPad market.
    StrangeDayswilliamlondonpscooter63watto_cobra
  • Reply 49 of 59
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    I suspect that, at some point in time, Apple will have either the pencil 2 support on all iPads, or whatever follow up design they have then. There has to be an economic case for it. I mean business case. Obviously the pencil 2 cost more to make, hence the higher price. The charging circuit and coil, added to the magnet cost, brings the cost of the tablet up as well. It’s obvious that neither is suitable to a lower cost device.

    But we can be sure Apple is working on it. Working on it doesn’t mean having a solution however. I worked on my own company’s products, and sometimes there just wasn’t an easy, cheaper, way to do something. Sometimes we knew that there would be, but that the technology wasn’t there yet. I expect it to continue to evolve.

    i’d just like to know, for certain, not someone’s guess, how many levels the new Pencil supports. Apple said that the first was 256, and I was easily able to test for that, but I can’t seem to test this one, so there should be more.
    StrangeDaysmuthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 50 of 59
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    macgui said:

    HAHAHA. I knew it. Of course they did not update the low end iPad with a compelling offering. Nope. Just invented a new price point to gouge people even more.
    Bullshit and FUD.
    No it isn't. This is pretty obvious to anyone who wants to see it.

    Apple used to update their products with compelling new offerings, and value-added proposition. Now they invent new tiers every time they have something new to offer, so that they can charge more.

    By all accounts these modest updates should have applied to the iPad. But instead Apple creates another iPad (and reaches into the well for the iPad Air name) so that they can charge $499 instead of $329. That is all that happened here.
    When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPad in 2010, do you remember the starting price of that? $499 USD.  The people in the audience were ecstatic because they thought it was going to be much more expensive.  Now Apple is essentially filling that $499 price with this new iPad Air which is head & shoulders better than any iPad / iPad Air that's come before and people complain it's too expensive and should be $329.  Maybe it could be that the current iPad 9.7" is priced too low at $329 or is sticking around at that price point to satisfy the education market.  To make a long story short, since the iPad 1, $499 was always the sweet for the mainstream segment of the iPad market.
    Pricing is a ticklish question. I can say from experience, that it’s very difficult. You need to take everything into consideration. A lot of people think that it’s parts costs plus some small amount. Or they really want to believe that that’s what it is.

    its not. Parts cost is generally a small percentage. Product prices are usually between 2.5 and 3.5 times the parts cost. Everything the company does takes a cut of costs. The guy who changes the light bulbs has a salary and benefits. That’s part of the cost, as are the lightbulbs, the replacement of the socket for the light if it breaks, plus that repair labor cost. Everything! Subsidized lunches? Yup, in the price! Mowing the campus lawn? That too. There’s nothing that isn’t clawed back. Or, at least, in a well run company it is.

    so pricing isn’t floating, by which I mean that it can’t easily go higher or lower. If a product isn’t selling well, a company may lower the price, but that can mean very little, or no profit. Nobody wants that! After R&D and startup costs are paid for, usually with an amount of production that financially warrants it, usually the first years worth, the price can be lowered. Apple does that with products such as their phones, selling them for less each year, as they drag costs out of production each year.
    StrangeDaysmuthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 51 of 59
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    macgui said:

    HAHAHA. I knew it. Of course they did not update the low end iPad with a compelling offering. Nope. Just invented a new price point to gouge people even more.
    Bullshit and FUD.
    No it isn't. This is pretty obvious to anyone who wants to see it.

    Apple used to update their products with compelling new offerings, and value-added proposition. Now they invent new tiers every time they have something new to offer, so that they can charge more.

