Go ahead and have fun with the Apple iPad on your favorite social network, I dare you. You’ll be inundated with iPad fans who will defend their favorite tablet to the death, which always seems to be just over the horizon for the tablet market. We weren’t getting any new iPads in 2023, making it one of the toughest ever for iPad fanatics, but I say don’t be afraid! The iPad is healthy, and I can see that a brighter future than ever for Apple’s tablet.
Is the iPad really healthy? Good, according to CanalysiPad sales dropped significantly year-on-year, as much as 24%. As a result, Apple was still in a distant first place among tablet manufacturers. Samsung’s revenue only fell 11%, but it still shipped fewer than half of the tablets Apple shipped, according to Canalys estimates.
That must be tough news for Samsung. The latest Galaxy Tab S9 series, including the more affordable Galaxy Tab S9 FE, are among Samsung’s best tablets ever. The entire range is IP68 waterproof, which is a first for tablets not sold as rugged business tablets. They come with an S Pen, a better stylus than the Apple Pencil, a $79 / £79 / AU$139 device that doesn’t even work with every iPad.
The iPad didn’t need an update to stay up to date
The iPad, on the other hand, has been on the shelves for a long time. There were no iPad updates in 2023. After donating the iPad Pro with the M2 chipand the iPad Air with the M1 chip, at the end of 2022 Apple left the tablet alone.
The basic model iPad was updated in 2022 and still uses a mobile A14 Bionic chipset, while it is even older iPad mini, last updated in 2021, inexplicably uses a faster A15 Bionic. Apple sells the iPad 10.2-inch model from 2021 as a new device.
The point is: the iPad was already more than a year ahead of other tablets on the market. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S is a powerful, capable Android tablet with a fantastic display. The Snapdragon processor can’t come close to the iPad Air’s M1 chip. The M1 chipset can power a professional laptop. The Snapdragon is strictly mobile.
Even the A14 Bionic chipset in the base model iPad gives the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, found in the Galaxy Tab S9, a run for its money.
The iPad is so overpowered that it hangs longer
How could Apple improve the iPad? Perhaps a better question would be: what improvements do we need? The iPad is already powerful, well designed and long lasting. I mean, it lasts a long time in battery tests, and it lasts a long time as a product you own. When it comes to longevity, the iPad puts the iPhone to shame, although perhaps that should change.
I owned the very first iPhone and I used it for at least six years before I accidentally broke it by dropping it. By then it wasn’t worth fixing, but I felt like I got a lot of value out of that purchase. On its last day of life, I was able to do everything I wanted, including playing games, watching movies, and browsing all my favorite websites. A six-year-old iPhone was fully capable and I couldn’t have asked for more.
A major reason why the iPad market has stalled is because the market is saturated. People keep iPads and tablets much longer than phones. On second thought, we should probably all just hold our phones longer. A five-year-old iPhone is probably a lot more capable than we all think.
The difference is that Apple and our wireless carriers offer us financial incentives to trade in our old phones for new ones. That’s how we buy phones, based on contracts and payment plans. That’s not how most people pay for tablets.
Do you really need a fourth screen? Of course you do
The iPad is the best of all these worlds, and iPad fans know it
That’s the real problem with the iPad: it’s another expense for a device that… well, doesn’t replace anything. If you have an iPhone, you can do everything the iPad can do and more. If you also have a laptop, you don’t actually need a third screen. What about that smart TV on your wall? Now an iPad has four screens, and there’s nothing your other screens can’t handle.
The iPad is also not an impulse purchase. It’s not a hundred dollars or something. You can’t buy it with the gift card you won at a work lottery, like you might buy an Amazon Fire tablet for $100. The iPad costs hundreds of dollars, and that’s before you add accessories like the Apple Pencil, a keyboard, or even a nice folio cover.
Yet there is something undeniable about its appeal. The iPad is more powerful and capable than a smartphone. It is more portable than a laptop. It’s more personal than the TV hanging on the wall. The iPad is the best of all these worlds, and iPad fans know it.
iPad profits are much lower this year
This is what has truly made the past year a blessing for iPad fans. Every iPad model can be found at its lowest price ever. The iPad 10.9 now costs $429 / £307.62 on Amazon, up from $449 / £499 at launch. The iPad Air costs $449 / £438.02, down from $599 / £569. Sorry, Australian friends, Amazon isn’t giving you the same iPad discount these days.
The iPad Pro hasn’t dropped as much as the rest, but the 64GB M1 iPad Air now costs $150 / £120 less on Amazon than when it launched. That’s a 25% discount in the US. Perhaps Apple did the right thing by delaying iPad updates for as long as possible. The iPad did not need an update. A price reduction was necessary.