At 2:00 a.m. on March 9, Apple's 2022 spring new product launch conference was held as scheduled, in addition to the launch of the iPhone 13/Pro's Green Color scheme and the new iPhone SE and other mobile phone products, the iPad Air also ushered in an update. Speaking of the iPad series, I believe that many consumers have the same doubts, the layout of Apple's other product lines is simple and clear, why is the layout of the iPad series incomprehensible?
Today's iPad products have a total of 4 series, namely iPad series, iPad mini series, iPad Air series and iPad Pro series. Among these four series, the positioning of the iPad standard version, mini version and Pro version is very clear, but the iPad Air has some high and low feelings, whether the iPad Air series has the need to exist, around this problem, today we will expand to talk about it.
01 Products that are not aimed at making money are not good products
Fundamentally, the purest purpose of the launch of the new product line is to make money, and the iPad Air series is no exception. Although the iPad almost monopolized the tablet market in the early years of development, it also attracted more competitors to stare at this "big fat meat". But the iPad digital series and iPad mini series are still entry-level models, so the audience is limited. In order to make more money and grab more market share, Apple further segmented the tablet market, and the iPad Air series for mid-to-high-end users was born. The birth of the iPad Air series has further expanded the territory of Apple's tablet market.
Of course, making money wasn't the only purpose of the iPad Air series. Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of global marketing, once told the story behind the iPad, mentioning that Jobs built the iPad with the hope that it could launch a computer device that cost less than $500.
But what people did not expect was that the iPad digital series and the iPad mini series had become entertainment tools for consumers. Jobs's original intention to build the iPad was obviously not this. It was not until the release of the first generation of iPad Air that the iPad gradually evolved from a video entertainment tool to a productivity tool, and finally pulled the iPad back on track and corrected the direction.
In addition, if from the point of view of time, the "birth" of the iPad Air series actually exists 2 times, the first time is the release of the first generation of iPad Air in 2013 mentioned above, the second time is the restart of the iPad Air3 in 2019, after the release of two iPad Air products in 2013 and 2014, until the 2019 iPad Air series was fully restarted, that is to say, in the middle 4 years, the iPad Air series was not updated, And these 4 years are precisely an important stage in the transformation of Apple's tablet.
With the continuous improvement of Apple's market share and the surge in sales, which has also caused further growth of iPad sales to encounter bottlenecks, in order to maximize profits, Apple has determined a strategy to expand to the high-end market. As a result, the first generation of iPad Pro was born in 2015, while small size products, entry products, and mid-range products were abandoned, so the iPad Air also sat on the "cold bench" for several years.
However, Apple's product strategy will also be adjusted according to the changes in the market environment at that time and the changes in user needs, so in recent years, the product strategy of the iPad has changed, the product positioning of the iPad Pro continues to be pushed up, and the cost-effective advantage of the iPad Air product line is more obvious.
As can be seen from the second birth of the iPad Air, Apple's ambitions for the tablet market are very large. Now Apple not only wants to win the tablet market of more than 6,000 yuan, but also wants to seize more market share by relying on high cost performance, so as to cover more user groups in all middle, high and low-end markets.
02 From "high-end" to "mid-range", the advantages are more prominent
Although many people now think that with the iPad Pro, the positioning of the iPad Air will be somewhat blurred, but in the context of the time, the positioning of the iPad Air is actually very clear.
Compared with the first generation of iPad Air and iPad digital series and iPad mini series, it is obvious that the later updated iPad Air series is an "advanced version", because the iPad Air series has thin and thin features, so it is mainly aimed at the working people who have the need for lightweight productivity tools. So for the iPad Air series at that time, "professional" was the biggest advantage.
But with the release of the iPad Pro series, the professional attributes of the iPad Air have also been removed, and the positioning of the four series of the iPad is also clearer. The iPad mini and iPad digital series are aimed at the low-end market, while the iPad Air is aimed at the mid-range market and the iPad Pro is aimed at the high-end market.
In fact, after figuring out the positioning, the advantages of the current iPad Air series are very obvious.
Thin
When the iPad Air1 was released, it already had the label of "thinner", "lighter" and "stronger", and compared with the iPad digital series and the iPad mini series at that time, the iPad Air series was indeed strong enough, but with a more powerful iPad Pro series, the thin and light advantages of the iPad Air were retained.
Compared with the iPad 4, the first-generation iPad Air is 20% thinner, 28% lighter, and 43% narrower on the sides. Coupled with the extremely narrow bezel design and a 9.7-inch Retina display, it shows a thin and delicate temperament.
Lightweight
While the first generation of the iPad Air already had a very thin and light design, the iPad Air 2 is even more amazing. The same is a 9.7-inch screen, but compared with the previous generation of products, the fuselage thickness is 18% thinner, and the fuselage weight is only 437g, Apple released the iPad Air2, it used the "world's thinnest thickness tablet" to describe this product, enough to show that a major advantage of the iPad Air series is that it is lightweight enough, so it can be better carried around.
cheap
Compared with the iPad Air series and the iPad Pro series, it is naturally a cheaper existence. The iPad Air 5 just released is equipped with an M1 processor, the price is 4399 yuan to start, while the 12.9-inch iPad Pro 2021, which is also equipped with an M1 processor, is priced at 8499 yuan, and it is clear that the price of the iPad Air series is cheaper.
03The next decade: The pace of technological decentralization will accelerate
Just on March 9, Apple released a new tablet product iPad Air5, the biggest highlight of this product is to upgrade the M1 chip, you know, when the M1 chip was released, it can be described as a four-seater, unexpectedly, the iPad Air product line gave up the update of the A series chip and directly used the M1 chip. It is equivalent to delegating the exclusive configuration of the iPad Pro series to the iPad Air product line, and this downgrade speed is indeed somewhat unexpected. Coupled with the reason of "increasing the amount and reducing the price", the iPad Air5 has also become a new generation of "true fragrance tablets".
After the release of iPad Air5, the positioning of the iPad Air product line is clearer, with the decentralization of the M1 chip, the cost performance of the iPad Air is higher, consumers who have almost money can close their eyes into the iPad Air5, and those who are not bad money can directly go to the iPad Pro series, and they do not have to be as entangled as before. Of course, Apple's grasp of consumer psychology is also dead, although the iPad Air5 arranged on the M1 chip, but still 64G memory to start, 60Hz refresh rate, for the pursuit of professional groups, iPad Pro is still a better choice.
It is foreseeable that apple's speed of technology decentralization in the iPad product line in the future has been further improved, and perhaps the iPad Air series will become the most cost-effective product line in Apple's iPad product line. In contrast, the author believes that the iPad Pro series is more embarrassing, the series has a serious problem of over-performance, which can be simply understood as too strong performance for most users to use. The iPad Air series can be attacked, retreated and defended, entertainment, office and not wrong.
Finally, in the context of the global epidemic, mobile office has become a just need for many white-collar groups. With the increase of entertainment videos and audio methods, the entertainment attributes of iPad are gradually decreasing. So in the future, Apple's iPad products will still not forget the "original intention", continue to enhance the productivity attributes of iPad products, and after having the iPad Air series, it will further reduce the threshold for buying Apple's "productivity tools", and everyone can afford to use the "productivity tools", which is the meaning of the existence of the iPad Air series, do you think?
(7887551)