iPad sales down from last year, I blame iPadOS

Last week, Apple released its earnings report for the second quarter of the year ending in March. Although the company has just launched a new iPad Air with M1 chip, Center Stage and 5G support, the numbers show that the iPad is making less money and suffering from lower sales compared to last year. Personally, I blame iPadOS for this.

While the company was “very pleased” with “an all-time record service revenue and March quarterly revenue for iPhone, Mac and wearables, home and accessories,” the iPad is struggling to sell as it fell 2.2% year-on-year. . revenue of $7.65 billion.

While the Mac hardware is finally catching up after years of wrangling and issues over Intel chips and the lack of an optimized macOS system, it seems like the iPad is on the same controversial path that the Mac was on some time ago.

While no one can say that the iPad lineup has bad hardware, it’s very common to hear that the software doesn’t work. While iPadOS can be a great fit for the base iPad model, it always seems to fall behind the iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro models, and here’s why.

iPadOS should be a little different for every iPad

iPad mini lacks optimization in iPadOS. Its strange aspect ratio makes it seem like users are always seeing a 4:3 image – just like in an old tube TV. While it’s the best iPad for using iPhone apps – I’m looking right at you Instagram – it’s strange that Apple hasn’t added an elegant way to help users enjoy some of their best iPhone apps on this tablet’s screen.

Moreover, in this product, multitasking is not exactly what users need. If Apple made the keyboard smaller and put more apps on the home screen, the iPad would already feel better.

For the iPad Air and iPad Pro M1, Apple should go the opposite way: make the most of multitasking, as larger screens allow you to do more things at the same time. Especially when it comes to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, Apple should add a proper “Pro” mode with windows and other apps open on the screen at the same time. A few weeks ago Bloomberg Mark Gurman suggested three modes for iPadOS:

Standard touch mode with regular home screen, which is part of iPadOS today. A new option that is enabled when an Apple Pencil is connected, optimizing icons, controls, and user interface elements for this accessory. And, most importantly, a new “professional” mode that works when iPad is connected to a keyboard and trackpad, such as Apple’s Magic Keyboard, or to an external display.

iPads are expensive, but may be smaller than Macs

Aside from the $329 base iPad model, all Apple tablets are expensive. Imagine paying $350 for a keyboard for your $1599 iPad. These are bananas. Okay, you could say that the iPad models are equipped with incredible hardware – and it’s true – but why add an M1 chip to a machine that can’t multitask properly?

With a $999 MacBook Air and a $699 M1 Mac mini (Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse $99 each), it’s cheaper to get a complete machine with mature software than it is to pay $699 for a 64GB iPad Air and $300 for Magic. Keyboard.

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The problem is not that the iPad is expensive, but that the iPad is expensive and doesn’t do half of what users can do on a Mac, especially when it comes to the Mac M1, which can do any task in the blink of an eye.

iPad sales ended

went into detail about what Apple could improve on the next iPad operating system, always wanting the “next” to finally unleash the power of the Pro models. Once the company does that, who knows if iPad sales will start picking up again.

While WWDC 2022 is just around the corner, what are your wishes for the next iPadOS? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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