Grade: B (average score: 3.7, median score 4, last year: 3.7)
A year of status quo, as the score didn’t budge at all. But beneath the surface there’s a great unease with the pace of iPad innovation, with the feeling that all the hardware power (represented by the M1 iPad Pro) is consistently being let down by iPadOS. The saving grace this year was the arrival of the new iPad mini, which clearly rescued this category from a sharp drop.
John Siracusa said, “The iPad hardware is doing fine, but it continues to be let down by iPadOS. The M1 hardware that it shares with several Macs only serves to highlight just how much more the iPad could do, if only its operating system were less restrictive. Also, now that the MacBook Pros have gotten their ports back, maybe it’s time to consider whether it’s appropriate for an iPad ‘Pro’ to have just one port.”
Zac Hall said, “I would still prefer OLED, but the 12.9-inch iPad Pro’s mini-LED display is such an improvement over the old one.”
Lex Friedman said, “I’m a tech person. I want every new thing. But nothing inspires tech lust in me like Apple’s iPad releases. Each one seems amazing.”
Adam Engst said, “The iPad and iPadOS still somewhat seem to be a solution searching for a problem. It’s easy to think that you need a large-screen desktop Mac to work in the office, a laptop Mac to work on the road or bring work home, an iPhone to stay connected, and an Apple Watch to extend the iPhone’s capabilities to the wrist. But where does the iPad fit into that?”
Carolina Milanesi said, “Maybe because of the success of the Mac, the iPad updates felt very incremental this year. I feel the Magic Keyboard is holding the iPad Pro back. iPad mini could become a key device for frontline workers, but we have not seen that come to fruition yet.”
James Thomson said, “The hope is that next year is when all the power of the iPad Pro hardware will finally be unleashed. But we have been saying that for a not insignificant time, and there comes a point where you have to wonder if there is actually a grand plan after all.”
Dan Moren said, “The hardware on the iPad is second to none. Even the software with iPadOS 15 is pretty solid, even if it still feels like it’s straining at the seams sometimes. (Better windowing still seems like it’s on the horizon, even if we never quite reach it.) The biggest peculiarity that needs to be remedied is Apple’s line-up, specifically the iPad Air, which sits at an awkward price/performance point. The iPad Pro is for Pros, the base iPad is for everybody…so who is the Air for? And why is it so expensive?”
David Sparks said, “2021 is the year that I came to a new understanding with the iPad. I no longer judge it by what I want it to be, but instead what it actually is. My tipping point was the arrival of an M1-based iPad but no significant steps to use that M1 chip for historically constrained iPad features. That was when I realized Apple looks at the iPad as something between the iPhone and the Mac, and no more. So now I’m only using the iPad for things the iPad is good at and no longer trying to move mountains with a shovel.”
Gabe Weatherhead said, “The iPad is not constrained by hardware. It has the fastest tablet CPU I could ask for but the software limits what I can do with it. I can’t take iOS seriously without a proper file manager. I’m also still waiting on the promise of iOS predicting what I need from it before I have to go hunt for it. It almost never suggests the right apps or files in Spotlight.”
Dave Hamilton said, “I have always been a big fan of the iPad mini. The new model really is an ‘iPad Pro mini’ in so many ways, and I love mine. I haven’t been this happy with an iPad in many years, and now my admiration of the product has been rekindled.”
Stephen Hackett said, “The new iPad mini is a revelation, re-igniting my love for the small tablet. It’s fast, lightweight and the iPad Pro-inspired design fits in quite nicely. That said, the fundamental questions about what the iPad is weren’t answered in 2021. The hardware still runs circles around the software, and Apple still hasn’t shipped world-class examples of pro apps for the device. Meanwhile, in the Apple silicon era, Apple is shipping the best notebooks in the history of the company, luring back people who were previously more iPad-centric. I expect that trend to continue, especially if the MacBook Air gets its rumored redesign this year.”
Charles Arthur said, “So you added an M1 and.. the iPad now seems to be in the backwater that the Mac laptops were for ages. The hardware has reached some sort of Platonic ideal, the add-on keyboard is good (but of course we’d need to talk about the software, later), the Pencil is neat, but it feels like stasis.”
