5 ms·

If Apple makes an iPad Neo, it's all over

38 points by ndr42 6mo ago

Someone 6mo ago
For that to happen, I think there has to be room at the bottom for a product that will not cut much into the sales of higher priced iPads. For laptops, it seems they had/found that room, but I doubt that room is there for iPads. The low-priced product will have to suffice for browsing, reading, and watching YouTube, and I think that covers the use cases for a large fraction of customers. Of course, they could go for lower prices, hoping for that to increase iCloud subscription revenues, but long-term, there is a risk of (EU) regulations requiring better competition for that.
williadc 6mo ago
Apple does make the product described in this article, aside from the fantasy price. It's called the iPad.
- conception 6mo ago
  I think the idea not explicitly said is it’d be MacOS not iOS.
- dawnerd 6mo ago
  I’m confused as well. Did the author not consider the existing product line? iPads are not that expensive for the base model especially during the holidays.
- wvenable 6mo ago
  Yeah I soon as I saw the price, this article fell apart completely. The Neo has a great screen and an older iPhone processor. You can take the keyboard off a Neo add a touch screen but you still have to make a device that fits the battery and has all the same technology. You're back to at least a $600 tablet.
  - hbn 6mo ago
    The starting price of the iPad is $349
- sroussey 6mo ago
  They should rename it the iPad Neo so we don't refer to as "the just iPad" or plain ipad.
  - weikju 6mo ago
    And maybe the second generation could be the New iPad Neo ... thankfully they quickly gave up on "new" after the 2nd iPad....
nate8bit 6mo ago
For all of the Apple hate recently (with glass + MacOS bugs) - it's still great to be able to invest in high quality hardware. I made the switch to Mac, oh about 12 yrs ago, and sometimes forget how spoilt we are with really tight hardware + software integration.
- leptons 6mo ago
  Apple hardware isn't exceptional, it's maybe slightly above average, sometimes, and still costs more than it should - even the neo with its paltry 8GB of RAM. Apple has had plenty of hardware problems and design foibles. So many. Their software is equally average in most respects, and has a far smaller market share worldwide across all form factors they support. iOS is the reason I'll never own another iPad. I mean, it's fine that you like it, but "spoilt" seems like an exaggeration.
  - nate8bit 6mo ago
    > Apple hardware isn't exceptional, it's maybe slightly above average Is this a serious statement? If Apple's hardware is maybe slightly above average - what's above it? It's an easy company to hate on - but you don't have any other platform integrated as well as Apple's right now IMO. Unless you maybe count Huawei. Edit: I think I may be referring more to the holistic picture. But still curious what hardware you think is better.
    - surgical_fire 6mo ago
      I am forced to use a MacBook for work and I think it is shit. I partucularly abhor its reflective screen and the toy keyboard. I hate that it has only 4 usbc ports that force me to have a dongle. I can't fathom why people like that crap apart from looking slick. Mac OS is shit, and I would unironically prefer to be forced to use Windows at work. Style over substance. Pure crap to me.
      - leptons 6mo ago
        Same here. When I was presented with a MBP at work, I promptly installed Windows on it. I'm not saying Windows is something amazing, but it's better than the toy OS that is MacOS, and Linux simply wasn't an option at work (Devops/Security does not support Linux). I also then plug in my own keyboard and mouse, and external monitor so I don't have to use the subpar keyboard or look at that crap glossy screen. Now that they ditched Intel, I have even less use for them. Fortunately my current job sends me whatever hardware I want (but I still can't use Linux at work).
hadlock 6mo ago
I think the industry has already agreed to give this product category to Apple. Everyone needs a phone, but only specific types of users need a tablet. Apple's tablet is Good Enough for everyone, and they last forever. The o.g. iPad Air we bought in Nov 2020 is still chugging along and we use it... basically only to watch movies on airplane rides etc. And I am primarily a linux/android user, but this is the one Apple device I "use". If/when it finally dies (we're on year 6) we'll just buy another one, I guess. The biggest risk for our single household tablet is Apple drops support for it. We have no plans to upgrade it ever, so long as netflix and youtube keep working on it.
- kgwgk 6mo ago
  > The o.g. iPad Air we bought in Nov 2020 o.g. ?
  - CoastalCoder 6mo ago
    It's kid slang for "original", apparently.
    - Jtsummers 6mo ago
      Yeah but 10 years late to be described as the original. That said, my parents got rid of their actual OG iPad only 2-3 years ago (did not hold a charge for a long time, finally decided it was time to get one that did).
    - kgwgk 6mo ago
      That was my first reading but "original generation" and 2020 don't go well together.
    - ssl-3 6mo ago
