In total, Apple currently sells five significant versions of the iPad, not to mention the 2017 iPad Pro 10.5 and 2017 September 12, which are often discounted at third-party retail stores.
Although it has only entered October, it seems that Apple will not launch a new generation of iPad Pro this year. Instead, for some reason, the tech giant Cupertino will wait until next spring to unveil the world’s first tablet with a triple-lens rear camera system.
But that doesn’t mean the iPad lineup has had a dull 2019. The situation was quite the opposite when Apple decided to revive both the iPad Air and Mini lines in March, then the regular iPad last month. If you’re not sure, the standard iPad has now moved to the 7th generation, iPad Air to the 3rd generation (and the first Air since 2014), while the iPad Mini (2019) is now the 5th generation, continued. Connect a 7.9-inch iPad Mini launched in 2015.
In total, Apple currently sells five significant versions of the iPad simultaneously, not to mention the 2017 iPad Pro 10.5 and 12.9, which are often sold at substantial discounts at third-party retail stores such as Best. Buy, Amazon, or B&H Photo Video. Too many options for those who are looking to buy a new tablet, but it turns out, the number of people who want to buy an iPad is not as much as it used to be, leaving us wondering if the strategy for launching products is a bit unusual. Is Apple the right strategy at a time when it is considered to be quite difficult in the global market?
Diversify products
Not long ago, Google and many of its hardware partners chanted the mantra of “diversifying products in the Android ecosystem”. And then suddenly, Apple tried the same strategy for both lines. Smartphone and tablet of the company. But if we can see the 6 iPhone models that Apple is selling now, hitting each specific market segment, the 5 iPad models do not have a clear target with a particular audience.
11-inch iPad Pro
The 2019 iPad Pro 11 and 12.9-inch are created to serve professional customers’ needs, with high-end hardware and a host of multitasking features and creative tools. The reborn iPad Mini is obvious for fans who love compact tablets but need a bit more performance than cheap Android 7 or 8-inch tablets running Android. But the 10.2-inch iPad and the 10.5-inch iPad Air make all the choices as confusing.
The problem here is not the design similarities between the two models. Or rather, not just that. The main problem here is that the 10.2-inch iPad doesn’t seem to be appealing to anyone. For example, it’s not cheap enough, as the starting price has risen to $ 329. Even with the Black Friday discounts, it can’t compare to the iPad Air (2019), which is much better and has experienced several significant discounts, both the device itself and the device. Smart Keyboard keyboard included.
iPad 10.2-inch 7th generation
By the way, it is worth noting that even with the Smart Keyboard support, the 7th-generation iPad is not more attractive because this accessory costs nearly 50% of the starting price of the tablet! If Apple wants to make the iPad more appealing and attract customers on a tight budget, why not launch a cheap keyboard?
Most importantly, the new iPad with the A10 Fusion processor couldn’t match the iPad Mini and the iPad Air with the A12 processor. The A10 Fusion is a 3-year-old SoC that debuted on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, still fast enough for everyday tasks like surfing the web, watching movies, light multitasking, or playing games, but that’s certainly not. It must be a chip that can be used for a long time in the future.
Why is the tablet no longer as popular as it used to be?
Just because Apple dominates the global tablet market, and there is no real threat from Samsung or Huawei, it does not mean that the company can freely test at will and stop improving. In there, throw everything you have into the mixed hot pot to see how they all work together. Apple certainly can’t do that and expects iPad sales to continue to grow as tablet sales of almost every other significant company decline from quarter to quarter, year to year.
IPad sales increased in the second quarter of 2019, but the medium and long-term forecast does not seem very positive.
This issue leads us to the existing question on the market right now – the question that Apple needs to answer before starting to hope to unlock the true potential of their “brainwashing” iPad line. One of the important reasons tablet popularity has been declining over the past few years has been the rise of large phones. Apple was smart to ignore the 7-inch segment, which is on the verge of extinction.
But the 7.9-inch iPad Mini is threatened by devices like the 6.8-inch Galaxy Note 10+, which are significantly smaller and more comfortable to hold while still providing plenty of screen space for users to use surf the web comfortably watching movies.
iPad Mini 2019
Another reason why tablet sales continue to fall is probably that users don’t find a good reason to use them, as traditional tablets still seem to be struggling to find an indefinite goal for survival on your own. According to the latest market forecast, Microsoft is the only major manufacturer capable of achieving tablet sales growth shortly, probably because the Surface line is much less crowded and more accessible. The only important goal is to replace your laptop.
Apple’s iPad Pro will one day probably do that. Still, the company has to focus more resources to turn iPadOS into a serious Windows competitor and less focused on a crowded market. Instead of launching too many similar devices, why not focus on the iPad Pro line and only found a single small screen model (should be larger than 7.9-inch) and a lower price from 2020. come back later?
Reference: PhoneArena
