With new, cheap iPads on the way, Apple will be its own best competition.
The iPad Pros announced in October can be a tough sell: starting at $799 and ranging all the way up to $1,899.
Throw in the $179 Smart Keyboard Folio and $129 Apple Pencil and the price jumps into the $1,000 range -- even if you get the cheapest Pro model.
Best Deal: iPad Mini, 9.7-inch iPad
Pros are pricey:
- 11-inch iPad Pro: from $799
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro: from $999
- 10.5-inch iPad Pro (last year's model): from $649
Non-Pros are not:
Coming "iPad Mini 5" and 10-inch class iPad:
The rumored iPad Mini 5 will almost certainly be cheap. And it appears to imminent, according to the most recent reports in late February.
Cheap but deliver what the vast majority of iPad users need: lightweight (one pound or less), fast-enough processor, Retina display, Touch ID, good-enough camera, and an optional cellular connection.
Same goes for a new 10-inch class iPad, whose price will likely be in the same ballpark as the Mini and with similar features.
What you almost certainly won’t get with a new Mini and 10-inch-class iPad is a productivity beast for professionals and artists: the newest 2018 iPad Pro comes with a super-fast A12X Bionic chip and large displays (with 120 Hz refresh rate and 600 nits of brightness), and, of course, Face ID.
If you still think you want the goodness of the iPad Pro, you can alway opt for the older, cheaper 2017 iPad Pro (10.5-inch). That's listed at $649 and is often on sale at online retailers.
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NOTES:
I have both an iPad Mini 4 (128GB) and a 2018 iPad Pro 12.9-inch (256GB) with cellular.
