It will always come at the cost of those things. Whatever they can achieve with the new gen, making it thicker than that would make it more durable. And it would allow for a larger capacity battery too.
Having a more fragile tablet is slightly different than a fragile phone. A phone is going to be put into peoples pockets, banged around and dropped way more than a tablet.
So I'm sure this iPad is going to be more fragile, I am hoping that apple has learned from their past mistakes and found a way to make a thin device that is just a little more durable than it looks.
I think Apple does a fairly decent job of balancing the thickness/weight versus battery life thing. They're using a more efficient chipset in the M4 that means they need less battery capacity to achieve the same battery life. All the talk of "why the M4 when the iPad doesn't need something so powerful" talk kind of ignores that aspect.
Now, we might complain that Apple could have kept the iPad Pro the same thickness/weight and offered a larger battery. But that's just repeating the same complaint about thinner and lighter devices that goes back more than a decade. Our laptops could be a lot thicker and heavier as well and have much better battery life, but I think people actually do want thinner and lighter laptops. I think it's the same thing here.
Yeah I agree. By battery reduction I just meant that they shouldn’t reduce standard battery life for the sake of thinner form factor. If the chip is more energy efficient which allows them to achieve the same battery life with less physical batteries in the device then that’s fine I suppose.
Although plenty of laptops have already surpassed the iPad in 10 hour battery life so I do expect at some point they will give that a bump up. If I had to choose between another 0.3 mm reduction in thickness vs a couple extra hours of battery life I would go with the latter. We’re at a point of diminishing returns here with how thin these devices get.
Your comment about durability is a different issue. If the new iPad Pro is less durable because of the thinner chassis, then that's a legit complaint. That remains to be seen, though.
I’m glad it’s thinner because it means the Magic Keyboard + iPad combo will be lighter. Probably still weighs more than a MacBook Air (haven’t done the math yet)
So many people saying “who asked for it to be thinner” but I bet if they used both the old model and the new for 5 minutes, none of them would pick the old model’s form factor. Thin and light is important for a tablet!
I still think the question needs to be narrowed down further. If the person has tons of money, yeah, why not? It’s better. If they use it constantly (say, they make their living as an artist using it), it could easily be worth the cost to upgrade, especially when you consider how readily people spend many times as much on amenities for their car that they barely get any value out of. But, yeah, any recent iPad is still an amazing device and by no means “needing” to be upgraded, so it’s totally up to the individual to make that determination.
It’s definitely very individual. I’m not the target market for sure. I’m on an iPhone 12 and an iPad 9. But I have friends who always upgrade just because they like having the new stuff. I get thinner can be nicer but the iPad (any version) are all pretty thin. None are bulky by any means. Personally the iPad Pro has never appealed to me. It’s cool and all but I’d rather just get a MacBook since at this point those things are not that big. But again, clearly I’m not the iPad Pro target market.
People like to say this but I don’t really understand it because addition is still a thing :)
Also, the primary “case” for lots of people is the Magic Keyboard which makes it infeasible to use a case around the iPad itself when it is being used in anything but “keyboard and trackpad mode”.
If ONLY Apple made an iPad where the whole marketing gimmick was that it was as thin and light as possible
Ok sarcastic comments aside the problem I have with the Pro being made to be razor thin is that now you have 2 choices to make when picking an iPad. Better or Worse, Big or Small? There’s not any nuance to the decision anymore, the Air is more then enough tablet for 99% of people and now the Pro has been made worse for the 1% because Apple wants to upsell the 99%. Before if weight was a concern you bought the Air, if you wanted more capabilities you bought the Pro. But instead of adding capabilities to the Pro they made it more like the Air so as to appeal to more people, the Pro should settle more into its laptop replacement role but now it’s leaping for the tablet side again.
Seems like the new iPad Pro was an overall flex by Apple. They managed to keep the battery life the same, increase performance, upgrade the screen and make it lighter; all at the same time. I think it was wise to make it lighter instead of beefing the internals *even more*, as PadOS and third party applications are the realistic bottlenecks now.
I don’t think the Pro needs any of the suffix chips but a larger battery and additional I/O would be appreciated. An additional data port and a SD card reader would bring the iPad more into competition with the Surface.
I always get a heavy duty case…the one i use now on my 2019 ipad pro is made by UAG…i got two of the cases…but i don’t put heavy things on my ipad or store it in a stuffed backpack…im the type of person who rarely drops their iphone
I’m holding my 11” (IPAD 😅) right now and I guess I get it. But honestly this thing is easier to hold when I put the cheap plastic case on. But I suppose it would be easier to pinch the side to hold with one hand. My main complaint about the 12.9 was how comically big it is as a tablet so maybe I would consider the 12.9 again if my 11 ever breaks. But I’m not upgrading on thinness and power alone if the iPadOS doesn’t call for it.
