Malcolm Owen
In an attempt to make it easier for schools and educational customers to bring iPad into the classroom, Apple is providing its 2018 iPad at a discount, cutting the just-announced tablet from the regular starting price of $329 down to $299.
Announced during Apple's education-centric 'Field Trip' event, the special $299 pricing will be available to schools that qualify for institutional prices. Individuals qualifying as educational customers will also be able to acquire the new iPad at a reduced cost, but at $309 rather than $299.
The current price lists for institutional educational customers was last updated on January 25, 2018, so the listings are for the 2017 iPad model, but still list the 32-gigabyte model 9.7-inch iPads at $299 each. Pricing for the 128-gigabyte version of the new iPad for schools has yet to be confirmed, but the price list indicates last year's model can be bought for $399, a likely price for the new version with the same capacity priced for consumers at $429.
Educational customers also benefit from a discount on the Apple Pencil. Normally sold to consumers for $99 each, both individual education customers and institutions can acquire the stylus for $89.
Bought together, the cheapest new iPad model and the Apple Pencil will cost schools approximately $388 to supply to each student in a class. By comparison, the cheapest iPad Pro with Apple Pencil costs a combined $688, making the pairing of the new iPad and Apple Pencil close to half the price.
The new iPad wasn't the only announcement made during the 'Field Trip' event aimed at improving education. A new Digital Books tool in the Pages app will help students incorporate photos, videos, illustrations, and annotations directly into books.
The Schoolwork iOS app will allow educators to provide handouts and assignments to students, including those set in other apps, while still allowing teachers to monitor their progress. The Classroom app will be making the move from iOS to macOS, giving teachers another way to manage their class' iPads.
Apple also revealed upcoming updates to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for iOS, primarily adding support for the Apple Pencil, and bumped up the free iCloud storage for teachers and students from 5 gigabyes to 200 gigabytes.
Amber Neely
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
7 Comments
I saw it mentioned that Apple is also coming out with a stylus called Crayon, for$49 that will do pretty much what the Pencil does. What about that? Ok, actually, Apple isn’t coming out with the Crayon, it’s logitech. What I meant was that Apple is allowing a $49 dollar product.
and Apple offered the previous model for $299 for education as well. This offers much more, but at the same price. Still, I’m disappointed. I was hoping the rumors of a new $259 model were true. Apparently even trusted sources were wrong.
i strongly believe that Apple should at least kept the previous model, and lowered the price to around that $259 level. What people don’t understand that around the world, even a $329 model is pretty expensive. One reason is tariffs. Many countries that are poorer, have tariffs. As a result, Apple products can cost more there than here. A $329 tablet can easily cost $400 elsewhere, bringing the price well above what people can afford. Bringing the price down to $259 could result in the final price being closer to $330, which would be much more reasonable.
When I looked online after the presentation, the education price was $309.
Edit: My error, I looked at the college price. Maybe the secondary education price is lower.
10% off retail is a big deal for Apple to give out! But the new iPad is made much cheaper too! No laminated glass, no "X" graphic engine, etc... They did give it the A10 however; which is a step up!