First LTE-equipped 4th-gen iPads ship, to be delivered this week

Just hours after Apple sent out word to customers saying their LTE-capable iPad minis were on the way, consumers who purchased the company's cellular network connected fourth-generation iPad were also notified that the devices have shipped and are currently in transit for an expected Friday delivery.

AppleInsider reader Derek was sent an email from Apple saying that his iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular had shipped from a factory in Chengdu, China and is scheduled to arrive by this Friday.

It appears that Apple is rolling out the cellular enabled 9.7-inch tablet on the same timeline as its smaller brother, the iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular, which also began shipping earlier on Tuesday. Interestingly, both units are bound for Verizon's U.S. CDMA network.

It is unclear how many units are going out, as Derek placed his order five minutes after pre-orders went live on Oct. 26.

The Wi-Fi only version of the fourth-generation iPad hit store shelves alongside the iPad mini in early November. Over the first weekend of sales, more than 3 million copies of the Wi-Fi only iPad models were sold.

While not as hot a seller as the iPad mini, the new full-size iPad sold out of launch day stock in four days. Demand for the tablet may have been affected by the surprisingly short refresh cycle, which saw the old iteration replaced in a little over six months. Instead of a complete redesign, Apple made relatively minor changes by replacing the legacy 30-pin adapter with the new Lightning connector and upgrading the SoC to an A6X processor that doubles the performance of the outgoing model.

12 Comments

gazoobee 3753 comments · 15 Years

About 12 years ago

I'm loving the mini so much I'd almost rather get rid of the iPhone and use the iPad mini for everything, so .... stupid question ... What exactly happens if you put a phone SIM in an iPad and you get a call? Nothing? Any way to redirect it to a VoIP app? Will the data connection still work or will it just say "incompatible SIM" or some such? I'm only three hours in using the mini and already I'd like to ditch all my other devices and just use it instead.

mstone 11503 comments · 18 Years

That order says iPad with Retina display not iPad mini. My iPad mini with AT&T says it will arrive Monday November 19. It is currently in transit by Fedex in SHANGHAI CN

Oops I see that is what the title says my mistake. Just too anxious for my mini that I misread the title.

hentaiboy 1252 comments · 14 Years

[quote name="Gazoobee" url="/t/154272/first-lte-equipped-4th-gen-ipads-ship-to-be-delivered-this-week#post_2232023"]I'm loving the mini so much I'd almost rather get rid of the iPhone and use the iPad mini for everything, so .... stupid question ... What exactly happens if you put a phone SIM in an iPad and you get a call? Nothing? Any way to redirect it to a VoIP app? Will the data connection still work or will it just say "incompatible SIM" or some such? I'm only three hours in using the mini and already I'd like to ditch all my other devices and just use it instead. [/quote] You have a cellular Mini already?

The only way I know of to get voice functionality onto an LTE iPad is to use Skype, although, I can tell you it is far from perfect.

First you need a Skype account obviously. Next you need to buy their local phone number service where you choose a phone number in whatever area code you like, so no, you cannot use your current phone number. Next you have to buy some minutes which are pretty inexpensive.

Then just launch your app and leave it running in the background. The only really annoying thing about it is that often when people call you your device never rings and the call goes to voice mail. The problem is that on the other end the caller hears it ring a few times but apparently Skype has a latency in finding your device. By the time they have found you the caller has already been sent to voice mail.

The other downside is for some reason the iOS app loses connection a lot during the calls even when on a really strong WiFi on both ends. The Mac version does not seam to suffer from this problem at all.

christopher126 4366 comments · 16 Years

Chris Breen of MacWorld said he used the cell option on his iPad twice in year...I'll stick with the wifi only iPad mini. I'll be damned if I'll give AT&T or Verizon another dime! :)