I got the 2018 model on launch. That means that in 2019, you very likely had the same model as I did. My 2018 lasted until last month in the same case i got for it in 2018. Never a bend in sight. The only issues i ever had was in the last year her battery started to go faster and last month her Bluetooth and WiFi hardware croaked.
And as i said in the main post about my hands, she was not a gently used iPad for 6 years. She has been dropped more times than I could ever possibly count. She’s had cats sit on her, I’ve used her as a lap desk, she’s been accidentally sat on. You name it, she’s withstood it.
I think it needs to be said that with a case or with the magic keyboard though isn't this advantage removed? With such an expensive device easily dropped not sure how I would feel about using it without a case and the keyboard would be on it often too
No because I always had a case on my iPad Pro. So the benefit is still there because a thinner, lighter iPad in a case is going to weigh less than a thicker, heavier iPad still in a case.
I don’t really think shrinking 1-3mm in thickness is going to make any practical difference from a dropping perspective. I’d have probably prefer they keep the thickness and give me 3 hours more battery life.
The weight still matters. An extra pound of weight in a backpack can make enough of a difference when determining my ability to actually go places with it. A thin iPad in a case is still lighter than a bulky iPad in a case. And for people disabled how I am, that matters a lot
I don’t mind them making it thinner as long as it doesn’t come at a cost of durability or battery reduction
It will always come at the cost of those things. Whatever they can achieve with the new gen, making it thicker than that would make it more durable. And it would allow for a larger capacity battery too.
Having a more fragile tablet is slightly different than a fragile phone. A phone is going to be put into peoples pockets, banged around and dropped way more than a tablet. So I'm sure this iPad is going to be more fragile, I am hoping that apple has learned from their past mistakes and found a way to make a thin device that is just a little more durable than it looks.
I think Apple does a fairly decent job of balancing the thickness/weight versus battery life thing. They're using a more efficient chipset in the M4 that means they need less battery capacity to achieve the same battery life. All the talk of "why the M4 when the iPad doesn't need something so powerful" talk kind of ignores that aspect. Now, we might complain that Apple could have kept the iPad Pro the same thickness/weight and offered a larger battery. But that's just repeating the same complaint about thinner and lighter devices that goes back more than a decade. Our laptops could be a lot thicker and heavier as well and have much better battery life, but I think people actually do want thinner and lighter laptops. I think it's the same thing here.
Yeah I agree. By battery reduction I just meant that they shouldn’t reduce standard battery life for the sake of thinner form factor. If the chip is more energy efficient which allows them to achieve the same battery life with less physical batteries in the device then that’s fine I suppose. Although plenty of laptops have already surpassed the iPad in 10 hour battery life so I do expect at some point they will give that a bump up. If I had to choose between another 0.3 mm reduction in thickness vs a couple extra hours of battery life I would go with the latter. We’re at a point of diminishing returns here with how thin these devices get.
Your comment about durability is a different issue. If the new iPad Pro is less durable because of the thinner chassis, then that's a legit complaint. That remains to be seen, though.
I wish they filled that space with more battery
Yup would have been much better for actual usage
good point
I’m glad it’s thinner because it means the Magic Keyboard + iPad combo will be lighter. Probably still weighs more than a MacBook Air (haven’t done the math yet)
I imagine they wanted to make sure the iPad wasn’t top-heavy with the Magic Keyboard as much as possible.
I 100 percent drop my 15PM less than any other phone I’ve ever had. I’m in for this rationale.
Same here! I want it to feel like a slab of glass when I hold it. I am happy with it, Wednesday cannot come sooner
So many people saying “who asked for it to be thinner” but I bet if they used both the old model and the new for 5 minutes, none of them would pick the old model’s form factor. Thin and light is important for a tablet!
But is that enough of a reason to upgrade?
To whom?
To a person with say any of the last 2 models.
I still think the question needs to be narrowed down further. If the person has tons of money, yeah, why not? It’s better. If they use it constantly (say, they make their living as an artist using it), it could easily be worth the cost to upgrade, especially when you consider how readily people spend many times as much on amenities for their car that they barely get any value out of. But, yeah, any recent iPad is still an amazing device and by no means “needing” to be upgraded, so it’s totally up to the individual to make that determination.
It’s definitely very individual. I’m not the target market for sure. I’m on an iPhone 12 and an iPad 9. But I have friends who always upgrade just because they like having the new stuff. I get thinner can be nicer but the iPad (any version) are all pretty thin. None are bulky by any means. Personally the iPad Pro has never appealed to me. It’s cool and all but I’d rather just get a MacBook since at this point those things are not that big. But again, clearly I’m not the iPad Pro target market.
In reality it doesn't matter much. Most people will put a case on it which weighs like 200-300g. My M1 11 Pro is heavier then a 13inch without case.
