Apple's CFO Suggests iPad Pro Won't Be Refreshed in 2019

[MacRumors]

Apple's chief financial officer Luca Maestri has provided a clue that the iPad Pro might not be refreshed in 2019.

Speaking on Apple's earnings call this afternoon, Maestri said that Apple's revenue guidance for the holiday quarter accounts for the fact that the iPad Pro will have different launch timing on a year-over-year basis. Apple's holiday quarter runs from late September through the end of December.

In other words, while Apple refreshed its iPad Pro lineup in October 2018, Maestri is suggesting that there will not be another iPad Pro refresh until at least 2020 and that Apple has factored that decision into its guidance.

While multiple reports indicated that Apple planned to refresh the iPad Pro this October, it is unlikely with only one full day left in the month. One report did claim the iPad Pro will be updated in March 2020, a common month for an Apple event, and that timeframe is looking more likely in light of Maestri's comments.

The next iPad Pro models are expected to feature 3D sensing added to the rear-facing camera system, which could be expanded to three lenses like iPhone 11 Pro models. On a speculative note, the iPad Pro could also potentially beat iPhone 12 models to 5G, in line with the iPad gaining LTE support before the iPhone in 2012.

March 2020 would make sense given the 12.9-inch iPad Pro has been refreshed once every 18 months or so on average. A refresh this fall would have been around only 12 months after the October 2018 refresh. But, nothing is for certain.

Article Link: Apple's CFO Suggests iPad Pro Won't Be Refreshed in 2019

 

[squizzler]

Who said it would? iPad Pro’s get a refresh every 1.5 years.

 

[JosephAW]

Just iPadOS 14 update for devices without home buttons.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

I'm shocked. Did he say anything about Mac guidance?

 

[tripleh3lix]

I’m glad, I got the impression when buying the iPad Pro I wouldn’t have to upgrade for another year and a half or two. of course the battery has taken a massive hit with iOS 13 and it already makes me wanna upgrade. When I first got the thing it was really crazy. Sucks iOS 13 destroyed a12 devices with their battery life.

 

[triangletechie]

The 2018 12.9 is an absolute beast.

 

[Roscorito]

Good, gonna need all the money I can get for this 16 inch MacBook Pro.

 

[ondert]

Hopefully with a chassis more sturdy now.

 

[Populus]

I think I made a good decision at finally purchasing it at the end of the Back to School promo with the Beats. I've updated it to iOS 13 because I need some of its features, like free access to external storage and Files management.

 

[David1964]

I’m glad, I got the impression when buying the iPad Pro I wouldn’t have to upgrade for another year and a half or two. of course the battery has taken a massive hit with iOS 13 and it already makes me wanna upgrade. When I first got the thing it was really crazy. Sucks iOS 13 destroyed a12 devices with their battery life.

I’ve had no reduction in battery life at all on iPadOS 13 with my iPad Pro 11”

 

[urbanslaughter1997]

Ugh, I’m so torn. I don’t know what to do. I’ve been planning on getting an iPad Pro this fall. But now that I have to wait till March, I don’t know what to do. Should I buy an old model now on sale, or should I wait till March?

 

[Jynto]

The iPad getting 5G before the iPhone is a move that would have some precedent at Apple. The iPad 3 (early 2012) got 4G before the iPhone 5 did (late 2012)

 

[Macaholic868]

I think Apple would be wise to get out of the habit of yearly mobile device refreshes and yearly OS refreshes.

You’ll never convince me that it doesn’t hurt their sales now that we’re officially in the era where we’ve hit peak iPhone and iPad. I used to refresh my iPhone every other year. The only exception was going from the 5 to the 5s when Touch ID was released. That was a killer feature that demanded an upgrade. I stayed with the 6s until the iPhone X was released and unless something drastic changes I’ll probably have the X for at least 4 years.

I’ve owned an iPad 2, iPad Air and the 9.7” iPad Pro. From right out of the gate the iPad had a refresh cycle closer to that of a PC or laptop and less similar to early smart phone years where you could justify a yearly or bi-yearly upgrade cycle.

I think it kills sales because if your 5 or 6 months past that last iPhone or iPad release why would you pay to upgrade your device when you know your just a handful of months away from having a device that won’t be the latest and greatest?

Now that upgrade cycles are more in line with PC’s and laptops I’d want to keep consumers guessing so they don’t have a built in reason to hold off on a purchase.

As for OS releases Apple simply supports too many hardware revs of their various devices. When you’re dealing with supporting millions or tens of millions of devices with components sourced from from a relatively small number of vendors it’s a lot easier to produce OS code without bugs than it is when your dealing with hundreds of millions of devices with components sourced from an ever growing number of vendors.