    By all accounts these modest updates should have applied to the iPad. But instead Apple creates another iPad (and reaches into the well for the iPad Air name) so that they can charge $499 instead of $329. That is all that happened here.
    These are not modest changes. They’re massive changes. Significantly bigger screen. Screen with significantly greater color gamut. Laminated screen. New, faster SoC (which costs more). Significantly more storage (and maybe more RAM), etc.

    minimizing what this is doesn’t make your argument correct.

    the only thing I’ll agree with is that even with the major improvements to the Mini, which ARE worth the price, I do think that the price is more than what a lot of people will pay for an 8” screen. Again, not that the device isn’t worth the price, objectively.
    canukstormStrangeDayspscooter63muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 52 of 59
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    macgui said:

    HAHAHA. I knew it. Of course they did not update the low end iPad with a compelling offering. Nope. Just invented a new price point to gouge people even more.
    Bullshit and FUD.
    No it isn't. This is pretty obvious to anyone who wants to see it.

    Apple used to update their products with compelling new offerings, and value-added proposition. Now they invent new tiers every time they have something new to offer, so that they can charge more.

    By all accounts these modest updates should have applied to the iPad. But instead Apple creates another iPad (and reaches into the well for the iPad Air name) so that they can charge $499 instead of $329. That is all that happened here.
    So much horse puckey. There is *still* an entry-level tier at $329. For that price, you get the lowest offering, yet it still is much more compelling than all the prior iPads at $499. Now for $499 you get a medium-tier offering with even more features than that. And at the top-tier you get even more. 

    There's no mystery to this strategy, it's been used by Apple and others for decades. Good, better, best. It's only a problem for whiners who want the higher-tier features at the lowest-tier price. Tough turnips, man.
    edited March 2019 williamlondonpscooter63SpamSandwichwatto_cobra
  • Reply 53 of 59
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member

    melgross said:

    macgui said:

    HAHAHA. I knew it. Of course they did not update the low end iPad with a compelling offering. Nope. Just invented a new price point to gouge people even more.
    Bullshit and FUD.
    No it isn't. This is pretty obvious to anyone who wants to see it.

    Apple used to update their products with compelling new offerings, and value-added proposition. Now they invent new tiers every time they have something new to offer, so that they can charge more.

    By all accounts these modest updates should have applied to the iPad. But instead Apple creates another iPad (and reaches into the well for the iPad Air name) so that they can charge $499 instead of $329. That is all that happened here.
    When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPad in 2010, do you remember the starting price of that? $499 USD.  The people in the audience were ecstatic because they thought it was going to be much more expensive.  Now Apple is essentially filling that $499 price with this new iPad Air which is head & shoulders better than any iPad / iPad Air that's come before and people complain it's too expensive and should be $329.  Maybe it could be that the current iPad 9.7" is priced too low at $329 or is sticking around at that price point to satisfy the education market.  To make a long story short, since the iPad 1, $499 was always the sweet for the mainstream segment of the iPad market.
    Pricing is a ticklish question. I can say from experience, that it’s very difficult. You need to take everything into consideration. A lot of people think that it’s parts costs plus some small amount. Or they really want to believe that that’s what it is.

    its not. Parts cost is generally a small percentage. Product prices are usually between 2.5 and 3.5 times the parts cost. Everything the company does takes a cut of costs. The guy who changes the light bulbs has a salary and benefits. That’s part of the cost, as are the lightbulbs, the replacement of the socket for the light if it breaks, plus that repair labor cost. Everything! Subsidized lunches? Yup, in the price! Mowing the campus lawn? That too. There’s nothing that isn’t clawed back. Or, at least, in a well run company it is.

