A new iPad Pro is coming, and it’s been described as the biggest refresh since 2018. With these improvements, however, will reportedly come a price increase. How much more expensive will the new iPad Pro models be, and how much of an increase would be too much? Here’s everything we know.
iPad Pro price increase: What the rumors say
The biggest driver of the iPad Pro’s rumored price increase is the new OLED display technology. Both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models are expected to switch to OLED displays, and those displays will be unlike anything used before. Apple is reportedly planning to use top-of-the-line OLED displays.
The new iPad Pro displays will use the most advanced form of OLED. They will combine a hybrid glass-polyamide film with two stack tandem OLED, using two layers of pixels instead of one. This increases brightness while also reducing burn-in, which has historically proven a downside of larger OLED screens.
Sounds fancy, right? It is. Sounds expensive, right? Yep. For context, the 11-inch iPad Pro currently starts at $799, while the 12.9-inch model starts at $1,099.
Initially, rumors said that the new iPad Pro models would see multi-hundred-dollar price increases. One report, for example, said the new iPad Pro lineup would start at between $1,500 and $1,800.
Thankfully, more recent rumors have said the price increase won’t be quite that dramatic. DigiTimes claims that the OLED iPad Pro lineup will be around $160 more expensive than the current models. This means the 11-inch model would start just under $1,000 while the 12.9-inch model would start under $1,300.
Mark Gurman at Bloomberg didn’t offer specifics, but also recently corroborated that the new iPad Pros will indeed be more expensive than their predecessors.
9to5Mac’s Take
The iPad Pro pricing is already challenging to justify, especially when you pair it with a Magic Keyboard. There’s also the MacBook Air-sized elephant in the room. The M2 MacBook Air priced at $999 is a compelling option for a lot of people, especially when it’s hundreds of dollars cheaper than a comparable iPad Pro.
Personally, I’m pretty excited about the 11-inch OLED iPad Pro. The 11-inch model hasn’t gotten a display upgrade since 2018, so the jump to OLED will be a dramatic improvement.
Are you planning to buy a new iPad Pro this year? Let us know down in the comments!
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