Apple’s iPads are not having their best moment, and The catalog that Apple has does not help the potential buyer much in knowing which model to choose.this is why a much-needed revolution will begin this spring.
After years with a catalog of laptops that caused serious difficulties for the user to decide which MacBook to buy, now Apple’s laptop lineup is pretty well defined: Two MacBook Pros with two screen sizes and two MacBook Airs with two screen sizes. The Pro more powerful than the Air, and also much more expensive. This is the path that Apple wants to take with its tablets, by making its catalog much simpler, even if it is quite complicated.
We currently have two iPad Pros with two very different screen sizes, but with an iPad Air practically identical to the small iPad Pro but costs significantly less, plus two “cheap” iPads, one of which looks a lot like the iPad Air, and also a smaller iPad that has a much more expensive price tag than other larger models… tough. Things become even more complicated when we have three models of Apple Pencil which are not compatible with all iPads, far from it, and with the particularity that the older model is more expensive than the latest model and the most expensive Apple Pencil is not compatible with the latest iPad model thrown away. If I wanted to complicate things further, we could also add iPad keyboards… but I think the idea is already clear.
According to Mark Gurman in his new Power ON newsletter (link), Apple has prepared a small revolution within its range of tablets to begin the process of simplification, similar to what happened with laptops. This spring we will have the new iPad Air, with two models and two screen sizes: 10.9 and 12.9 inches. As for the processor, it will include the M2. The iPad Pro range will be renewed with two screen sizes, which will increase slightly to 13 and 11 inches with OLED technology and including M3 processors. In this way, the catalog will be well defined with the iPad Pro as king of the catalog and the iPad Air as intermediate devices suitable for the majority of users.
However, Apple will keep the basic iPad, which will not be renewed until much later, in 2024, when the iPad 9 will disappear, the only one to still retain the home button and the Lightning connector. It will be then that they will take the opportunity to remove the original Apple Pencil, leaving only two models of Apple Pencil in the catalog, the “best” and the “good for almost everyone”. Keeping the iPad more affordable is key to maintaining tablet sales in education and offer the most basic users a more affordable model to have at home. Something similar is happening with the iPad mini, a tablet that many don’t see any sense in because it’s too small to be a tablet, but which has a pretty loyal audience that loves it.
