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Things have been weird at Apple since Steve Jobs passed away in 2011. A company is known for reinventing its products almost annually went into iteration mode and we haven’t seen much that’s “new” in their products since. At first glance, the new 2017 Apple iPad looks to continue that trend, but looks can be deceiving.
From an Apple perspective, the 2017 Apple iPad is a departure from what Apple has done with the product line before. iPad sales have been shrinking for years although at $5.5 bn for the last reported year it’s not exactly a dead product.
While there are a few possible reasons for the drop in sales, the most likely explanation is that iPads are suffering the same fate as netbooks did some years ago. Basically, an iPad from four years ago is still perfectly fine for most people, so they have little reason to upgrade. iPhone users, on the other hand, can barely wait to dump their old phones when a new model comes out.
What’s Old is New Again
Not too long ago, Apple did something very interesting with their iPhone line. They took the beloved smaller chassis from the iPhone 5 and stuffed the guts of the iPhone 6 into it. What we got was the iPhone SE and it’s been a huge success for the company.
It’s not just the fact that the SE is much cheaper than other iPhones, although that’s a big factor, it’s that the phone remixes the best features from previous iPhones. So you can think of the iPhone SE as a “best of” compilation by Apple.
It’s that formula that Apple has brought to the iPad line. The 2017 Apple iPad almost exclusively uses components we’ve seen in other Apple devices before. The question is whether this is a bad thing or not.
Hold the Line
In case you haven’t been following Apple’s product line revisions, here’s the current selection that the new 2017 Apple iPad falls into.
There are now only four models of iPad that you can buy new from Apple, barring old stock of Air 2s and such.
- iPad Pro 12.9″
- iPad Pro 9.7″
- 2017 Apple iPad
- iPad Mini 4
One thing that’s pretty clear is that this new iPad is not the iPad Air successor. The 9.7″ iPad Pro has essentially taken over the mantle of premium iPad tablet and we can probably expect a Pro 2 at some point in the future.
Special Edition
The 2017 Apple iPad is then essentially the iPad SE and that brings up all sorts of questions about who this iPad is actually for. Should you upgrade to it if you own an older model
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