When I woke up Thursday and scanned the Apple rumors circulate around the entanglement , one particular set of headlines trip up my attending : The upcoming iPad Pro will have an OLED display and start at $ 1,499 . According toKorea - ground The Elec(translation ) , which has a fairly decent track record for rumour , the 11 - column inch model will start at around $ 1,500 and the 12.9 - in model will set you back $ 1,800 .
Some quick maths shows that that price is near twice that of the current 11 - in model , which set about at $ 799 . It ’s $ 400 more than the 12.9 - in iPad Pro with a Liquid Retina XDR presentation . It ’s $ 300 more than a MacBook Air . It ’s as much as a 24 - column inch M1 iMac with an 8 - core GPU . And it ’s just $ 100 less than the 27 - inch Studio Display . Add a Magic Keyboard and 1 TB of storage and you ’re into 16 - inch MacBook Pro territory .
Granted , Apple is n’t afraid to call forth Mary Leontyne Price . The iPhone SE went from $ 399 to $ 429 last twelvemonth . The 10th - gen iPad is $ 449 , a usurious increase over the 9th - gen exemplar ’s $ 329 monetary value tag . The M2 MacBook Air leap $ 200 to $ 1,199 . And the iPhone 15 Ultra is bear to extend a $ 100 premium over the iPhone 14 Pro Max .
But in each of those cases , the price prominence was graspable . The iPhone SE make 5 G support ; the 10th - gen iPad has a completely new design and larger display ; the M2 MacBook Air has a larger display , young design , and faster chip . And when it launched the 10th - gen iPad and M2 Air , Apple kept the older models around as a cheaper option .
An OLED iPad Pro that costs $ 700 more than the current good example puddle no sense . Apple ’s current iPad screens are fantastic , and even the sharpest eyes will be hard - exhort to see a difference with an OLED exemplar . In my critique of the 2020 iPad Pro , I had a hard enough fourth dimension seeing a difference between the mini - LED display and the prior generation ’s stock light-emitting diode — there ’s no manner an OLED upgrade will be worth $ 700 over the current model . The current model is already one of the salutary tablet you could buy – if not the best – but I ’m assuming its price keeps sales agreement figures pretty low . Add $ 700 and they would be anemic .
Even if an OLED iPad is part of a larger redesign and re - positioning of the iPad , I have a hard time believing that Apple would launch an iPad Pro that costs hundreds more than the current theoretical account unless it has a much prominent screen . And even then , it would have to be something pretty particular to justify spending $ 2,000 or more on it . And besides , Samsung sell an OLED pad of paper with a 14.6 - column inch concealment for $ 1,099 , so clearly , the video display tech isn’tthatexpensive .
peradventure Apple will release an OLED iPad Pro one sidereal day . perhaps it ’ll cost more . Maybe it ’ll be a new iPad Ultra mannequin with high - closing features and a atomic number 22 face . But if you believe it ’ll be $ 700 more than the current manikin , I have an Apple Car to sell you . Or one of the current models , which seems flash by comparison .