Two iconic devices from Apple – iPad and iPhone. While both devices emanate from the same technological powerhouse, they come with a noticeable price disparity that often prompts curious minds to wonder: Why are iPads cheaper than iPhones?
Do you know how fancy features and cool looks usually mean you’ll pay more? Well, that’s not always the case with iPads and iPhones. The reasons are pretty interesting – like how they’re made, where they fit in the market, and what jobs they’re best at.
Rising demand, the added cost of miniaturization, having more features, and gaining access to the newer ones first are some of the reasons are top reasons why the iPhone is more expensive than the iPad.
1. Supply And Demand
Let’s face it, ladies and gentlemen: supply and demand is a real thing. And, that metric, while solely not responsible for the price of a product, plays a huge role in the pricing of a product. In essence, if a larger group of people demand a product that has a limited perishable supply, prices are bound to go up.
While the world won’t run out of iPhones anytime soon, there’s a significantly higher demand for iPhones than iPads. In fact, Apple has often cut down on the production of its iPads to make up for the demand for iPhones.
This sends us a clear message. While Apple is certainly determined to sell iPads, they are more than ready to compensate for the lack of production by reducing their focus on concocting iPads whenever the iPhone is at stake.
There is no data that would confirm this, but if a business is willing to prioritize one product over another, it means only one thing – iPhones do have higher profit margins than iPads do.
2. Connectivity
iPhones come with a greater range of connectivity options as compared to iPad. Think about it: even the latest and greatest iPads do have cellular connectivity but still do not support voice calls and messaging. While it can be implemented, most of that tech is kept for the iPhone. Apple needs to differentiate their products.
So, with a greater focus on ensuring that connectivity is not lost no matter what and that signal strength is maintained so that calls can be made even when it seems unlikely. Therefore, Apple’s focus on always implementing the latest and greatest when it comes to 3G, 4G, and now 5G leads to an escalating cost.
Plus, supporting all those cellular bands and having multiple antennas leads to hefty licensing fees, which also drive up the cost of the iPhone.
3. Miniaturization Costs Money
Picture this – you are tasked with building a house in an extremely large area with set criteria. Now, you are tasked with doing the exact same structure but in an area quite a few times smaller.
While still doable, reducing the scale of a product while keeping the same requirements is expensive. For the iPhone, fitting in the powerful A-series chips, a decently sized battery, a camera module, all the modems, water insulation, speakers, haptic engine, and a USB port into such a tiny package is an engineering marvel of its own.
So, yes folks, size does matter…
For the iPad, while still complex, there is a lot of space to play around with. So, squeezing every component into one tightly packed space doesn’t turn out to be a necessity for the larger tablet but an absolute must for the much smaller iPhones.
4. Research & Development
While the recent iPad Pros have brought in a few new features like ProMotion that were introduced on the tablet first, generally, the iPhone gets the latest features before the iPad. When creating a new feature or service, much money is poured into research and development.
Once the product is finally developed, it is only a matter of fitting in that feature and developing an affordable means to mass-produce it. Since the iPhone usually gets the newer feature first, a premium is placed on its exclusivity. This is to make up for the amount invested in R&D alongside establishing a sense of prestige.
As mentioned earlier, we are seeing a paradigm shift in how Apple fundamentally rolls out new features with the company now testing out various new shticks with different product lines. But, the iPhone still remains the defacto standard when it comes to purchasing the latest and greatest in hardware and software from Apple.What Can an iPhone Do That an iPad Can’t?
While the gap has been closing down ever so slightly, there still are a few fundamental differences that differentiate the iPad and iPhone from one another apart from their screen size. Apple keeps a few features reserved for the iPhone to make up for the more expensive cost.
Phone Calls And Messages
Quite obviously, the phone call and messaging part seem to be reserved for just the iPhone for the foreseeable future.
Native Applications
If you have ever used Instagram on an iPad, you’ll know exactly what we mean. Since a larger audience uses an iPhone, there is a greater incentive for developers to create stunning, responsive applications for the platform. So, the iPad is often ignored or receives scaled-up iPhone applications instead.
Contactless Payments
Since the iPhone has an NFC chip, you can perform contactless payments with an iPhone using Apple Pay. However, since the iPad lacks hardware, there is no way for you to perform a contactless payment on an iPad.
Why iPhones are so Expensive?
iPhones rock in certain areas! 📱They are also more expensive than iPads and here are other reasons why it so.
- Pocket Buddy: iPhones fit in your pocket, perfect for chats, selfies, and quick tasks on the move.
- Better Camera: They snap awesome pics with cool features like Night mode.
- Connectivity: iPhones rule for calls, texts, and staying in touch, anywhere.
- Comfortable: iPhones are comfy for one-handed use, like a texting ninja!
- Stay Social: Perfect for FaceTime, sharing, and staying social.
- Safe & Sound: Fingerprint and face unlocking keep things secure.
- Helping Hand: Handy in emergencies with features like SOS and location sharing.
- Fitness Pal: They track your steps and keep you on the healthy track.
FAQ
Can I Use My iPad as iPhone?
No, you cannot use your iPad as an iPhone and receive calls / text messages. However, if you do have a functioning iPhone nearby that is connected to the same iCloud account, you can have all your calls and messages routed directly to your phone.
Does iPad Have Better Battery Life Than iPhone?
Yes, iPads tend to have a much better battery life than iPhones. This is because they are much larger so they can house a bigger battery. Moreover, they tend to not be used extensively outdoors and are primarily kept at lower temperatures, alongside not having the need to constantly search for cellular signals.
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I'm a writer and editor in iPads & Android Tablets, Windows Tablet section. I'm passionate about technology, especially about tablets. I'm on a mission to assist people in discovering their ideal tablets. In addition, I'm dedicated to producing helpful how-to guides and sharing top-notch tips and tricks. In my early carrier I founded and became and editor at worldoftablet and have been a guest author at many other tech blogs. In wolfoftablet I'm focusing on iPads, Tablets, Apple Pencil, Apps, Reviews, Buyers Guides and Tablet Accessories. In free time I like to play games on my PS5 or iOS.