Federico Viticci said, “There’s no better example of software holding back hardware than the latest generation iPad Pro with an M1 chip. The new iPad Pro is the best iteration of this form factor to date. At the same time, the new iPad Pro is more of the same that doesn’t really unlock anything new in terms of ‘pro’ computing despite its M1 and adoption of Thunderbolt 4. As I argued in my review, iPadOS 15 brought some welcome updates for power users in terms of keyboard integration and multi-window management, but it didn’t add any major new functionalities: it only refined the iPad’s existing foundation. Widgets on the Home Screen are nice, but their lack of interactivity is in direct opposition to the ‘pro’ nature of the iPad Pro. So, once again, it still feels like we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. What saved the iPad line in 2021 was the arrival of the redesigned iPad mini. I love it. By adopting the iPad Pro’s industrial design, Apple was able to make the iPad mini’s display bigger but the overall device smaller, all while bringing the device into the modern era of iPadOS gestural multitasking. I’m glad Apple decided to revive this product in 2021; I just hope we won’t have to wait three years for another update.”
Myke Hurley said, “The M1 iPad Pro was a real line in the sand for iPad hardware. Pure power. Unfortunately – yet again – Apple did not beef up iPadOS to make use of it. But the new iPad mini may be my favourite iPad ever. It’s perfect in size, the screen and form factor are so good. It is the best iPad Apple has ever made for content consumption.”
Alex Cox said, “I no longer know who the iPad Pro is for if Apple still won’t bring over their own pro apps to models that have an M1.”
Steven Aquino said, “I’m very excited by the new iPad mini. After years of experimenting with using an iPad as a laptop replacement, the redesigned mini feels like just what I’m looking for out of a tablet nowadays.”
Joe Macirowski said, “Center Stage has been a wow-inducing feature. We haven’t had those in a while.”
Nick Heer said, “What a year it was for iPad updates. The base model iPad continues to be one of the best deals going, the iPad Pro uses the same SoC as consumer-level Macs, and even the iPad Mini got some love this year. Truly great stuff all around on a hardware front. I know I am sounding like a broken record, but software remains where the iPad lags. iPadOS 15 was a really big update and it was a genuine joy to see so much attention lavished on multitasking. But it’s still not working as well as it should. iPadOS still shows its smartphone roots in enough ways that it remains irritating for me to use for long periods of time.”
Christina Warren said, “I’m still not sure where it fits in the whole ecosystem. iPadOS still feels frustratingly constrained versus the incredible hardware capabilities. It’s difficult to make a solid argument for why someone should get an iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard rather than a MacBook Air that can also run iOS apps AND is a full Mac. I still love the iPad, but I think the fact that Apple has created so many artificial constraints on the software continues to drag down the platform.”
Rich Mogull said, “The transition to the M1 for the iPad Pros was seamless, but in my testing the battery life is a little lower than I hoped. The products are still pretty great, but are also hampered by an OS that isn’t quite there yet.”
Rosemary Orchard said, “I love the new iPad mini. It would be amazing to have a Bluetooth keyboard like the Magic Keyboard including the trackpad, but maybe a third party will bring out one of sufficient quality. With the Apple Pencil 2, this is is an excellent portable note taking device as well as reading.”
Tom Bridge said, “iPadOS remains a second class citizen in terms of adoption, focus and attention for Apple, and that makes the best-in-class hardware seem a bit less shiny. No question that the new iPad mini is the best device to carry the moniker, but it still isn’t quite enough of a workhorse. Until the software catches up with the hardware, the iPad is going to be a pretty niche player.”
Marco Arment said, “iPadOS’ efforts to add powerful features without ruining its simplicity have always left me wanting both far more and far less. I’m starting to think that such a balance cannot be struck. But if it could be, it would probably require far more effort than Apple is currently investing.”
Benjamin Mayo said, “I am really pleased with iPadOS 15’s changes to the multitasking UI and the associated metaphors. Improving iPadOS handling of external displays is an obvious next step for the platform and probably can be elegantly built off the interface foundations introduced this year.”