    so pricing isn’t floating, by which I mean that it can’t easily go higher or lower. If a product isn’t selling well, a company may lower the price, but that can mean very little, or no profit. Nobody wants that! After R&D and startup costs are paid for, usually with an amount of production that financially warrants it, usually the first years worth, the price can be lowered. Apple does that with products such as their phones, selling them for less each year, as they drag costs out of production each year.
    Nailed it. You are clearly a guy who has worked product before. What is so clear to all the whiners on websites about how they wish the world worked is not actually how things work in real life. It's always simple and easy to those who don't know any better. In any industry. 
    SpamSandwichwatto_cobra
  • Reply 54 of 59
    What’s funny about this post is that I didn’t even know that AAPL got rid of the headphone jack in 2018 iPad Pros. Where was all the condemnation in the press about this?  Oh wait - headphones in 2019 are mostly wireless now. Goes to show AAPL was right to kill off the headphone jack starting with the iPhone. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 55 of 59
    eggsforgalaxyeggsforgalaxy Posts: 1unconfirmed, member
    tipoo said:
    Not being picky but it's a small but important distinction, I don't think this is the successor to the 'budget' iPad - they're still selling that alongside it, and this gains the Air name. 

    So I'm assuming this brings back the laminated and antireflective screen to gain the name back? 

    Edit: Page confirms antireflective screen is back. I'm assuming laminated but not sure yet. 
    It is just a more expensive iPad. Nothing else to see here.
    But it has a better processor (so good that the leakers didn't event expect it to happen), and is moving to the screen size and bezel size of the old 10.5, with the same laminated display. The biggest difference for me was the smart keyboard, which is something I wanted and needed on the old ipad 2018, but now I have to choose between the ipad pro and this, because the ipad pro 10.5 inch is cheaper, but comes with an a10x instead of an a12.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 56 of 59
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    melgross said:

    macgui said:

    HAHAHA. I knew it. Of course they did not update the low end iPad with a compelling offering. Nope. Just invented a new price point to gouge people even more.
    Bullshit and FUD.
    No it isn't. This is pretty obvious to anyone who wants to see it.

    Apple used to update their products with compelling new offerings, and value-added proposition. Now they invent new tiers every time they have something new to offer, so that they can charge more.

    By all accounts these modest updates should have applied to the iPad. But instead Apple creates another iPad (and reaches into the well for the iPad Air name) so that they can charge $499 instead of $329. That is all that happened here.
    When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPad in 2010, do you remember the starting price of that? $499 USD.  The people in the audience were ecstatic because they thought it was going to be much more expensive.  Now Apple is essentially filling that $499 price with this new iPad Air which is head & shoulders better than any iPad / iPad Air that's come before and people complain it's too expensive and should be $329.  Maybe it could be that the current iPad 9.7" is priced too low at $329 or is sticking around at that price point to satisfy the education market.  To make a long story short, since the iPad 1, $499 was always the sweet for the mainstream segment of the iPad market.
    Pricing is a ticklish question. I can say from experience, that it’s very difficult. You need to take everything into consideration. A lot of people think that it’s parts costs plus some small amount. Or they really want to believe that that’s what it is.

    its not. Parts cost is generally a small percentage. Product prices are usually between 2.5 and 3.5 times the parts cost. Everything the company does takes a cut of costs. The guy who changes the light bulbs has a salary and benefits. That’s part of the cost, as are the lightbulbs, the replacement of the socket for the light if it breaks, plus that repair labor cost. Everything! Subsidized lunches? Yup, in the price! Mowing the campus lawn? That too. There’s nothing that isn’t clawed back. Or, at least, in a well run company it is.

    so pricing isn’t floating, by which I mean that it can’t easily go higher or lower. If a product isn’t selling well, a company may lower the price, but that can mean very little, or no profit. Nobody wants that! After R&D and startup costs are paid for, usually with an amount of production that financially warrants it, usually the first years worth, the price can be lowered. Apple does that with products such as their phones, selling them for less each year, as they drag costs out of production each year.
    Nailed it. You are clearly a guy who has worked product before. What is so clear to all the whiners on websites about how they wish the world worked is not actually how things work in real life. It's always simple and easy to those who don't know any better. In any industry. 
    You know, it’s interesting, but as very few people have run a company, or been involved in designing, production, or pricing, it’s easy for them to imagine all sorts of incorrect things. They think that product prices can be lowered to the price they want to pay, no matter what that may be. When we read of 40% operating margins, which some mistakenly call operating profit, people think that a company can just take three quarter’s of that off the price. They don’t understand that the only real profit is net profit, which in Apple’s case is usually a bit over 20%, which is pretty good, but below many other companies profits. So cutvthatvin half, and, on average, how much can the price be dropped? By 10%, which isn’t going to make much difference in sales. But it makes the company much more subject to quick changes in the economy. It also makes a company more conservative in what they produce, and cuts the R&D they can spend, because the return on that is also less.

