Right here’s the factor in regards to the iPad line: it’s all the time being labored on, and that work is rarely full. You already know, like roadwork. As a child, I recall pondering Atlanta was solely underneath building for a number of weeks. Oh, the naïveté.
I additionally as soon as thought the iPad Air 2 was the final new iPad anybody would purchase with out being envious of the subsequent mannequin. It was slimmer than the iPad Air and it had Contact ID. That’s principally future proof!
Then the iPad Professional line was launched… Quick-forward to now and the iPad line remains to be in a state of flux.
The iPad 10 set new objectives for the iPad Professional with its panorama orientation, centered entrance cam and keyboard accent with a full-function row. When the iPad Professional is revised with these options, the transition can be full, proper? Hardly. The subsequent one to look at is the transition to OLED shows.
If the brand new iPad Professional fashions introduce a brand new design of any type, we’ll additionally count on that to trickle all the way down to the Air and mini traces too. That occurred with USB-C (and that mission needs to be thought-about full as soon as the iPad 9 is now not offered). Then there can be extra future modifications that we slowly watch propagate by the road.
The awkward factor about this by no means ending building mission is when a lower-end mannequin get a “new” characteristic earlier than a premium mannequin. That’s what occurred with the iPad 10 and the iPad Professional in 2022. The awkwardness was compounded by the truth that Apple launched no new iPads in 2023. As a substitute, Apple launched a 3rd (however not third-gen) Apple Pencil. Extra roadwork.
Hopefully the total calendar yr with none iPad improve means the iPad {hardware} workforce had their heads down engaged on the subsequent leap ahead. That’s higher than releasing one more half step ahead with a brand new iPad technology. Apple has additionally had their heads in one other leap ahead with getting Imaginative and prescient Professional out by early 2024, in fact, so we’ll see what they ship for iPads this yr.
All that’s to say that whereas I count on the iPad line to inch towards cohesion after the subsequent iPad Professional replace, iPads will proceed to really feel like roadwork. Fixed building, lengthy durations the place some areas are uncared for, and by no means truly reaching a state of completion.
