Amazon is pushing the price on its entry-level tablet even lower this year: The company is set to offer a 6-inch tablet for $50, the Wall Street Journal reports (paywall), which is half the price of the retailer’s current 6-inch device.
The move suggests that Amazon and Apple have increasingly different priorities in the tablet market, which is shrinking and disappointing, but still substantial at 45 million units in the second quarter.
Apple is trying to further blur the lines between tablets and laptops for business users. On Sept. 9, it is expected to announce a new, 13-inch iPad Pro that could cost more than $1,000.
Meanwhile, Amazon—which has always beat Apple’s iPad on price—seems to be going more aggressively after super-inexpensive, no-name media slates, which already are widely available for $50 or less. (Walmart is currently offering a 9-inch “Nobis” tablet for $40.) Since launching the iPad in 2010, Apple has kept the same $499 price for its standard tablet. Its cheapest tablet currently is a $299 iPad mini.
Amazon will also offer 8- and 10-inch tablets, according to the WSJ. (We’ve reached out to Amazon for confirmation of its tablet plans and will update this post as warranted.) Apple is expected to keep similarly sized products in its own lineup, which currently includes the 8-inch iPad mini and 10-inch iPad Air.