Lost amid all the excitement and discussion surrounding Apple’s new iPhone X and Apple Watch Series 3 was a price hike that has many industry watchers scratching their heads.
When the Apple Store came back online after Apple’s iPhone event on Tuesday, the company’s iPad Pro tablets were $50 more expensive than they had been before the show. Worse yet, Apple’s tablets aren’t believed to have been updated with new features or more powerful components, so customers might be paying $50 more for the same device, according to The Verge, which earlier reported on the price increase.
As of this writing, the 10.5-inch iPad Pro in 256GB and 512GB configurations that had cost $749 and $949, respectively, are now on sale for $799 and $999. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro features 256GB of storage has watched its price jump from $879 to $929, and the 512GB version now costs $1,129, up from $1,079. According to The Verge, international pricing on the iPad Pro has also gone up.
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It’s not uncommon for Apple to take down its online store ahead of a big event and make pricing changes to products that weren’t announced at the show. But in general, those pricing changes translate to lower prices on products that are now older or have been replaced.
Apple’s (AAPL) decision to increase the iPad Pro with no apparent component or feature upgrade is unorthodox for the company. And its radio silence on the matter has some questioning what might have caused the change.
For instance, MacRumors, an Apple-tracking site that earlier reported on the price hike, said Apple’s decision might have been due to increases in memory costs that the company is now passing on to consumers.
Unfortunately for consumers, the iPad Pro price hike is now reflected at other retailers that sell the tablets, including Best Buy, so hope of finding the older pricing on the slates might be difficult, if not impossible.
Coins2Day has requested comment from Apple on why its iPad Pro pricing was increased, and will update this story if the company responds.
