2 Reasons to Pre-Order the 2021 iPad Pro & 4 Reasons to Wait

There are some great reasons to pre-order Apple’s new 2021 iPad Pro, but there are also some great reasons to think about waiting.

After months and months of rumors, Apple’s finally unveiled new flagship iPad Pro models. If you’ve been in the market for a new iPad, you’ll want to take a long look at these models before you buy your next tablet.

Apple’s new iPad Pros have some impressive upgrades on board including 5G support, an M1 processor, Thunderbolt and USB4 support, and a mini-LED display that’s exclusive to the 12.9-inch model.

The iPad Pros still come in two sizes, 11-inches and 12.9-inches, with five storage options: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and a new 2TB model.

The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $799 for the 128GB Wi-Fi-powered model while the 12.9-inch model starts at $1099 for 128GB Wi-Fi model. The 12.9-inch model is $100 more expensive.

The 2021 iPad Pro models are available to pre-order right now via Apple’s website, the Apple Store app, and retailers like Amazon. They will be available in stores on May 21st.

There are some great reasons to think about putting in a pre-order. For one, they come with some outstanding features. And two, we’ve already seen shipping delays impact their launch.

• Pre-Order If You Want It ASAP
• Pre-Order to Avoid Stores
• Wait for 2021 iPad Pro Reviews
• Wait If You Aren’t Prepared
• Wait for 2021 iPad Pro Deals
• Wait if You’re Worried About Problems

Buying a new iPad Pro right away might be tempting, but spending this kind of money on a product you haven’t had a chance to use in person makes this a tough decision.

In this guide, we’ll help you decide if the 2021 iPad Pro is worth pre-ordering.

Pre-Order If You Want a New iPad Pro ASAP

If you’ve been waiting for Apple to announce new iPad Pro models and you’re sold on the upgrades, you’ll want to put in an order in the near future. Shipping times for some iPad Pro models have already been pushed back into July.

Apple, like other companies, has been dealing with supply chain issues due to the pandemic so there’s a good chance stock is uneven for awhile.

If you’ve got your heart set on a particular screen size, in a specific color, in a specific storage configuration, you might want to put in a pre-order to ensure that you get a timely delivery.

If you buy your iPad Pro at Apple, shipping is free.

Pre-Order to Avoid Stores

If you pass on a pre-order, but still want an iPad Pro in your hands ASAP, you’ll need to head into a retail store when they hit shelves.

In a normal year, retail stores might be busy on launch day as people go in to check out the new products in person. Of course, 2021, like 2020, hasn’t been normal.

With the coronavirus still an issue in the United States and countries around the world, some of Apple’s retail stores are currently closed.

Other well-known retailers are still open and will likely have the new iPad Pros in stock, but some of you may not feel comfortable going in.

There’s also no way of knowing what kind of iPad Pro stock retailers will have available. Some stores could have a bunch of stock, some stores might have uneven stock or no stock at all. In other words, there’s a chance you’ll walk away empty-handed.

If you don’t want to take any chances, pre-order online.

Wait for 2021 iPad Pro Reviews

The 2021 iPad Pros looks like solid replacements for the 2020 models, but we won’t know for sure until they’re reviewed by critics and other users.

2021 iPad Pro reviews aren’t live yet which puts a bit of pressure on those of you struggling with the decision to buy or wait. You can expect the first 2021 iPad Pro reviews to arrive later on this month.

Some of you might want to wait for long-term feedback about the new iPad Pros to emerge before committing to the 11-inch or 12.9-inch model.

2021 iPad Pro reviews might be good, but there’s always a chance the device is too expensive for your needs. Many of you might be better off going with another cheaper model like the 2020 iPad Pro, iPad mini 5, iPad Air 4, or 10.2-inch iPad.

Wait If You Aren’t Prepared

You’ll want to hold off on a pre-order until you’re certain the 2021 iPad Pro is the right device for your needs and budget. There are a few things you should do before you commit.

First, you’ll want to decide between the 11-inch model and 12.9-inch model. Again, you should go hands-on (if you can) if you aren’t positive about the size you want or need.

You’ll also want to decide if you need cellular data. You’ll want to examine your habits and think about how you might use your iPad Pro down the road.

Most of you should be fine with the Wi-Fi only model, but some of you might want to spend the extra cash on the 5G-enabled model.

Apple offers five storage options and you’ll want to pick the right one for your needs. We’ve put together a guide that will take you through each and help you make a decision.

We also recommend researching iPad Pro competitors like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 and Microsoft Surface Pro 7.

This may take some of you a day or two to complete, but it will take longer for others. If you’re feeling uneasy about a pre-order, you might want to hold back.

Take your time so you don’t end up with buyer’s remorse.

Wait for 2021 iPad Pro Deals

The initial batch of 2021 iPad Pro deals will likely be limited to trade-ins and carrier subsidies on the 5G models. Straight price cuts will emerge later on.

It usually takes retailers a few weeks to start offering deals on new Apple products so you’ll probably have to wait until June or later for the first price drops.

