Released 3 years ago, MOST LIKELY to have ~2 years of updates left before going End of Life.
We own two of these iPad 6 (2018) models, both 32 GB.
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They both still run perfectly fine and we feel little need to upgrade to newer models. While it is true this ipad 6 will likely get a couple more iOS upgrades (1 per year) before its 5 year old (at that point) hardware will not support the latest new iOS features, that does not render it an unusable device at that point. It will likely still be very usable for at least another couple years after that, more if you don’t happen to be using apps from developers who de-support older iOS versions.
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iPads make really good Zoom/Skype devices, as well as streaming video devices. Get a suitable mount for it. The only feature that - at these amazingly stable prices - would draw us into the latest iPad 9 released last fall would be the new “Center Stage” feature. It works amazingly - to the person on the other end, when you move around, feels like your device is mounted on a automatic motorized pan/tilt mount.
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32GB Storage - do not let the storage snobs tell you 32 GB is unusable! Even with a lot of apps on our iPads, we’ve downloaded a couple full seasons of programs and/or lots of movies. In this age of cloud-based media and fast mobile and wifi connections, device storage is less critical. We have about 12,000 photos and videos stored in iCloud that require 62 GB there and on my iPhone. With “Optimize Photos” enabled on my iPad, the thumbnails that get stored locally only take up 3 GB… and when you click on a photo thumbnail it automatically downloads and opens at the original resolution.
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Talk about great residual value - we paid about $230 for each of our iPad 6’s, brand new and sale prices of $250 were common. Now this deal has them at $220. Note the list price of the mainstream iPad has remained the same $329 for many, many generations. Admittedly, these solid used prices are partly due to the supply chain issues - over the past 3 months, it has been difficult to even find new iPad 9 in stock. The latest sale price floor for iPad 9 appears to be $299. (Very occasionally, $290 if you’re lucky enough to have a Microcenter near you.)