Instead of a yearly OS release packed with new features they should release a yearly OS roadmap with the features they intend to release through out the course of the year. If a feature isn’t ready for prime time it should be withheld for a later point release or the next major OS release if it’s warranted.

I think too many managers jump the gun trying to hit specific dates for specific features and as a result there is a culture at Apple that’s more about putting features out there than there is about making sure the features that are already there are as stable as they can be and that new features aren’t released until they are truly ready.

If they aren’t willing to go that far then every other yearly release should focus less on new features and more heavily on fixing bugs and improving performance as they did with iOS 12.

 

[tripleh3lix]

I’ve had no reduction in battery life at all on iPadOS 13 with my iPad Pro 11”

That’s great! I do.. lol. Like bad. And I have a new one that’s slightly better than my worn down battery one that I traded in. Same difference and horrible standby. iPads on iOS 7-8 were on insane with battery. Wish they still had that battery life.

 

[btrach144]

I’m not shocked. iPad Pro has always seemed to be more of a 1.5 year cycle. Not sure why the analysts thought otherwise.

 

[mixel]

Updating the iPad Pro is kind of silly now (I may seem biased as I just got a 2018 pro) as they’re only competing with themselves in the tablet space when it comes to the high end.


the only reason they need to update it is to massage sales, as far as I can tell literally nothing you could do on an iPad really demands a beefier one? The closest competitors are miles behind. Software updates are what’s likely to change the iPad’s perceived usefulness.

they won’t change the design much. You’re presumably looking at maybe more ram across the board, a better camera and..? A slightly more reinforced frame maybe? More colours?

 

[smulji]

I think Apple would be wise to get out of the habit of yearly mobile device refreshes and yearly OS refreshes.

You’ll never convince me that it doesn’t hurt their sales now that we’re officially in the era where we’ve hit peak iPhone and iPad. I used to refresh my iPhone every other year. The only exception was going from the 5 to the 5s when Touch ID was released. That was a killer feature that demanded an upgrade. I stayed with the 6s until the iPhone X was released and unless something drastic changes I’ll probably have the X for at least 4 years.

I’ve owned an iPad 2, iPad Air and the 9.7” iPad Pro. From right out of the gate the iPad had a refresh cycle closer to that of a PC or laptop and less similar to early smart phone years where you could justify a yearly or bi-yearly upgrade cycle.

I think it kills sales because if your 5 or 6 months past that last iPhone or iPad release why would you pay to upgrade your device when you know your just a handful of months away from having a device that won’t be the latest and greatest?

Now that upgrade cycles are more in line with PC’s and laptops I’d want to keep consumers guessing so they don’t have a built in reason to hold off on a purchase.

As for OS releases Apple simply supports too many hardware revs of their various devices. When you’re dealing with supporting millions or tens of millions of devices with components sourced from from a relatively small number of vendors it’s a lot easier to produce OS code without bugs than it is when your dealing with hundreds of millions of devices with components sourced from an ever growing number of vendors.

Instead of a yearly OS release packed with new features they should release a yearly OS roadmap with the features they intend to release through out the course of the year. If a feature isn’t ready for prime time it should be withheld for a later point release or the next major OS release if it’s warranted.

I think too many managers jump the gun trying to hit specific dates for specific features and as a result there is a culture at Apple that’s more about putting features out there than there is about making sure the features that are already there are as stable as they can be and that new features aren’t released until they are truly ready.

If they aren’t willing to go that far then every other yearly release should focus less on new features and more heavily on fixing bugs and improving performance as they did with iOS 12.

Completely agree

 

[FireFish]

Apple's chief financial officer Luca Maestri has provided a clue that the iPad Pro might not be refreshed in 2019.

Speaking on Apple's earnings call this afternoon, Maestri said that Apple's revenue guidance for the holiday quarter accounts for the fact that the iPad Pro will have different launch timing on a year-over-year basis. Apple's holiday quarter runs from late September through the end of December.

In other words, while Apple refreshed its iPad Pro lineup in October 2018, Maestri is suggesting that there will not be another iPad Pro refresh until at least 2020 and that Apple has factored that decision into its guidance.

While multiple reports indicated that Apple planned to refresh the iPad Pro this October, it is unlikely with only one full day left in the month. One report did claim the iPad Pro will be updated in March 2020, a common month for an Apple event, and that timeframe is looking more likely in light of Maestri's comments.

The next iPad Pro models are expected to feature 3D sensing added to the rear-facing camera system, which could be expanded to three lenses like iPhone 11 Pro models. On a speculative note, the iPad Pro could also potentially beat iPhone 12 models to 5G, in line with the iPad gaining LTE support before the iPhone in 2012.

