I decided to treat myself to one of these new iPad's for my recent birthday. I'm coming from a 2018 regular iPad model so there are some noticeable improvements. For one the iPad screen is a little bit bigger at 11 inches instead of 9.7. The screen is definitely sharper too. The iPad is faster too with the M4 custom made Apple chip. I was downloading apps and it was lightning fast.
For the price of $699 (256gb model) I feel its a good deal. You also get Apple Intelligence which is cool. I mean iPads are great for media consumption with the big screen. It has a Liquid Retina display with a P3 wide color and anti-reflective coating. They're also good for playing games even tho I rarely use mine for that these days.
Ive got to talk about how this iPad works. It works kinda like iPhones do. You have swipe gestures with no home button. It took some getting used to but it works well. You do have a Touch ID on the sleep wake button which I have to admit is genius. The iPad also features a 12MP front camera with center stage which is nice. I got the Starlight color which is so nice, but a complaint of mine is in the case you cant tell what color an iPad is....
Overall this iPad is a great buy. I know the iPad Pros is a better iPad but its way too expensive. The regular iPad is cheaper but you're not getting all that much for it. To me this is definitely the iPad to get in 2026. It should be really good for a long time to come.
