Update: The new iPads have been announced. We now feel comfortable that we know the whole picture, so if you want an iPad, go get an iPad. Here’s a short summary: the iPad Pro has been updated.
The iPad Air, Mini, and basic iPads have not. The gotcha for buying those three is they’re really a year behind in evolution, so they’re likely to lose iOS support a year before the 2021 iPad Pro.
Also: Apple’s Spring Loaded event: The five biggest announcements
That said, if you want to spend $329 on an iPad instead of $799 or — wow! — $2,199 for the 2TB 12.9-inch iPad Pro, it might be worth buying a year old model. Either way, now you know enough to make an informed decision.
For full details on the new announcements, check out Jason Cipriani’s coverage of the event: Apple’s Spring Loaded event: The five biggest announcements.
Look for a full update to the following, now outdated prognostications later this week…
Who knew so many of you wanted new iPads? For that matter who knew that so many of you actually read my articles (and pay attention to what they say)?
I’ll admit that, at first, I thought all those emails that arrived right on April 1 were driven by some sort of twisted April Fool’s joke instigated by my editors for making them edit my “don’t buy an iPad” articles in January and February.
But no. It turns out a lot of you just want new iPads. Apparently, many of you have been patiently biding your time, waiting for Apple’s annual spring iPad introduction event, which is constitutionally mandated to occur on the third Thursday of March.
Okay, fine. Apple’s iPad introduction schedule does not have its own article in the US Constitution, but as I showed in my lovely chart (reproduced below), Big Fruit does have a long track record of pushing out new iPads in March.
As many of you noticed, March came and went, in like a lion, out like a lamb. No Apple event. No new iPads.
Many of you apparently waited throughout all of March, and when nothing of a malus domestica nature happened, you swarmed your keyboards and typed out missives aimed at my mailbox. Most were of a like mind to this one from reader FangMan: “It’s April. Now can I buy an [expletive deleted] iPad?”
Look, I feel for all of you. I need a new iPad, too. But it would suck to buy a full-priced, year-old iPad just to find a few weeks later that a new model was introduced. Yes, you can return a product purchased from Apple.com within 14 days, but what if the shiny newness comes out in the second half of April?
You would be sad. I would be sad.
So, what to do? What? To? Do?
To be clear, we’re entering completely uncharted territory. According to my chart, Apple has never introduced an iPad in April. That goes back to 2010, so it’s statistically accurate, even if I haven’t deployed linear regressions or p-values to come to that conclusion. Charts don’t lie.
But I would wait. I’m going to wait. At least for April. Here’s why: the rumor mills.
Tom’s Guide’s Tom Pritchard (not the same “Tom”) debunked the idea that there would be an Apple event on April 6. Still, he thinks a new iPad Pro is on its way and “we should be hearing anytime now.”
Macworld’s Jason Cross thinks/hopes there will be an Apple event in April. He postulates, “There was no iPad Pro based on a variant of the A13 chip, but we expect an update this year with an A14X processor.”
Over at MacRumors, a site that actually has “rumors” in its name, we get the definitive rumor (definitive because the site actually has “rumors” in its name). I quote: “We now know that some new Apple products are slated for launch in April, but it is not clear if there will be an event.” Senior Editor Juli Clover thinks there will be a new iPad Pro and a new low-cost iPad introduced this month.
So, as you can see, the rumor mill tea leaves indicate something is afoot. There could be an event. There could be press releases. There could be a new iPad. At the very least, there should be a new iPad.
Check back on May 1 and we’ll see if any of these rumors were right. If not, there’s always WWDC on June 7 (and that’s an officially confirmed date, so there’s that).
What do you think? Did you wait to buy an iPad? Will you wait through April? Will you cave in and buy one anyway? Do you actually read all the way through these articles? Do you believe in the rumors? If you believe, clap your hands. Don’t let hope for a new iPad die. Go ahead. Comment in the comments below.
And maybe, just maybe, if enough of you, enough of you from all over the world, post a comment below, magic will happen and, Tim-willing, a new iPad will soon arise from the suburban wilderness that is Cupertino.
You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.
