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subjonas

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 10, 2014
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The base, the air, the pros—all heavily discounted. I couldn’t find any significant discounts on the mini anywhere. Was anyone else? Any theories as to why only the other iPads were discounted?
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
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Curious, where did you see the Air discounted? I know it was discounted pre-Black Friday but didn't see any good deals today.
 

Heelpir8

macrumors regular
Feb 13, 2019
205
652
Curious, where did you see the Air discounted? I know it was discounted pre-Black Friday but didn't see any good deals today.

Several retailers have been discounting the 64GB Air to $400 today. Unfortunately I'm looking for nice discounts on the 256GB.

Sam's Club has a message up on the product page for the 256GB to watch out for a Cyber Monday sale on it. So I suspect other retailers might be doing the same.
 
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subjonas

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 10, 2014
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Curious, where did you see the Air discounted? I know it was discounted pre-Black Friday but didn't see any good deals today.
Oh I just assumed the Air was still discounted today, but I don’t see it anymore on Amazon. But at least there was a window of opportunity; not so with the Mini :(

It’s just strange to me. The base model is cheaper, the Air is newer, the Pros have higher tech—yet they were all discounted. The only possibilities I can think of are that the supply for the Mini is too low or demand is too high, both of which would be surprising.
 
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thadoggfather

macrumors P6
Oct 1, 2007
15,545
16,277
Margin may not be as great as other iPads to be able to afford deep discounts, and/or they may be hitting their sales targets on them as is without incentive

makes me feel like I got the deal of a lifetime getting $25 off instantly from Best Buy at launch earlier this year
 

subjonas

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 10, 2014
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Margin may not be as great as other iPads to be able to afford deep discounts, and/or they may be hitting their sales targets on them as is without incentive

makes me feel like I got the deal of a lifetime getting $25 off instantly from Best Buy at launch earlier this year
I didn’t consider lower margins, but that’s possible. The Air and Mini are almost identical except the Air is obviously bigger, has the Smart Connector, and is priced $100 more. They have the same resolution but the Mini‘s screen being smaller has a higher PPI. So it’s possible that either the larger size of the Air’s components and the addition of the Smart Connector does not significantly increase the manufacturing cost of the Air, and/or the higher PPI display of the Mini is significantly more expensive.
But then I’d imagine the margins for the base iPad can’t be too much better, but who knows.

At this point, I’d probably pull the trigger with $25 off.
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
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I didn’t consider lower margins, but that’s possible. The Air and Mini are almost identical except the Air is obviously bigger, has the Smart Connector, and is priced $100 more. They have the same resolution but the Mini‘s screen being smaller has a higher PPI. So it’s possible that either the larger size of the Air’s components and the addition of the Smart Connector does not significantly increase the manufacturing cost of the Air, and/or the higher PPI display of the Mini is significantly more expensive.
But then I’d imagine the margins for the base iPad can’t be too much better, but who knows.

At this point, I’d probably pull the trigger with $25 off.
Price elasticity of demand.

I expect they're selling a ton of the entry level iPads after lowering price to $250 so they can make up for lower per unit profit with volume.

The mini 5, the demand may be relatively flat regardless of price so might as well charge the most that the market is willing to bear.
 
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subjonas

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 10, 2014
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Price elasticity of demand.

I expect they're selling a ton of the entry level iPads after lowering price to $250 so they can make up for lower per unit profit with volume.

The mini 5, the demand may be relatively flat regardless of price so might as well charge the most that the market is willing to bear.
Not sure I follow. Wouldn’t the demand for the mini 5 increase if they lowered the price? Why would it work for the base iPad, but not the mini?
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
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Not sure I follow. Wouldn’t the demand for the mini 5 increase if they lowered the price? Why would it work for the base iPad, but not the mini?
Sure it would increase. By how much though?

If you can sell 10 pieces of a product at $400 each and if you lower the price to $300, you're able to sell 1 more for 11 pieces total, would you do it?

The market for small, premium tablets likely just isn't as large as the one for bigger tablets or we'd see more of them.

Actually, let's make the math just a little bit less obvious. Say your cost per item is $200. You can sell 10 pieces @ $400 each or 15 @ $300 each. Which would you do?
 
