Apple Scrapped Plans to Launch Low-Cost iPad With Plastic Design and Keyboard
Apple reportedly scrapped plans to launch a low-cost iPad with a plastic body and a plastic keyboard included in the box for below $500, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Writing in his Power On newsletter, Gurman said Apple had "internally considered launching an iPad with a plastic back and plastic keyboard" that would ship in the same box for below $500. "The idea was seemingly abandoned, but that was probably Apple's only real hope of ever giving Chromebooks a run for their money in most schools," Gurman added.
It's unclear if the scrapped plastic iPad would have come as the 10th-generation iPad, announced last week, or another distinct iPad model. The new 10th-generation iPad joins the iPad lineup as the newest entry-level iPad with the A14 Bionic chip, iPadOS, and an all-screen design. The new iPad, however, does not support the latest Apple Pencil and does not have a laminated screen.
At $449, the new iPad is more expensive than the ninth-generation entry-level iPad that remains in the lineup for $329 but is cheaper than the iPad Air, which starts at $599. The new iPad, alongside the M2 iPad Pro, will begin arriving to customers this week on Wednesday, October 26.
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