The New iPad Lacks Imagination

Apple's new seventh-generation iPad isn't much better than the sixth-generation iPad. It looks like a great iPad, and it's going to succeed because there aren't many other options for high-quality, easy-to-use, consumer tablets. But for Apple to break through to new markets, it's going to have to rethink the iPad experience more aggressively.

The iPad basically invented the consumer tablet market. Everyone bought one who wanted one. It satisfied customers, who kept their iPads and upgraded them slowly. And it's crowded out most of its mid-priced competitors from the market, whether it's Asus, Acer, Samsung, or LG.

According to IDC, the tablet market has been in decline for years, settling down recently to 32.2 million units in the second quarter of 2019, from a peak of 78.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Here in the US, at least, nobody's trying that hard to compete with the iPad as a reasonably priced consumer tablet. (The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 doesn't count as trying hard, as that part of Samsung's lineup hasn't been selling very well for a few years now.) So Apple's seeking richer shores with the iPad. But as we've been seeing for the past few years, achieving Apple's goals has been a little difficult without giving up the iPad's essential iPadness.

Tablets vs. 2-in-1s

Along with the decline of the tablet, we've seen the rise of the 2-in-1—laptops that function as tablets, too. The ultimate example, of course, is Microsoft's Surface lineup, but that's where tablet makers like Acer and Asus have largely gone, with considerable success. If Apple is going to grow the iPad market, it needs a bite of that. That's the point of the iPad Pro, but the low-cost iPad could have a role to play there as well.

There's a big market for sub-$750 laptops. We review them all the time. The $329 iPad, plus keyboard, is Apple's lowest-cost laptop, and Apple wanted to make it crystal clear that iPadOS is an OS that lets you get your work done. That's true, to some extent—I use an iPad as my traveling writing computer, and Apple has improved its work friendliness with multiple window support and a file manager in recent years. But iPadOS works so differently than the two mainstream productivity operating systems, macOS and Windows, that it's been a hard sell to get people to move their full workflows over.

In schools, meanwhile, Chromebooks still rule. They're cheap, manageable, and most of all rugged. Apple has built comprehensive education software to help manage iPads and create beautiful multimedia lessons on them, but schools don't seem to be rising to the challenge in terms of creativity. Most of them just want to give kids a cheap box you can fill out web forms on and drop sometimes. Perhaps making the iPad tougher, without an expensive case, would help, but Apple can't give up the tablet's feather-light elegance.

For the iPad to break further into the 2-in-1 market, or to regain Apple's dominance in education, it would need to change. But changing, in that case, means giving up some of the iPad's key elements. It would mean making iPadOS's productivity features feel more natural for people coming over from Windows, Mac, or Chrome OS, or toughening up the tablets for kids.

Recommended by Our Editors

Apple iPad vs. iPad Air vs. iPad mini vs. iPad Pro: Which Tablet Should You Buy?

For now, the seventh-generation iPad remains a beautiful, usable, and friendly iPad. There's not really a lot of competition for it, but it isn't trying that hard to compete with anyone else.

Apple iPad mini (2019) Review