Apple Sends Out Refund Information to Australian iPad Customers

Apple has started sending out emails to Australian customers who may have been misled about the advertised "4G" capabilities of the new iPad.

Apple explains in the email that the new iPad is not compatible with Australian LTE or WiMAX networks, but does support "fast cellular networks" such as HSPA, HSPA+, and DC-HSDPA

ipadrefund
The offer for returns is a response to complaints by Australian regulators that Apple's use of the term "4G" in its Australian marketing may have misled some customers into thinking that the new iPad would work on Australian LTE/WiMAX networks.

Apple is allowing Australians who purchased the new iPad before March 28th to return it for a full refund.

Related Roundup: iPad
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Buy Now)
Related Forum: iPad

Popular Stories

iCloud General Feature Redux

iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Received a New Perk This Year

Sunday June 1, 2025 9:26 am PDT by
If you pay for iCloud storage on your iPhone, Apple introduced an additional perk for you this year, at no additional cost. The perk is the ability to create invitations in the Apple Invites app for the iPhone, which was released in the App Store in February. In the Apple Invites app, iCloud+ subscribers can create invitations for any occasion, such as birthday parties, graduations, baby...
WWDC 2025 Sleek Peek

Apple Shares New 'Sleek Peek' Teaser Ahead of WWDC 2025 Next Week

Monday June 2, 2025 8:22 am PDT by
WWDC 2025 is just one week away, with Apple's opening keynote scheduled to begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Ahead of the annual developer conference, Apple updated its WWDC page today with a new "Sleek peek" tagline, which replaces the original "On the horizon" tagline that it used over the past few weeks. The graphic for WWDC 2025 has also been updated. It is now a...
iOS 18

What to Expect From iOS 18.6 as One of the Final Updates Before iOS 26

Monday June 2, 2025 12:33 pm PDT by
It has been three weeks as of today since Apple released iOS 18.5, and we are still waiting for the first iOS 18.6 beta to follow. Below, we outline everything we know about iOS 18.6 so far. Timing Apple's software engineers have been internally testing iOS 18.6 since late March, according to the MacRumors visitors logs. The first betas of iOS 13.6 through iOS 16.6 were all released...
macOS Tahoe Render

macOS Tahoe Name Leaked Ahead of Apple's WWDC Event Next Week

Sunday June 1, 2025 7:08 am PDT by
The alleged name of macOS 26 (yes) has leaked. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that macOS 26 will be named macOS Tahoe, after California's scenic Lake Tahoe. Apple previously named its Mac operating systems after big cats like Cheetah, Tiger, Leopard, and Lion. Starting with OS X Mavericks in 2013, however, Apple switched to California-themed names like...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday May 27, 2025 9:10 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of May 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X ...
macOS Tahoe Render

WWDC 2025: What to Expect From macOS 26 Tahoe

Monday June 2, 2025 4:17 pm PDT by
WWDC is less than a week away, and as we ramp up to the big announcement, we're going to share details on what we know about each operating system. We're starting with the next-generation version of macOS, which Apple is apparently going to call macOS Tahoe. Name Since the current version of macOS is macOS 15, it would normally be followed by macOS 16, but Apple is changing its naming...
iOS 19 to 26 Thumb 2

iOS 26 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Monday June 2, 2025 1:04 pm PDT by
WWDC 2025 is just one week away, with Apple's opening keynote scheduled to begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Apple will announce its latest software updates, including iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26, which are all rumored to feature a sleek new glass-like design. There might not be any hardware announcements, however, as Bloomberg's Mark...

Top Rated Comments

zorinlynx Avatar
172 months ago
Why the heck didn't Apple make it an LTE world compatible radio? It's kind of silly to leave out markets like that!
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bsainsbury Avatar
172 months ago
I'd really like to see how many people actually return it. I don't think it's a big deal.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Winni Avatar
172 months ago
such a hassle over minuscule facts

Exactly! All carriers around the world should have changed their LTE hardware to be compatible with Apple's "resolutionary" new product. What are they thinking?! Haven't they heard yet that the world solely evolves around Apple and their decision to only support the US-American minority standard? Blasphemy!

Whoever finds extreme cynicism in this post can keep and collect it.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
foranor Avatar
172 months ago
maybe good will come from this. Maybe it will make Australia get off its ass and upgrade instead of children fighting each other in parliment.
Upgrade what? Their telco hardware to a standard that isn't used anywhere in the world but the US (and Canada)? Doesn't sound like an upgrade to me.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Teeps Avatar
172 months ago
I think the important thing here isn't that people will return their iPads for a refund, it's that Apple (or any other company) should NEVER advertise a product as having features when it will not work with the systems available in that market. Fine, say it's 4G capable within North America, and make it very clear that this is the case, but don't sell a product as being 4G in other markets without making it obvious that it won't work anywhere but North America.

If a company advertised and sold a product in USA without making it very clear it wouldn't work in that market could you imagine the whinging we'd hear then!?

I bought my iPad knowing what I was buying (and we don't have LTE here in New Zealand) but the lack of clarity is designed to confuse and drive sales which is very wrong.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Telstra Avatar
172 months ago
Even without LTE @ 1800 MHz being supported, Australia's leading network still does pretty well with 3G.

Downstream: 22.90 Mbps
Upstream: 3.61 Mbps
Ping: 132 ms

Speed test:
(http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/3978/img0001o.png)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)