Apple’s iPad Pro Experiencing Little Excitement: Will People Buy Surface Pro 4 Instead?

The announcement of Apple’s iPad Pro was initially greeted with mixed reactions. For example, PC World found the iPad Pro hardware to be excellent, but couldn’t help comparing it to Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 at the time.

“For now, the iPad Pro’s hardware specs are arguably a tad superior to the Surface Pro 3’s. But while Apple may claim to have ‘reinvented’ the idea of a productivity tablet with the iPad Pro, Surface owners know where Apple found its biggest ideas.”

Now, it turns out (at least according to Tech Times) that demand for the iPad Pro is a lot lower than expected.

“Apple shareholders who placed their bets on iPad Pro’s success might have exposed themselves to risks. Information from the company’s supply chain suggests that sales of the iPad line are slowing down.”

The article goes on to note that there are a “thin” amount of pre-orders for the device, which is interesting considering the device can’t be pre-ordered yet. However, Fox News notes that technology expert Fraser Speirs loves the iPad Pro. Speirs thinks the iPad Pencil is extremely impressive. He adds that the iPad Pro felt more like a work device and that it is a good fit for Microsoft Office, Adobe apps, and a host of other workflow apps.

There is one main problem with the iPad Pro, however: It only runs a mobile operating system, iOS. While there are several robust apps available for iOS, you can’t do things with these apps that you can while running OS X on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. This is why consumers are opting for tablets like the Surface Pro 4, which not only runs Windows 10, but can be used as a tablet as well.

The Surface Pro 4 has received positive reviews. The Verge thinks its a nice upgrade from the Surface Pro 3.

“Just because the Surface Pro 4 doesn’t look or feel much different than the Pro 3 doesn’t mean Microsoft has been sitting back doing nothing for the past 18 months. Instead of going back to the design drawing board, Microsoft focused on improving how you actually interact with the Surface.”

The review goes on to note that the Surface Pro’s new Type Cover (which costs extra) is a huge improvement that helps productivity. They also note the improvements in the included Surface Pen. TechRadar is also impressed with the device.

“Has Microsoft at last crafted a tablet that can reasonably, without considerable compromise, replace your laptop? Short of going back to the drawing board on the battery, this looks as close as it’s going to get,” claims reviewer Joe Osbourne.

Even though the new Surface Pro has garnered more hype, there is still some excitement for the iPad Pro on Twitter.

New IPad pro is set to launch next week. After reviewing the new Apple pen for artists I'm super excited.

— Jonathan (@jonahswhale23) November 5, 2015

The iPad Pro is strongly rumored to be released next week, and would-be buyers can buy it at Apple’s site or head to an Apple Store retail location. Apple really needs the Pro to be a hit, especially since sales for the iPad Air have decreased significantly and have made people question if the tablet era is over. Perhaps, Microsoft has the answer to that.

[Feature photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images]