Did Apple make a mistake by offering the iPad Air in a 13-inch variant? Could this undercut the 13-inch iPad Pro sales? Let’s talk about it!
The new iPad Pro and iPad Air models are now here, unveiled during an action-packed Apple event on May 7. There are several notable improvements this year, including a slimmer iPad Pro design and a big 13-inch iPad Air. We also get a fancier Apple Pencil Pro.
Now, with the iPad Air line offering a big screen option, and with both the iPad Pro and iPad Air supporting Apple’s new and feature-rich Apple Pencil Pro, I’m bound to wonder if Apple could be butchering its own iPad Pro model with the 13-inch iPad Air. Let’s see if that could be the case.
iPad fans want a big screen, and before, just the iPad Pro offered it
More screen real estate
During the event, Apple talked about its users wanting a big screen and picking the bigger iPad Pro. For this reason, Cupertino now has the iPad Air as a 13-inch variant as well. But is this actually a mistake?
It seems I’m not the only one considering the possibility of a big but less costly iPad Air stealing some customers away from a big and very expensive iPad Pro. Analysts at TrendForce are also thinking in this direction and predicting fewer sales for the Pro than expected before.
The 13-inch iPad Pro starts at $1,299 while the 13-inch iPad Air is much more affordable starting at $799.
Before the big Air existed, if you wanted a big-screened iPad, you’d have to go for the expensive Pro. Now, you don’t have to do that anymore.
But then again, you might think that the iPad Pro’s design upgrade will make it more attractive because it’s so much more thin now… or so would Apple’s keynote make you believe. Yep, it is thinner, but actually, compared to the Air, it’s not that thinner.
Dimensions:
It’s also not that much lighter:
The iPad Pro is indeed thinner at 0.20 inch (5.1 cm) vs the Air’s 0.24 (6.1mm). Thinner by 1 mm isn’t exactly groundbreakingly thinner.
But then again, the iPad Pro’s got…
The M4 chip: raw power that could blow the Air out of the water
Yep, no bubbles in the water anymore… yet, jokes aside, we have the next-generation M4 chip powering the iPad Pro models, while the Air models are powered by the older M2 chip.
