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Apple iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard

Five years ago, Steve Jobs introduced the Apple iPad and kicked off a body of water change in how people gamed, browsed the Internet, and watched video. While the iPad and the Android tablets that shipped after didn't single-handedly wreck the PC marketplace, they definitely played a role in the decline in full sales. At present, Tim Cook thinks the iPad Pro could hammer the corporate PC the aforementioned way that the original iPad cannibalized mainstream PC sales.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Cook states that he thinks the iPad Pro obviates any need to own a corporate PC at all, saying "No, really, why would you buy one?" He continues: "Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people. They will beginning using it and conclude they no longer demand to use anything else, other than their phones."

iPad Pro pricing

iPad Pro pricing

Is this realistic? I think non, for multiple reasons. First, the iPad Pro starts at $799 for a 32GB model and $949 for a 128GB model with WiFi only. That'southward far more expensive than the typical laptops and desktops that are mainstays in corporate America. Cook believes that the iPad Pro volition appeal primarily to creative types, who will autumn in beloved with the stylus, and music and movie consumers, who will dearest the powerful audio that apparently makes the iPad Pro "appear to drum." Whether any movie buffs want a device that offers sonic antialiasing is an open question, and I can't comment on whether the iPad Pro'due south stylus volition compare with, say, a Wacom tablet.

The Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil both cost more than, at $169 and $99 respectively. That puts the baseline price for an iPad Pro at $1067 for but 32GB of storage and $1217 for a 128GB version. Microsoft's recently launched Surface Pro 4 offers 128GB of storage, pen, and keyboard at a price of $1057, though we'll take to expect and see how the devices' compare in operation tests.

When the iPad debuted in 2022, in that location were no comparable Windows or Android devices. At present, in that location are — and that's going to blunt some of the potential disruption from Apple's new hardware. That'southward not to say there's no marketplace for the iPad Pro — it's going to appeal to sure customers and Apple faithful who want a device that's large enough to serve as a PC replacement, with a larger 12.9-inch screen than what you find on a traditional iPad.

I suspect, however, that this will ultimately come down to Information technology back up and corporate management tools. If the requisite software exists to integrate iPad Pros into existing corporate ecosystems and manage them accordingly, than we may see increased uptake. Otherwise, equally Melt has said, the device volition be more than limited, appealing mainly to creative types.

In that location's a reason that Apple is talking up the iPad Pro as a machine designed to appeal to consumers and that elusively defined "creative" audition — it wants to reinvigorate iPad sales.

Apple year-on-year iPad sales

Apple twelvemonth-on-yr iPad sales

This graph shows how iPad sales have slumped in recent years as consumers upgrade the devices less oftentimes the phones. 2022 started with a bang, but sales fell every other quarter compared to 2022. 2022 has been fifty-fifty worse, with kickoff quarter sales below 2022 levels. Last quarter, Apple sold fewer iPads than in any year since 2022. None of this is to say that the iPad is in whatsoever kind of danger, but Cook would patently like to evidence steady growth for the company'southward tablet sectionalization, not a meandering reject.

Will it work, in the face of more determined opposition from the PC infinite and multiple vendors already offering hardware with like specs? We'll meet.