    its a really complex equation. Cut profits by 5%, and say goodby to the Genius Bar, or the new equivalent they have. Say goodby to free training, seminars and other goodies.
    muthuk_vanalingamSpamSandwichwatto_cobra
  • Reply 57 of 59
    brucemcbrucemc Posts: 1,541member
    HAHAHA. I knew it. Of course they did not update the low end iPad with a compelling offering. Nope. Just invented a new price point to gouge people even more.
    You mean the $329 offering? You’re honestly bitching about there being a cheap, medium, and top level tiers? 

    Issues. 
    That's because they are cheap, almost 200$ more for a "budget" model that came out two years ago. People are brainwashed by apples marketing it's pathetic!  I got a Moto g7 and it runs just as well as the overpriced iPhone zr
    Then why are you posting here?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 58 of 59
    mbenz1962mbenz1962 Posts: 171member
    "I love a parade..."
    macgui said:
    Fucking idiots and crybabies on parade.

    2013 — iPad Air, 64G, WiFi – $699; 128G, WiFi – $799
    2014 — iPad Air 2, 64G, WiFi – $599; 128G, WiFi – $699 
    2019 — iPad Air, 64G, WiFi –$499; 256G, WiFi – $649

    This without even chronicling the added features with each new version.

    You can spend more or less to balance screen size against features. If you're too stupid or lazy to grok the pricing and features, get a Surface, ream your rectum and pull your collective heads out of your asses.


    iOS_Guy80 said:
    Like the new tablet line up; new Mini, 9.7” and new 10.5”.  Then the Pro models. Why bother though with 64 gb as the entry level on any model? I know, marketing and profit margins.
    There's also the fact that some people will be using iCloud and no computer, and 64G leaves a fair amount of room and keeps the price low. A LOT of people will buy the 256G and never come close to using it all. Maybe you should be asking why no 128G.

    Man, you said it.  The most fall-over stupidly easy comparison is to the 10.5" Pro which was $649 just 2 days ago.  This iPad is nearly identical (minus the speakers, a lesser camera, and the 120Hz refresh) and adds a 2 generations newer processor (and co-processor) plus modem and Bluetooth spec bumps.  That is a $150 shaved off and you get a processor update in trade for a handful of features that you might not ever miss.  This update to the Air line was huge. The mini is exactly the same machine only with a smaller screen (and better ppi) for a whole $100 less.  I'm not sure why folks are looking at it vs the 9.7" as it is superior in every way only smaller.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 59 of 59
    What’s funny about this post is that I didn’t even know that AAPL got rid of the headphone jack in 2018 iPad Pros. Where was all the condemnation in the press about this?  Oh wait - headphones in 2019 are mostly wireless now. Goes to show AAPL was right to kill off the headphone jack starting with the iPhone. 
    I'd still prefer to have the headphone jack. I'm not going to whine about it's removal or make a huge deal about it. I just think it's an unfortunate decision that probably makes sense for 85-90% of their users. Unfortunately, I'm in that minority who still use the jack for some applications. I periodically use my iPad for audio playback through a variety of PA systems. The headphone jack is by far the easiest way to do that. I use my iPhone in this way, too, but now I have to carry a dongle since upgrading to the X. The X is a great phone IMHO other than the lack of a headphone jack. FWIW, I also have AirPods that I use with my macOS and iOS devices, and I think they're fantastic. But sometimes, I just need the old-fashioned standard connection.
    watto_cobra
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