Rumors have been swirling about what Apple has in store for the iPad 3 next week, but little attention has been paid to the state of the iPad 2. Will Apple discontinue its current tablet after dropping the price for a limited time? Speculation abounds.
A new report tonight claims that Apple is set to announce a 8GB iPad 2 alongside the iPad 3 at its media event on Wednesday, March 7th.
The questionably-sourced Digitimes reports:
As Apple has scheduled an event on March 7, sources from its upstream supply chain pointed out that the company is expected to launch two iPad 3 models – a 16GB version and 32GB version.
In addition to iPad 3, Apple is also expected to unveil an 8GB iPad 2, allowing the tablet PC series to cover different segments and to defend against Windows 8-based tablet PCs, the sources noted.
Anything Digitimes says needs to be taken with a gigantic pinch of salt, but there’s some plausibility to this rumor. A cheaper 8GB iPad 2 could be the device Apple needs to cut into the lower-end tablet market. With the company’s increased focus on iCloud and cloud storage, less physical storage is required to use an iPad or iPhone day to day.
Previous speculation has suggested that offering the lowest-entry variant of the iPad 2 for $399 would align with Apple’s past behavior. A 8GB version of the iPhone 4 was introduced alongside the iPhone 4S last October for $99. Will Apple continue the trend this time around, or surprise us?
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
16 responses to “8GB iPad 2 To Launch Alongside iPad 3 Next Week [Rumor]”
That makes little sense. No 64GB iPad 3?
…and it will be 7″
Seriously though, I can see them needing to move down market with an 8GB, but I also think that a 128GB version is needed, especially if the average text book ends up being 3GB or so.
This is my wish fake list for next new iPad price and reference, I didn’t add iPad 16 model because it’s already exist and Apple will just lower the price automatically to 399$
so you’ll have ipad2 start at 299 and ipad3 start at 499… of course all this is just my personal vision nothing serious :)
AN 8GB, not A 8GB. 8 begins with the letter E, remember?
I completely agree. If Apple is going to counter Windows 8 tablets before they drop, they obviously need to keep the 64GB model, but also consider bigger size if they haven’t already. The 8GB idea will keep profit margins higher, but I don’t think they’ll do well at $400. That’s a lot of money for 8GB of storage. iCloud works well when it’s not your source to constantly grab content.
the 8gb models are pathetic. 8gb?!?!?! for an ios device now days is just plain stupid. I cant believe people buy the 8gb version. my music is only 10gb and yes i know i need to clean up but seriously. the photos, the apps/games, even with icloud 8gb is not enough. 16gb i can understand, but not 8gb.
it’s not just about you!
Believe it or not, most people get by just fine with 8GB. Even my little brother, who avidly plays many different games on his 8GB iPod Touch, has about 2 GB of space left.
and you’ve done a study? kids maybe. what about games like shadowgun, infinity blade 2, asphalt 6, real racing 2, gta3, mc3 that right there is more than half the space. sure you can have tons of doodle jump like games but whatever; 8gb for a grown person who uses his iphone for entertainment, job, camera, videos etc is not enough. and only in the US do you get the 8gb iphone 4 for 99$, the rest of the world gets it at a whopping 675$. 675 for the i4 8gb, when you can get the i4S 16gb for 850$ (FYI all prices are without carrier subside and the iphones come factory unlocked)
But the push for education might allow room for an 8GB model. Fill it with a few text books and lock down everything else.
Makes sense for education.
As cloud becomes ubiquitous, the need for local storage decreases. Apple is probably moving to an assumption that you have two devices and music will more than likely reside on the phone rather than the tablet. The tablet will be for reading and media consumption. In a content rental model, the need to locally store huge amounts of data is removed.
My guess is the 8GB model, if it happens, would be for education and less affluent markets. Apple needs to compete with what ever the next gen Kindle is. Amazon is not just sitting still.
Well, Digitimes is oft wrong-but I honestly think an 8GB model is really too small… I’m waiting for a cheaper model though- IMHO-Apple should go with a cheaper 16GB iPad 2, then go 32,64,128 on the iPad 3…
Terry Ng said it in a very concise manner, but since you didn’t pick up on it, let me explain. Not everyone is like you. It would be a low end model to meet specific or lesser needs:
Lesser income householdsKids (so they don’t hog or break your iPad3)
Educational use (cheap price)
Institutional/business use (don’t need 10GB of music and big games)
Military/Proprietary use (only will run in-house proprietary apps)
Kindle Fire users, who have only 6GB storage space
You are like a Porche driver who doesn’t understand there is a need for Kias and Hyundais in the world. Why doesn’t everyone just get a Porche???
i stand corrected. I get it now. thanks.
cant wait for this to come out! 4g whoo whoo