      It's been around long enough to have gained cromulence, I think. I started using "OG" ~16 years ago to disambiguate the Motorola Droid that I had (which was the first Android phone available from Verizon) from the Droid 2, 3, and 4 that came later. "OG Motorola Droid" has specificity, while "Motorola Droid 1" is something that never existed. Anyway, my usage is old enough to drive a car. :)
comrade1234 6mo ago
I never understood googles strategy in mobile. At the beginning I assumed that they would make a reference platform showing what's possible - a high-end pixel with all of the latest hardware and software features to promote their OS and software. Driving advancement in hardware by others using android. But instead it seems like they're competing at all levels with their hardware and are trying to win at consumer-level hardware against china instead of with their software and search and now ai - areas with high margins and where they make money. Since their hardware group is t working at promoting their software group they should probably just spin off and do their own thing.
- hocuspocus 6mo ago
  Google just sucks at this. The Nexus and early Pixel eras have been a series of weirdly positioned and priced models year after year. Google didn't even bother trying to sell them in more than a handful countries. Then Google switched to a pretty bad Exynos based SoC and consistently shipped underwhelming hardware at price points aligned with Apple... requiring absolutely insane discounts or promotion campaigns, even at launch. Can you imagine Apple giving you AirPods Pro or a Watch if you buy the next iPhone 18 on day 1? We've seen things like the Pixel tablet that should have been sold at half its MSRP to stand even a small chance against the iPad. And I won't even talk of the many hardware issues... my dad's Pixel 7a was fully reimbursed for 25% more money than he actually spent buying it.
  - Marsymars 6mo ago
    > Can you imagine Apple giving you AirPods Pro or a Watch if you buy the next iPhone 18 on day 1? Apple does exactly this, they just launder it out to their carrier partners. My wife's carrier was recently offering a free Apple Watch if you pre-ordered a new iPhone before launch. Similarly, Apple was already selling a laptop (the M1 MacBook Air) at MacBook Neo prices, but only via Walmart (and they were continuing production of the M1 MBA specifically for this deal).
    - hocuspocus 6mo ago
m463 6mo ago
At costco they already sell an ipad for $299 That is just £219 and the article wants £200
whalesalad 6mo ago
umm the macbook neo is an ipad lol. with a keyboard attached.
- Jtarii 6mo ago
  Not what words mean
amazingamazing 6mo ago
7in iPad with old Apple Watch processors.
neko_ranger 6mo ago
Give me the iphone neo
throw03172019 6mo ago
You can already buy a $349 tablet. Is $200 really the bottom price where growth skyrockets? I’m doubtful.
- rumblefrog 6mo ago
  You can also buy very cheap laptop prior, but the hardware wasn't that good... Until MacBook Neo came along.
  - getpokedagain 6mo ago
    I think this is pointing out that the base iPad which has nice hardware is already 350 and 200 is not gonna encourage that many new buyers.
bombcar 6mo ago
This made much more sense when I read it as asking for an iPad Nano
- Marsymars 6mo ago
  It's an iPhone Pro Max without the cellular radio!
rchaud 6mo ago
I think the the author is greatly overstating how big the tablet market is for the product strategy he's hoping for. "Tablet-optimized apps" are a historical artifact of the 2010-2015 period when tablets were a new and exciting category of internet-connected gadget with a plethora of use cases in entertainment and productivity, held back only by 'blown up' versions of mobile apps. Within a few years however, most apps people use (Netflix, Office, Google Docs) were redesigned to scale to the size of the screen, in the same way websites do. A decade on, the market has spoken. Tablets are overwhelmingly used for Netflix, YouTube and casual mobile games, use cases where specs don't matter and every tablet is more or less "good enough". Maybe a million or so users have an iPad for digital art or as a laptop replacement. Even the cheapest model iPad has pen, mouse and keyboard support. So what would an iPad Neo add?
naet 6mo ago
What do you really want to use a tablet for? The main use I see from people is watching netflix or youtube. There are lots of ipads that are basically just expensive youtube machines. So in that sense a cheap ipad might be seen by some as an upgraded larger screen vs watching TV on their phone screen... but there are already a lot of existing cheap tablets that can do that. Someone gifted my son an Amazon one that I think was around $50 and works fine for that purpose. You can read ebooks, but e-ink is a lot more pleasant to read I think. You could get a stylus and draw... but I think that's a more niche use that not as many people are into, and I think professional artists are more likely to buy an art focused product over the generalized tablet / ipad. For serious work, you're probably better off with a small laptop and keyboard. I know you can get a keyboard for a tablet, but at that point why not just have a laptop? I'm not sure I see the vision.
dkuntz2 6mo ago
This guy didn't even look at what Apple sells before writing this. The normal ipad comes in fun colors, and while it doesn't cost $200 (that seems like an unattainable price point), it starts at $350.

