Today, Mark Gurman provided some slightly updated timing on when the next set of new iPads is going to launch. We’re looking at two iPad Pros and two iPad Airs around the March/April time frame, which is exciting. There were a variety of reactions on social media, one being the somewhat familiar refrain of there’s “too many iPads” and “the iPad lineup is confusing”.

This is always a weird take to me since the iPad lineup largely mirrors Apple’s MacBook lineup in complexity, and no one says a peep about that.

• iPad 9th generation == MacBook Air M1
  Kept there to keep the price point, but overdue to be put out to pasture
  
• iPad 10 generation == Macbook Air M2
  Modern new design that is priced a liiiiiitle higher than it should be
  
• iPad Air == MacBook Pro 14 Base
  Mid-range option, gets most most of the way to the higher end models with some notable omissions (Promotion for the iPad, Pro and Max chip options for the base MacBook)
  
• iPad Pro == MacBook Pro
  Available in two sizes, best specs and most expensive.
  

Oh, and there’s the iPad Mini, which remains delightfully unique and doesn’t have an analogue in the MacBook lineup. The Mini stands on its own. You either want a small tablet or you don’t. I don’t imagine many people debating between the Mini and the iPad 10th generation.

So that’s five models of iPad, excluding the Mini for a minute. Is that a lot? Not to me. Is it confusing? Here’s the thing….how many people do you know that are going to spend multiple hundreds of dollars on something without doing a least a little googling? Or getting the opinion of some techie in their life? The idea of some imaginary person walking into an Apple Store, looking at the tables with all of the iPad options and going “LORDY LORDY….ITS JUST TOO MUCH! I’M SO CONFUSED” and running away screaming is laughable (it’s a pretty funny visual 😏). Myke Hurley made the point on a recent episode of the Upgrade podcast that people on the internet do a whole lot of handwringing over these imaginary people. I cannot agree more.

I think it’s reasonable to expect the iPad 9th generation will go away in 2024, and the iPad 10th generation will get a price reduction (but probably not to $329 USD). The iPad will again mirror the MacBook lineup by having two Air models and two Pro models. That cleans things up a bit, but I imagine people will still complain there’s too many options.

A hallmark of the Tim Cook era has been that one size does not fit all. That multiple options in a product line are not a bad thing. I don’t see how a little more choice can really be bad.