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Shanghaichica

macrumors G5
Apr 8, 2013
14,641
13,142
UK
Sure it would increase. By how much though?

If you can sell 10 pieces of a product at $400 each and if you lower the price to $300, you're able to sell 1 more for 11 pieces total, would you do it?

The market for small, premium tablets likely just isn't as large as the one for bigger tablets or we'd see more of them.

Actually, let's make the math just a little bit less obvious. Say your cost per item is $200. You can sell 10 pieces @ $400 each or 15 @ $300 each. Which would you do?
I do agree. The small tablet market seems to have somewhat collapsed. Perhaps smaller, cheap android tablets still sell in some numbers. However with the larger entry level iPad becoming more affordable most would rather get that than get the mini which is more expensive. Also I guess with iPhones getting larger, some don’t see the need for an iPhone and an iPad mini. Although as someone who had owned every plus sized iPhone I still don’t think a large phone compares to the mini.

Personally I love the mini. I’ve had all 5 generations but it will always be my second iPad and if I could only have one then I would always choose a full sized iPad. I just love the portability factor of the iPad mini. I’ve never gotten used to carrying a full sized iPad on commutes with me. They are just too large to be used on public transport comfortably.
 
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ACG12

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2015
859
744
Very strange. I wanted to upgrade my wife’s mini 4 to a 256gb LTE mini 5, but I refuse to spend over $700 for that tablet.
 

subjonas

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 10, 2014
5,539
5,866
Sure it would increase. By how much though?

If you can sell 10 pieces of a product at $400 each and if you lower the price to $300, you're able to sell 1 more for 11 pieces total, would you do it?

The market for small, premium tablets likely just isn't as large as the one for bigger tablets or we'd see more of them.

Actually, let's make the math just a little bit less obvious. Say your cost per item is $200. You can sell 10 pieces @ $400 each or 15 @ $300 each. Which would you do?
That could be. In that scenario I guess it just comes down to the differing profit margins, because all else being equal the higher demand product is usually the higher priced product and vice versa.

This is assuming overstock isn’t a factor, but of course it could be as simple as that.
 

mwhals

macrumors 6502
Sep 16, 2012
429
196
Several retailers have been discounting the 64GB Air to $400 today. Unfortunately I'm looking for nice discounts on the 256GB.

Sam's Club has a message up on the product page for the 256GB to watch out for a Cyber Monday sale on it. So I suspect other retailers might be doing the same.

Every time I see an iPad for sale, it is applied to all storage levels.
 

subjonas

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 10, 2014
5,539
5,866
Apple is selling it for MSRP but includes $50 e-gift card.
That’s something, but unfortunately not much value to me. I buy a new Apple product once in a blue moon and usually from other retailers with better deals. :\
 

GalileoSeven

macrumors 6502a
Jan 3, 2015
597
826
The starting MSRP is already pretty low. They'd start losing money comparatively quickly I think if they start piling on the discounts.
 

GalileoSeven

macrumors 6502a
Jan 3, 2015
597
826
Yeah, by about $70 or so. Either way, these aren't big ticket items with lots of margin room to spare.
 

RevTEG

macrumors 65816
Oct 28, 2012
1,347
1,192
San Jose, Ca
Margin may not be as great as other iPads to be able to afford deep discounts, and/or they may be hitting their sales targets on them as is without incentive

makes me feel like I got the deal of a lifetime getting $25 off instantly from Best Buy at launch earlier this year
It seems that the margin wouldn’t be an issue since Apple pretty much made the mini 5 from the left-over parts bin?
 

PBG4 Dude

macrumors 601
Jul 6, 2007
4,267
4,479
It seems that the margin wouldn’t be an issue since Apple pretty much made the mini 5 from the left-over parts bin?
It has the same chip used in the iPhone XR (A12), as well as 3GB RAM and a True Tone display. The only left over parts would be related to the case that holds all the new parts.
 
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merrygoround

macrumors member
Apr 23, 2019
52
22
yep, i waited until black friday and cyber monday for a deal and there was none, just everyone else.. since the price is the same ,there is no rush for me to buy it ...disappointed
 
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