38 points by ndr42 6mo ago

For that to happen, I think there has to be room at the bottom for a product that will not cut much into the sales of higher priced iPads. For laptops, it seems they had/found that room, but I doubt that room is there for iPads. The low-priced product will have to suffice for browsing, reading, and watching YouTube, and I think that covers the use cases for a large fraction of customers. Of course, they could go for lower prices, hoping for that to increase iCloud subscription revenues, but long-term, there is a risk of (EU) regulations requiring better competition for that.

williadc 6mo ago

Apple does make the product described in this article, aside from the fantasy price. It's called the iPad.

conception 6mo ago
I think the idea not explicitly said is it’d be MacOS not iOS.
dawnerd 6mo ago
I’m confused as well. Did the author not consider the existing product line? iPads are not that expensive for the base model especially during the holidays.
wvenable 6mo ago
Yeah I soon as I saw the price, this article fell apart completely. The Neo has a great screen and an older iPhone processor. You can take the keyboard off a Neo add a touch screen but you still have to make a device that fits the battery and has all the same technology. You're back to at least a $600 tablet.
- hbn 6mo ago
  The starting price of the iPad is $349
sroussey 6mo ago
They should rename it the iPad Neo so we don't refer to as "the just iPad" or plain ipad.
- weikju 6mo ago
  And maybe the second generation could be the New iPad Neo ... thankfully they quickly gave up on "new" after the 2nd iPad....

nate8bit 6mo ago

For all of the Apple hate recently (with glass + MacOS bugs) - it's still great to be able to invest in high quality hardware. I made the switch to Mac, oh about 12 yrs ago, and sometimes forget how spoilt we are with really tight hardware + software integration.

leptons 6mo ago
Apple hardware isn't exceptional, it's maybe slightly above average, sometimes, and still costs more than it should - even the neo with its paltry 8GB of RAM. Apple has had plenty of hardware problems and design foibles. So many. Their software is equally average in most respects, and has a far smaller market share worldwide across all form factors they support. iOS is the reason I'll never own another iPad. I mean, it's fine that you like it, but "spoilt" seems like an exaggeration.
- nate8bit 6mo ago
  > Apple hardware isn't exceptional, it's maybe slightly above average Is this a serious statement? If Apple's hardware is maybe slightly above average - what's above it? It's an easy company to hate on - but you don't have any other platform integrated as well as Apple's right now IMO. Unless you maybe count Huawei. Edit: I think I may be referring more to the holistic picture. But still curious what hardware you think is better.
  - surgical_fire 6mo ago
    I am forced to use a MacBook for work and I think it is shit. I partucularly abhor its reflective screen and the toy keyboard. I hate that it has only 4 usbc ports that force me to have a dongle. I can't fathom why people like that crap apart from looking slick. Mac OS is shit, and I would unironically prefer to be forced to use Windows at work. Style over substance. Pure crap to me.
    - leptons 6mo ago
      Same here. When I was presented with a MBP at work, I promptly installed Windows on it. I'm not saying Windows is something amazing, but it's better than the toy OS that is MacOS, and Linux simply wasn't an option at work (Devops/Security does not support Linux). I also then plug in my own keyboard and mouse, and external monitor so I don't have to use the subpar keyboard or look at that crap glossy screen. Now that they ditched Intel, I have even less use for them. Fortunately my current job sends me whatever hardware I want (but I still can't use Linux at work).

hadlock 6mo ago

I think the industry has already agreed to give this product category to Apple. Everyone needs a phone, but only specific types of users need a tablet. Apple's tablet is Good Enough for everyone, and they last forever. The o.g. iPad Air we bought in Nov 2020 is still chugging along and we use it... basically only to watch movies on airplane rides etc. And I am primarily a linux/android user, but this is the one Apple device I "use". If/when it finally dies (we're on year 6) we'll just buy another one, I guess. The biggest risk for our single household tablet is Apple drops support for it. We have no plans to upgrade it ever, so long as netflix and youtube keep working on it.

