iPad mini, Nexus 7/10, Kindle Fire HD & Surface Best Inside Deal Predictions

In some businesses you get what you pay for, according to the latest iHS estimates, some customers are paying for high profits for some tablets.  This information is good to know before you make your holiday tablet buying decisions.

According to iHS the price of what you pay for a tablet is more than just materials.  Let's look at the top tablets iHS has torn apart and estimated costs for the top best tablets around.

• iPad mini ($329) Wi-Fi - materials cost $188 and manufacturing $10, total cost $198.
• Nexus 7 16GB ($199) - a total cost to make $166.75.
• Kindle Fire HD 16GB ($199) - total cost to $174, which is less the original Kindle Fire that sold for less than it cost to make.
• Surface 32GB($599) - total cost to make $284, profit to Microsoft $315. IDC stated that the pricing will make the Surface less competitive.
• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Wi-Fi 16GB  ($640) - total cost to make $260.
• Nexus 10 ($399) - suspected to cost very close to the Galaxy Note 10.
• new iPad  Wi-Fi 16GB (no longer available) - costs $316 to make.
• new iPad Retina 16GB ($499 ) - cost N/A.

So what does this mean for pricing and holiday tablet shopping?  We researched previous prices and reductions in the past for tablets to help you make your tablet buying decisions easier.

Kindle Fire Fires Sales

We looked at tablet pricing for last holiday season and noticed that Amazon did not reduce the price of any of its tablets after the holidays.If you are planning to buy a Kindle Fire or Kindle Fire HD or any of the Kindle  products you're probably going to get as good a deal as you can over the holidays, especially if Amazon throws in some kind of free apps or free services into the package.

iPad Therefore iPay

Most iPad products are never reduced in price except by a few dollars at Walmart, if you buy an iPad you will be paying towards Apple profits.  Apple in the past did reduce previous model prices when some iPad models were introduced.  However, Apple did not reduce the price of the new iPad  when it announced the Retina iPad, instead it pulled third generation iPad off the market.

Nexus Bless Us with More GB?

When the Nexus 7 8GB was released it was the least expensive quad-core tablet on the market. Then second release had more storage for the same price. If you decide for a Google Nexus product, prices will be competitive but there may be an increase in storage deal, later.

Samsung Sales-Sung Later?

We have seen the price of Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets be reduced six-months to a year later at Walmart with refurbished tablets dipping below $200.  Currently Walmart is selling a refurbished  7" Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 with 8GB of storage for $169.99 with free store or FedEx Office pickup. If you really want a Samsung tablet, you may be able to pay less for it later.

Surface Deals to Surface?

Since this is the first year for Surface tablets, we have not record to see if models were reduced in the past.  We do know that Windows Phone have been very highly discounted to sell.  We suspect that if Surface doesn't sell well at first, Microsoft  will either throw in accessories  software or reduce the prices.

Of course the greatest tablet deal of all time was for the HP Touchpad for $99 during its blow-out firesale.