9.7-inch iPad Pro to start at higher $599 price, come in 32 GB & 128 GB capacities
With the iPad Pro name and features, the new 9.7-inch iPad will be Apple's first to come with a starting price higher than $499. The smaller iPad Pro will start at $599 and include 32 GB of storage, according to sources.
Context & Ripple Effects
The pricing leak lands two weeks after reporting that Apple would brand the smaller tablet an iPad Pro rather than an Air 3, with Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil support expected. That naming choice is what licenses the number here: attaching the Pro badge lets Apple launch its first iPad above the long-standing $499 entry point, at $599 for just 32 GB of storage.
The follow-on coverage shows how the bet played out: by September, Apple had raised base storage across the lineup and cut Pro prices so the 12.9-inch model started at $599 — the exact figure this smaller model debuts at — before the 10.5-inch generation moved the floor to $649 in 2017.
First-order effects
- Buyers choosing the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro pay a $100 premium over every prior iPad entry price while getting only 32 GB of base storage, making the 128 GB tier the practical pick for anyone using the Pencil or Smart Keyboard.
Second-order effects
- Within six months the price point proved too high to hold: Apple's fall update dropped Pro pricing and bumped all storage tiers, effectively conceding that $599-for-32-GB was a launch-price experiment rather than a durable configuration.
Third-order effects
- The 'Pro' label did the structural work regardless of the launch price — it split the iPad line into consumer and professional tiers, a stratification that persists in today's lineup where the iPad Pro starts at $999.
The trend: Apple is using sub-branding (Pro) rather than spec changes alone to reset hardware price floors, decoupling each product line's entry price from its historical anchor.