Apple iPad is a Faster, Cheaper iPad Air 2 (cnet.com)

Say good-bye to the iPad Air, it's just the iPad now. From a report on CNET: Apple announced on Tuesday morning that it will be dropping the price of the 9.7-inch iPad by $70. The tablet's A8X processor will be getting an upgrade too, jumping over to the A9 chip used in the iPad Pro. The upgrade will replace the iPad Air 2, but the iPad Mini 4 will live on, starting at $399. The updated pricing will start on Friday, at $329 for the 32GB model and $459 for the 32GB WiFi with cellular service model. It's Apple's cheapest iPad, after the company decided to replace the iPad Mini 2, which started at $269. Although Apple's iPad is leading the tablet market, it's still a tumbling one as demand takes a decline thanks to people holding onto their tablets longer.

Comments

Much cheaper than the iPhone

[fred6666]

It amazes me that they can offer the iPad for so cheap compared to the iPhone. Most components are the same, but the display and battery (probably the two most expensive components) must be much more expensive on the tablet, because of the size.

We can thank carrier subsidies. A lot of people buy phones they can't afford because of that. I doubt they would be going to the bank to get a loan if it wasn't offered by the carrier.

Re:Much cheaper than the iPhone

[MachineShedFred]

That's because Apple has been ignoring the iPad Mini for like 3+ years now. Seriously, what have they done with it since putting the Retina display in it? Add the TouchID that all other iOS devices have, and throw us a bone with storage. It's the red-headed stepchild of tablets. If you really want to make it look like shit, compare it to the Nvidia Shield K1 that is now like 14 months old, and better in every way at practically half the price.

I really like the form factor of the iPad Mini, but Apple seems hell bent on not making products I want, and in fact killing off the line of products that are even close.