iPad 8th Gen - Likelihood of Jan Sales?

In the market for an ipad 8th gen to gift to my mom. Could do it either for Xmas, or her birthday early next year.

Obviously at the moment pre Christmas there's no ipad deals to be had… Or are there?

Is it more likely to be deals after Christmas in the boxing day or January sales?

Comments

  • +3

    probably minor discounts ($20-$50). Probably better off buy discounted gift cards, and then purchasing that way

  • +5

    Looks to me that finding stock will be the real challenge

  • Q: Likelihood of Jan Sales?
    A: ask the neighbourhood

  • +12

    I would say it is unlikely there will be any substantial deals on the 8th gen iPad either this month or next month, particularly since it was only launched in September, plus stock shortages and increased demand at the moment means that retailers have very little incentive to discount a seemingly hot commodity.

    If you’re trying to get a cheaper configuration and pay for it with discounted gift cards, you’re going to struggle to find stock at places that allow you to use discounted gift cards…

    • Apple themselves are only projecting to deliver iPads in early/mid January, but I have never seen any sales through them (besides EPP or Education store discounts, or occasional boosted Cashrewards cash back deals).
    • JB Hi-Fi is unlikely to receive stock on most configurations until February. I was told by a staff member a few weeks ago that new stock may arrive in-store late December or early January, but I have my doubts, because they are still allowing online sales. The staff member surmised the stock shortages are due to increased demand for IT equipment and logistical issues with manufacturing and distributing new stock, which makes sense.
    • The Good Guys is unlikely to receive stock anytime soon - I tried to get a firmer date in-store last week, but all they could say was “stock is not getting through Australian ports as quickly as before, plus social distancing rules means our warehouses are only half as efficient as they used to be”.
    • Bing Lee are warning of extended delivery times and will probably only receive in 2-4 months…
    • Harvey Norman is unlikely to receive stock anytime soon.
    • David Jones restocks iPads roughly once (or maybe even twice) a week, but it is usually in only one or two configurations and they sometimes only restock one unit per configuration.
    • Officeworks went out of stock for some configurations a couple of weeks ago, and are giving no indications on when they will restock.
    • Betta Home Living are awaiting stock and are not providing any timeframes at this stage.
    • The School Locker may have stock, but I cannot even check their website this morning… plus they don’t sell discounted gift cards or run deals very regularly.
    • Telstra have no stock online (keep in mind they only sell the cellular models…).
    • Qantas Store are projecting stock being dispatched in 28 days, but it requires Qantas points, plus they only intermittently do sales for the portion you pay with points…
    • Studio Proper currently lists a base model iPad 8 for $480 and they are currently projecting dispatch of 2-3 weeks. I haven’t purchased from them before, so I don’t know what they are like to deal with.
    • I haven’t looked at other potential retailers (e.g. Dick Smith, Kogan, TobyDeals AU), because I would much rather purchase an Australian model iPad from an Australian retailer for the extra piece of mind provided by Australian Consumer Law coverage on top of Apple’s one year warranty. I have only had iPads that either become faulty within two years or have lasted for much longer than two years, which is why I only want to purchase an Australian model.

    As you can tell, I am currently hunting for a discounted 32GB Wi-Fi iPad 8 as a Christmas present with very little success thus far.

    • I think I am in the same boat too, where I foolishly thought it would be easy to get an ipad before christmas. Thank you for your summary in here so far!

    • Amazing summary. I think we can expect a deal to be posted by you when you do find the right one. I'm hunting for a friend.

      Good luck with the search and thanks for the time and effort.

    • Thank you for posting your research so far! Very helpful

    • Just a heads up, I got one from Costco yesterday thats looking to arrive before Christmas. Had to pay for a membership, but I'll probably get use out of that anyway.

      • I noticed the Costco website listed the base model iPad 8 yesterday, but they were gone when I checked again this morning…

  • You'll be lucky if you can find stock left before Christmas

  • Mediaform are listing the Wi-Fi 32GB - Gold for $472, no other colours listed so likely only stock of the gold available. Although I have never purchased from them so not sure what they are like to deal with.

    Edit: to add, JBHifi told me no chance of getting an 8th gen this side of Christmas. Seems to align with what u/WookieMonster posted.

  • +2

    Just use apple education discount if you have a student in the house.

    • +1

      That's good and all, but an edu discount lists an instock date of mid january

      • That’s true for delivery, but I noticed last night one or two Apple stores in or “close” to the ACT had iPads in stock for click and collect.

    • +2

      I have a.edu email. How do I sign up for that please?

  • Picked up an iPad 8th Gen Wifi 32GB a couple of days ago at JBHiFi.

    I was discouraged by the Feb delivery dates shown on their site earlier so didn't order.

    Noticed a couple of local stores suddenly had stock, placed an order and picked one up before they ran out again.

    Curious if those waiting for Feb delivery got theirs when the stock arrived or are still waiting for the Feb delivery date.

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