I can’t determine exactly why I fell in love with the new 10th generation iPad so easily. Maybe it’s an array of candy colors or a more modern design without the classic Home button. Maybe that’s the new placement for the front-facing camera, which means I no longer have to awkwardly look to the side during video calls. Or support for floaty Magic Keyboard Folio with detachable keyboard and base.
But it wasn’t long before the bubble burst. When you check the numbers, reality begins. That has no additional cost accessory (Apple charges $249 for the Keyboard Folio). It’s hard to justify the $120 price increase over its predecessor – especially when one of the “upgrades” is the removal of the headphone jack. The fact that Apple continues to sell Ninth generation iPad for $329 and you can usually find iPad Air for about $519 at retailers like Amazon. The 10th generation tablet is in an odd location.
Photo: Apple
This redesign on iPad simply catches up with the rest of the lineup. The A14 chipset that powers it, although very versatile, is two years old. The screen is bigger, but it’s still not fully laminated — there’s an air gap between the glass and the screen, so using it with the Apple Pencil doesn’t feel exactly like it does with more expensive iPads . The USB-C port for which I am grateful, require an adapter charge First generation Apple Pencil—Because, yes, confusingly, this iPad does not support the second-generation Apple Pencil. At first, the medium feels exciting and new, until you realize that you are only paying for cosmetic changes. Apple almost got me.
A fresh look
The iPad is ultimately like the rest of Apple’s tablet line-up. The Home button is gone, but there’s no Face ID here. Instead, Touch ID is built into the top power button like on the iPad Mini and iPad Air. The uniform bezels are still tough compared to the ones on the iPad Pro, but it’s not like the ninth-generation iPad with thick bezels at the top and bottom. They’re less distracting here, and the 10th-gen vehicles really have a modern feel to them.
The screen is also slightly larger, measuring 10.9 inches (up from 10.2 inches). I spend most of my workday in front of a screen, so this extra space feels less cramped than this iPad’s predecessor—especially when I use it as a laptop. sub screen with me MacBook Pro. The display currently uses a Liquid Retina panel, which basically means it’s still an IPS LED but with rounded corners. It sucks that the brightness is still stuck at 500 nits — that’s perfectly fine indoors, but working by the window, I had to turn the brightness up to maximum to be able to see anything. And because there’s no anti-reflective coating, there’s a lot of distracting glare. (I recommend choosing an anti-glare screen protector.)
A bigger annoyance if you use the Apple Pencil a lot, is the fact that this iPad still doesn’t have a fully laminated display. That means there is a gap between the screen and the glass. Its strong, but it is noticeable when drawing thin lines. This is the only iPad that doesn’t, and considering the price increase, it has to be here.
