The 11-inch and 13-inch M4 iPad Pro models were the recipients of some advanced pieces of technology, ranging from the tandem OLED to being the first Apple devices to be treated to the company’s M4. Unfortunately, these attributes were insufficient to warrant an upgrade because the company has mentioned that it was not the premium tablet range but the less expensive models that contributed to its 15 percent growth in this category.
The high pricing of the M4 iPad Pro family, which is equivalent to a Mac, is likely the reason that pushed consumers to pick up the less expensive tablets
During Apple’s Q1 2025 earnings call, the technology giant mentioned that the iPad range brought in $8.088 billion this quarter, compared to the $7.02 billion for the same period a year ago. Now, one would assume that the M4 iPad Pro would be contributing to this figure because of all the upgrades outfitted in the sleek slates, but Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman added a reminder to bury the confusion. He states that Apple has always mentioned that the 15 percent growth in its iPad category was primarily due to the M2 iPad Air lineup, along with the inexpensive models.
The reason for this lack of contribution is simple; the M4 iPad Pro’s price is equal to a Mac, and without the expanded utility that comes with running macOS, users are pushed into a corner when attempting to get acclimatized to iPadOS, which comes with its own set of challenges, despite the performance upgrade delivered by the M4. The same experience can be had with the less expensive iPad models, albeit the iPad 10 cannot run Apple Intelligence or AAA games, but there is a solution to that too.
Apple has now mentioned multiple times that the 15% growth in the iPad is primarily due to the iPad Air and lower-end iPads, not the iPad Pro, which is priced like a Mac.
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) January 30, 2025
Apple is preparing its ‘low cost’ iPad 11 for a launch later in the year, with one of its biggest selling points being that it will ship with an A17 Pro, and if the company decides to bump the memory count to 8GB, it will make the tablet capable of supporting Apple Intelligence. With its somewhat affordable price, we can see Apple’s iPad revenue increasing in the next quarter. As for the M4 iPad Pro, we do not expect to see a successor right away, but the 11-inch and 13-inch models are more than capable as standalone devices. If you do not mind the high price, Amazon is running a sale where both models have been discounted by $200 and now start from $899.
News Source: Mark Gurman