March 2020 would make sense given the 12.9-inch iPad Pro has been refreshed once every 18 months or so on average. A refresh this fall would have been around only 12 months after the October 2018 refresh. But, nothing is for certain.

Article Link: Apple's CFO Suggests iPad Pro Won't Be Refreshed in 2019

I suppose that might be because Apple’s ability to innovate has been missing for quite some time now.
They say that before his death, Steve Jobs supposedly had his hand involved in the next five major product upgrade cycles. Dare I say that this would’ve covered their ‘innovation’ up to the past few dead-cycles we’ve seen? Let’s be honest here: ever since we let Apple get away with that iPhone 6s (s is for speed) keynote, you know, the one where the whole theme was ‘Speed’ being their newest major upgrade, they’ve been milking this annual production process like nothing we’ve ever seen before.

Side note: whomever was the executive at Apple who started this keynote phrase “it’s the best iPhone / iPad we’ve made yet” should be shot. Of course it’s ‘the best one yet’; are we supposed to use that as validation that we shouldn’t worry that last year’s model might be the best? Who wouldn’t call their latest and greatest the best yet?!? So why do we have to be hearing that year after year?

Bottom line: I have completely lost all hope in Apple revolutionizing any new innovation of value. Anything substantial seems to be either too risky, or spread out to be milked over so many years. Tim Cook’s leadership has brought us products like the HomePod (a total catastrophe) and the Apple Watch (on my 4th generation and it’s only now starting to show any potential).

Perhaps this is why they pulled the plug on their autonomous skunkworks project.

 

[jimmy_uk]

Well that's disappointing. No way I'd buy an ipad pro 2018 now as it's too far into the cycle, plus I want an ipad thats structurally stronger which is what I'm hoping the next Pros will be.

 

[Logamaniac]

Update the air then and we good

 

[Mydel]

I’m glad, I got the impression when buying the iPad Pro I wouldn’t have to upgrade for another year and a half or two. of course the battery has taken a massive hit with iOS 13 and it already makes me wanna upgrade. When I first got the thing it was really crazy. Sucks iOS 13 destroyed a12 devices with their battery life.

I don't know...I have iPad 12.9 and don't see any battery drain on iOS13

 

[smulji]

I suppose that might be because Apple’s ability to innovate has been missing for quite some time now.
They say that before his death, Steve Jobs supposedly had his hand involved in the next five major product upgrade cycles. Dare I say that this would’ve covered their ‘innovation’ up to the past few dead-cycles we’ve seen? Let’s be honest here: ever since we let Apple get away with that iPhone 6s (s is for speed) keynote, you know, the one where the whole theme was ‘Speed’ being their newest major upgrade, they’ve been milking this annual production process like nothing we’ve ever seen before.

Side note: whomever was the executive at Apple who started this keynote phrase “it’s the best iPhone / iPad we’ve made yet” should be shot. Of course it’s ‘the best one yet’; are we supposed to use that as validation that we shouldn’t worry that last year’s model might be the best? Who wouldn’t call their latest and greatest the best yet?!? So why do we have to be hearing that year after year?

Bottom line: I have completely lost all hope in Apple revolutionizing any new innovation of value. Anything substantial seems to be either too risky, or spread out to be milked over so many years. Tim Cook’s leadership has brought us products like the HomePod (a total catastrophe) and the Apple Watch (on my 4th generation and it’s only now starting to show any potential).

Perhaps this is why they pulled the plug on their autonomous skunkworks project.

“ and the Apple Watch (on my 4th generation and it’s only now starting to show any potential).”

The iPhone didn’t start showing its potential until the iPhone 4. That’s when sales started growing exponentially

 

[Homme]

Well duh

it’s still crazy good. A12X is a good chip, even more powerful than the A13 itself,

and besides if people still thought there was gonna be one think this...

Apple released 3 iPads this year.. they don’t need to release number 4, they have released 3 new iPads in the past but not 4 in one year

 

[JBGoode]

I’m glad, I got the impression when buying the iPad Pro I wouldn’t have to upgrade for another year and a half or two. of course the battery has taken a massive hit with iOS 13 and it already makes me wanna upgrade. When I first got the thing it was really crazy. Sucks iOS 13 destroyed a12 devices with their battery life.

That sucks. The A10X seems to have been spared that misfortune. My 10.5 has the same battery life as before.

I’m kind of gladthey won’t refresh this year. I want a new one but can’t really justify it yet. I can think up at least one good reason by March.

 

[Flow39]

Well, time to pull the trigger on the 2018. I was holding out for a refresh but it looks like I’ll be waiting until March at the earliest for it.