2 Reasons to Pre-Order the New iPad Pro (M4) & 4 Reasons to Wait

Should you pre-order Apple’s new iPad Pro with M4 or wait? If you’re currently on the fence, you’ve come to the right place.

As expected, Apple confirmed its new OLED iPad Pro models at its special “Let Loose” event. The new flagships replace the models from 2022 and take their place at the top of iPad hierarchy.

If you’ve been in the hunt for a new slate, the new iPad Pro should be on your shopping list. They’re expensive, but they come with Apple’s best hardware.

The 2024 iPad Pro models are available to pre-order today via Apple’s website, the Apple Store app, and various retailers. They will be available in stores on May 15th.

While some consumers might want to pre-order one of these new models right now, plenty of others are better off waiting.

Some people might want to wait a few days while others might want to skip a pre-order and buy a new iPad Pro much further down the road.

If you’re conflicted, here are some things to consider before you make a final decision.

Pre-Order If You Want One ASAP

If you’ve been waiting for the new iPad Pro, and you’re sold on Apple’s upgrades, you’ll want to put in an order in the near future.

It’s early, but we do expect shipping times for some, if not all, of these new models to get pushed back. Some models may even see their shipping window move back into June.

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

Buy Now to Get Best Trade-in Value

If you want to save money on a new iPad Pro via a trade-in, you might want to pre-order.

Apple and its partners have launched trade-in offers to help offset the steep cost of the new iPad Pro. If you’re willing to exchange your current tablet, you can knock quite a bit off the price.

Some of these trade-in offers will likely be promotional in which case they won’t last forever. We’ll also see the trade-in values of older iPads and other tablets drop over time.

If you want to secure the most money back via a trade-in, think about pre-ordering.

Wait for iPad Pro Reviews

Apple’s new iPad Pro looks like a fantastic addition to the company’s lineup, but there’s no guarantee you’ll want or need all of the changes on board.

Unfortunately, iPad Pro reviews aren’t live yet. We do expect them to go live before the device hits shelves so it might be worth it to hold off on a pre-order until we’ve seen both short-term and long-term feedback from critics and users.

Buying the new iPad Pro might sound great in your head, but many of you will be just fine going with another tablet like the new iPad Air, iPad Air 5, 2022 iPad Pro, iPad mini 6, or another model.

Wait If You Aren’t Prepared

If you aren’t prepared to buy the iPad Pro right now, you’ll want to hold off. Here’s what we mean by that.

Before you invest in a new iPad you’ll want to spend some time prepping for your purchase. Individual needs will vary, but here are a few things to consider.

First, you may want to go hands-on with the new device. You may also want to go hands-on with the best iPad Pro alternatives.

If you want an iPad Pro with 5G connectivity, make sure you research carriers and data plans. Some of you might want to use this purchase as an excuse to leave for another carrier and/or switch up your plan.

This might be easy for some of you, but it could take quite a bit of time for others. In some cases, it might even take a week or more.

If you find yourself feeling uneasy and unprepared when you sit down to buy the device, do yourself a favor and put the credit card away and wait. This will help you avoid buyer’s remorse.

Wait for Price Cuts

Early iPad Pro deals will likely require a trade-in. We don’t expect to see price cuts right away.

If you don’t have a tablet to trade-in and you can’t or don’t want to pay full price for the device, you’ll have to skip a pre-order and wait.

The first deals will likely emerge sometime this summer.

Wait for Apple to Fix Problems

If you’re concerned about hardware or software problems, you might want to hold off on a pre-order.

The new iPad Pros will run iPadOS 17 out of the box. The software is causing problems for many iPad users and some of these issues may impact these new models.

Apple will roll out new iPadOS 17 software in the coming weeks so it might be worth it to wait for Apple to push out a batch of bug fixes before buying one of the new models.

New iPads sometimes debut with hardware issues as well. The new iPad Pro series utilizes a lot of new technology so we could certainly see some growing pains emerge in the coming days.

If you’re concerned, you might want to hang back and see what kind of problems early adopters are seeing in the days and/or weeks after the 2024 iPad Pro is released.