kgwgk 6mo ago
> The o.g. iPad Air we bought in Nov 2020 o.g. ?
- CoastalCoder 6mo ago
  It's kid slang for "original", apparently.
  - Jtsummers 6mo ago
    Yeah but 10 years late to be described as the original. That said, my parents got rid of their actual OG iPad only 2-3 years ago (did not hold a charge for a long time, finally decided it was time to get one that did).
  - kgwgk 6mo ago
    That was my first reading but "original generation" and 2020 don't go well together.
  - ssl-3 6mo ago
    It's been around long enough to have gained cromulence, I think. I started using "OG" ~16 years ago to disambiguate the Motorola Droid that I had (which was the first Android phone available from Verizon) from the Droid 2, 3, and 4 that came later. "OG Motorola Droid" has specificity, while "Motorola Droid 1" is something that never existed. Anyway, my usage is old enough to drive a car. :)

comrade1234 6mo ago

I never understood googles strategy in mobile. At the beginning I assumed that they would make a reference platform showing what's possible - a high-end pixel with all of the latest hardware and software features to promote their OS and software. Driving advancement in hardware by others using android. But instead it seems like they're competing at all levels with their hardware and are trying to win at consumer-level hardware against china instead of with their software and search and now ai - areas with high margins and where they make money. Since their hardware group is t working at promoting their software group they should probably just spin off and do their own thing.

hocuspocus 6mo ago
Google just sucks at this. The Nexus and early Pixel eras have been a series of weirdly positioned and priced models year after year. Google didn't even bother trying to sell them in more than a handful countries. Then Google switched to a pretty bad Exynos based SoC and consistently shipped underwhelming hardware at price points aligned with Apple... requiring absolutely insane discounts or promotion campaigns, even at launch. Can you imagine Apple giving you AirPods Pro or a Watch if you buy the next iPhone 18 on day 1? We've seen things like the Pixel tablet that should have been sold at half its MSRP to stand even a small chance against the iPad. And I won't even talk of the many hardware issues... my dad's Pixel 7a was fully reimbursed for 25% more money than he actually spent buying it.
- Marsymars 6mo ago
  > Can you imagine Apple giving you AirPods Pro or a Watch if you buy the next iPhone 18 on day 1? Apple does exactly this, they just launder it out to their carrier partners. My wife's carrier was recently offering a free Apple Watch if you pre-ordered a new iPhone before launch. Similarly, Apple was already selling a laptop (the M1 MacBook Air) at MacBook Neo prices, but only via Walmart (and they were continuing production of the M1 MBA specifically for this deal).
  - hocuspocus 6mo ago

m463 6mo ago

At costco they already sell an ipad for $299 That is just £219 and the article wants £200

whalesalad 6mo ago

umm the macbook neo is an ipad lol. with a keyboard attached.

Jtarii 6mo ago
Not what words mean

amazingamazing 6mo ago

7in iPad with old Apple Watch processors.

neko_ranger 6mo ago

Give me the iphone neo

throw03172019 6mo ago

You can already buy a $349 tablet. Is $200 really the bottom price where growth skyrockets? I’m doubtful.

rumblefrog 6mo ago
You can also buy very cheap laptop prior, but the hardware wasn't that good... Until MacBook Neo came along.
- getpokedagain 6mo ago
  I think this is pointing out that the base iPad which has nice hardware is already 350 and 200 is not gonna encourage that many new buyers.

bombcar 6mo ago

This made much more sense when I read it as asking for an iPad Nano

Marsymars 6mo ago
It's an iPhone Pro Max without the cellular radio!

rchaud 6mo ago

I think the the author is greatly overstating how big the tablet market is for the product strategy he's hoping for. "Tablet-optimized apps" are a historical artifact of the 2010-2015 period when tablets were a new and exciting category of internet-connected gadget with a plethora of use cases in entertainment and productivity, held back only by 'blown up' versions of mobile apps. Within a few years however, most apps people use (Netflix, Office, Google Docs) were redesigned to scale to the size of the screen, in the same way websites do. A decade on, the market has spoken. Tablets are overwhelmingly used for Netflix, YouTube and casual mobile games, use cases where specs don't matter and every tablet is more or less "good enough". Maybe a million or so users have an iPad for digital art or as a laptop replacement. Even the cheapest model iPad has pen, mouse and keyboard support. So what would an iPad Neo add?

naet 6mo ago

What do you really want to use a tablet for? The main use I see from people is watching netflix or youtube. There are lots of ipads that are basically just expensive youtube machines. So in that sense a cheap ipad might be seen by some as an upgraded larger screen vs watching TV on their phone screen... but there are already a lot of existing cheap tablets that can do that. Someone gifted my son an Amazon one that I think was around $50 and works fine for that purpose. You can read ebooks, but e-ink is a lot more pleasant to read I think. You could get a stylus and draw... but I think that's a more niche use that not as many people are into, and I think professional artists are more likely to buy an art focused product over the generalized tablet / ipad. For serious work, you're probably better off with a small laptop and keyboard. I know you can get a keyboard for a tablet, but at that point why not just have a laptop? I'm not sure I see the vision.

dkuntz2 6mo ago

This guy didn't even look at what Apple sells before writing this. The normal ipad comes in fun colors, and while it doesn't cost $200 (that seems like an unattainable price point), it starts at $350.