Apple's Shifting Differentiation

>> The iPad has since recovered from its 2017 nadir in sales, but seems locked in at around 8% of Apple’s revenue, a far cry from the 20% share it had in its first year

For me, the reasons are that I love my current Ipad pro, I don't have a good reason to upgrade it, and the pricing isn't advantageous.

I change my Macbook often because of work-related reasons (I.e. when changing job I need to get a new one)

I change my iphone often because the new ones have a big enough differentiator (for me at least), but more importantly, the way the pricing is structured with my cellphone provider, I almost get it for free. (I.e. I had to upgrade my plan to get more gig/months and a few other features so I only had to pay $200 for the new iphone 12).

But for the iPad pro? I'd need to pay the full $1500 upfront and the new one doesn't offer a big enough value add compared to the previous ones.

You are aware that just because the true cost is obfuscated by the cell payment plan that doesn't mean you aren't paying for it in exactly the same way as the ipad pro, which you could also buy on a finance plan. There is no such thing as "free" or "almost free", you are paying for it.

2 years ago, I got a sim-only plan for unlimited minutes, unlimited sms and 10GB data for £15/month.

1 year ago, I renewed with the same provider, who offered me the same plan for £10/month.

1 month ago, same provider offered me 12GB data for £10/month. Shopping around indicated I could get 15-20GB for below £15/month if I jumped networks, and stuck on a sim-only plan.

Instead, I got an iPhone SE 2020 128GB (RRP £449) and 40GB monthly data for £70 up front and £26/month.

Total cost of ownership over the two years is £694.

Cost of the iPhone if I purchased it from Apple is £449.

That remains the remaining spend is £10.21/month for 40GB data.

I definitely got something discounted.

The discount cones at the cost of being locked in to the SE and your data cap for the next two years, which may not at all be a bad thing to you, but may be for someone else.