The biggest price cuts of the year will likely arrive in and around Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.

If you don’t have a tablet to trade-in, don’t want a 5G model, and/or simply don’t want to pay full price for a new 2021 iPad Pro, you’ll have to skip a pre-order and wait.

Wait if You’re Worried About Problems

There’s a chance the 2021 iPad Pros are plagued by annoying hardware and software issues. If that concerns you, you might want to wait a few weeks before buying one.

The new iPad Pro models run the company’s iPadOS 14 operating system out of the box. More specifically, the devices should ship with iPadOS 14.5 or iPadOS 14.5.1. Apple tested both of these updates, but problems slipped through the cracks and we could see issues that are specific to the new iPad Pro models popup after launch.

Apple will likely fix some of these issues in the weeks ahead and it might be worth it to wait for those and problems to die down before buying.

There’s also a chance we see hardware problems and some of these issues might require a fix from Apple.

If you can’t handle dealing with issues right out of the box, you might want to hold off on a pre-order and wait a few weeks for the first batch of 2021 iPad Pro-specific bug fixes.

Install iPadOS 14.8.1 for Better Security

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If security is important to you, and it should be, think about installing iPadOS 14.8.1 right now. The iPadOS 14.8.1 update has 12 new security patches on board. They'll help protect you and your device from harm. You can read more about them on Apple's website.  If you missed iPadOS 14.8, you'll get its security patches with your iPadOS 14.8.1 update. You can read more about them on Apple's security site.  If you missed iPadOS 14.7.1, you'll get its security patch with your upgrade. If you want to learn more, head on over to Apple's website.  If you skipped iPadOS 14.7, you'll get its 30+ security patches with your upgrade. If you want to learn more, head to Apple's website.  If you skipped, iPadOS 14.6, you'll get its patches with your upgrade. iPadOS 14.6 brought 50+ security patches to the iPad, iPad Pro, iPad mini, and iPad Air. You can learn all about those changes right here.  If you missed iPadOS 14.5.1, you'll get its security patches with your update. Both of them are related to WebKit. If you want to learn more about them, check Apple's website for more details.  If you skipped iPadOS 14.5, you'll get its security patches with your upgrade. You can read more about the changes over on Apple's website.  iPadOS 14.5 also brought Apple's new App Tracking Transparency which lets you control which apps are allowed to track your activity across other companies' apps and websites for ads or sharing with data brokers. If you skipped iPadOS 14.4.2 you get its security patch with your upgrade. You can read more about the change over on Apple's website.   If you missed iPadOS 14.8, iPadOS 14.7.1, iPadOS 14.7, iPadOS 14.6, iPadOS 14.5.1, iPadOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.4.2 and iPadOS 14.4.1, you'll get iPadOS 14.4.1's security patch with your update. You can read more about the patch on Apple's security site.  If you skipped iPadOS 14.8, iPadOS 14.7.1, iPadOS 14.7, iPadOS 14.6, iPadOS 14.5.1, iPadOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.4.2, iPadOS 14.4.1 and iPadOS 14.4, you get iPadOS 14.4's patches with your upgrade. You can learn more about iPadOS 14.4's security patches right here.  If you skipped iPadOS 14.8, iPadOS 14.7.1, iPadOS 14.7, iPadOS 14.6, iPadOS 14.5.1, iPadOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.4.2, iPadOS 14.4.1, iPadOS 14.4, and iPadOS 14.3, you'll get iPadOS 14.3's patches with your upgrade.  iPadOS 14.3 also included a new privacy information section on App Store pages that includes a developer-reported summary of the app’s privacy practices. If you skipped iPadOS 14.8, iPadOS 14.7.1, iPadOS 14.7, iPadOS 14.6, iPadOS 14.5.1, iPadOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.4.2, iPadOS 14.4.1, iPadOS 14.4, iPadOS 14.3, and iPadOS 14.2, you'll get iPadOS 14.2's 24 security patches with your upgrade. You can learn more about those patches on Apple's security website.  If you're still running iPadOS 13, iPadOS 14.8.1 includes iPadOS 14.0's security updates.  iPadOS 14.0 brought 11 new security patches to iPad models. If you're interested in the exact nature of these improvements, you can read about them over on Apple's website.  If you skipped iPadOS 13.7 or any older versions of iPadOS 13, you'll get the security patches from those updates with your upgrade. They're baked in. In addition to those patches, iPadOS 14 comes with some security and privacy upgrades including improvements to Home/HomeKit and Safari.  For instance in Safari, you can now tap the Privacy Report button to better understand how websites handle your privacy. With iPadOS 14 on board you can now get information on the App Store that will help you understand the privacy practices of apps before you download them.  There is also a new recording indicator that will appear at the top of your screen whenever an app is using your microphone or camera. You can see if an app has used them recently in Control Center. Researchers also discovered that Apple brought a new "BlastDoor" sandbox security system to iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. The system is meant to prevent attacks from occurring via the Messages app.  You can read more about "BlastDoor" right here.

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