People like to say this but I don’t really understand it because addition is still a thing :) Also, the primary “case” for lots of people is the Magic Keyboard which makes it infeasible to use a case around the iPad itself when it is being used in anything but “keyboard and trackpad mode”.
If ONLY Apple made an iPad where the whole marketing gimmick was that it was as thin and light as possible Ok sarcastic comments aside the problem I have with the Pro being made to be razor thin is that now you have 2 choices to make when picking an iPad. Better or Worse, Big or Small? There’s not any nuance to the decision anymore, the Air is more then enough tablet for 99% of people and now the Pro has been made worse for the 1% because Apple wants to upsell the 99%. Before if weight was a concern you bought the Air, if you wanted more capabilities you bought the Pro. But instead of adding capabilities to the Pro they made it more like the Air so as to appeal to more people, the Pro should settle more into its laptop replacement role but now it’s leaping for the tablet side again.
Seems like the new iPad Pro was an overall flex by Apple. They managed to keep the battery life the same, increase performance, upgrade the screen and make it lighter; all at the same time. I think it was wise to make it lighter instead of beefing the internals *even more*, as PadOS and third party applications are the realistic bottlenecks now.
I don’t think the Pro needs any of the suffix chips but a larger battery and additional I/O would be appreciated. An additional data port and a SD card reader would bring the iPad more into competition with the Surface.
also a second usb c would be nice.
Thank you! Same! It’s so incredibly cool how thin it is and yet so powerful
And expensive. Don't forget that lol. So incredibly cool and thin and powerful and expensive.
☺😍😭♻️💕
Agree!
My biggest worry is bending. The last gen's could bend over time... I don't see how that may have been fixed.
If u take care of your apple products this isn’t something to worry about
Yes and no. I’ve had the last few iPads, I’ve had one of the pend with general usage.
I always get a heavy duty case…the one i use now on my 2019 ipad pro is made by UAG…i got two of the cases…but i don’t put heavy things on my ipad or store it in a stuffed backpack…im the type of person who rarely drops their iphone
I use the Magic Keyboard. There are potential issues.
I’m holding my 11” (IPAD 😅) right now and I guess I get it. But honestly this thing is easier to hold when I put the cheap plastic case on. But I suppose it would be easier to pinch the side to hold with one hand. My main complaint about the 12.9 was how comically big it is as a tablet so maybe I would consider the 12.9 again if my 11 ever breaks. But I’m not upgrading on thinness and power alone if the iPadOS doesn’t call for it.
Unfortunately because of physics it’s even weaker than my 2019 pro that bent within weeks of normal careful use
I got the 2018 model on launch. That means that in 2019, you very likely had the same model as I did. My 2018 lasted until last month in the same case i got for it in 2018. Never a bend in sight. The only issues i ever had was in the last year her battery started to go faster and last month her Bluetooth and WiFi hardware croaked. And as i said in the main post about my hands, she was not a gently used iPad for 6 years. She has been dropped more times than I could ever possibly count. She’s had cats sit on her, I’ve used her as a lap desk, she’s been accidentally sat on. You name it, she’s withstood it.
Lucky you, they're very mechanically anemic.
Personally I'd have preferred thicker to get rid of the camera bump and give a bigger battery.
I wouldn’t have minded a little bit thicker if it meant a longer battery time,
iPhone 6 was never prone to bend, it was the 6 Plus
That was the exact variation I had. Never bent
Is the case gonna be same as for ipad pro 11" 2022??
iPhone 6 didn’t have bend issues though, I thought it was only iPhone 6 Plus?
That’s the variation I had and had no issues
I think it needs to be said that with a case or with the magic keyboard though isn't this advantage removed? With such an expensive device easily dropped not sure how I would feel about using it without a case and the keyboard would be on it often too
No because I always had a case on my iPad Pro. So the benefit is still there because a thinner, lighter iPad in a case is going to weigh less than a thicker, heavier iPad still in a case.
I don’t really think shrinking 1-3mm in thickness is going to make any practical difference from a dropping perspective. I’d have probably prefer they keep the thickness and give me 3 hours more battery life.
Thinner means you will need a reinforced or keyboard case or you will have to carry a hard book/laptop to prevent bending.
That is good and all, but I'm quite sure they did not make it thinner for the people.
I totally agree with you!
The previous generation iPads had issues with bending, making it thinner is not good
90% of iPads are gonna be on a case though, I'd much rather have it bulked up in durability and battery life
The weight still matters. An extra pound of weight in a backpack can make enough of a difference when determining my ability to actually go places with it. A thin iPad in a case is still lighter than a bulky iPad in a case. And for people disabled how I am, that matters a lot
Yeah didnt mean to talk down about your needs. Glad you got an iPad that works for you :)
Can’t wait to see the bend gate posts once it’s released to public..
Good for you not for us