Jason Snell: The iPad’s erratic odyssey continues

Overall, Tuesday’s announcements left me with mixed emotions. The individual products look fine, and I look forward to trying them out. But zoom out to the iPad line as a whole, and it’s kind of a mess. From the old ninth-generation iPad all the way up to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, there’s an iPad for everyone—if you can figure out which ones have which features and whether those features are worth the extra price.

I think the iPad lineup is kinda weird right now too. There’s not a clear, linear increase in features across the line (which now has 6 distinct models), so even if you have unlimited money to spend, you’re going to have to compromise on something.

Want a webcam in the proper spot? Gotta get the regular iPad (the new regular iPad). Want to also use the latest (4 years old) Apple Pencil? You can’t; now you gotta get an Air, Mini, or Pro. Want a keyboard case? We’d need to bust out a compatibility table to even begin to answer that question.

Ultimately, I think the core issue here is that the iPad Pro update feels very minor. The 2018 iPad Pro blew people away at the time, but in the last four years, the rest of the lineup has caught up, and the Pro feels less special than it used to. Now that we just got a revision to the iPad Pro, I guess I am now waiting for spring 2024 for any hope of a revamp here. Oh boy.