This is the second in a series of posts reviewing Apple’s 2024 across their major product lines. I did this last year and you can read last year’s iPad report card here.

iPad Pro

I'm so happy I get to say it was a big year for the iPad Pro! After the 2018 iPad Pro lived on for 6 years without a redesign, we finally got something new this time with the iPad Pro, and I think it’s the best update to the iPad Pro lineup since that 2018 model hit the scene. The new Pro unexpectedly debuted the M4 processor lineup, making it the fastest computer Apple made in some specific tests, which is always fun. It also got incredibly thin, shrunk the bezels, moved the camera to the long side so it works better in video calls, and the screen tech got updated to OLED and blew our freaking socks off.

They even made the 11” model (my favorite) a first-class citizen again! For many years the 11” version had worse screen tech than its larger sibling, but now you get all the beautiful OLED goodness on this model. I’m writing this post on that 11” iPad Pro and dear lord, it’s a special screen.

Put whatever baggage you bring to the iPad about its software aside, and I think we can agree that this is a killer iPad for people who want the best iPad consumer technology makes possible in 2024.

iPad Air

The iPad Air got a solid update this year, bumping from the M1 to the M2 chip, but more notably it got a 13” model added to the lineup. I think it’s great to see more size options in the non-Pro iPads, and my dad even bought a 13” Air recently as he said he wanted the extra space to make things easier to read. Oh, and it was good to see 64GB be banished from the Air and mini lineups this year, as that is far too little storage even for light users.

There’s honestly not much more to say about this one other than to mention the Apple Pencil which had a good year as well. The Apple Pencil Pro was released, but instead of being a 4th Pencil in the lineup, confounding things more than ever, Apple’s gotten their ducks in a row and the Apple Pencil story makes perfect sense now. All iPads released in 2024 support the Pencil Pro and the cheaper Pencil (USB-C). The Apple Pencil lineup was in chaos last year, so it’s great to see them right the ship throughout 2024.

iPad mini

It had been years since the iPad mini got an update, but we were graced with a new edition this year, but this wasn’t exactly a barn-burner of an update. The new A17 Pro chip is nice and they improved (but didn’t completely fix) the jelly scrolling issue many people had with the last model, but there wasn’t much else. At least the base storage jumped to 128GB just like the Air. It would have been great to see more here, but a spec bump feels about what we should expect from mini updates until the next overall iPad design refresh.

iPad

Apple did do what I predicted last year and eliminated the 9th gen iPad from their lineup and brought the entry price of the 10th gen to $349, which I think was a good move. My wife uses the 10th gen iPad and she’s happy enough with it, although I can’t help but think “eww” every time I see that display, which feels like it’s a decade behind what all of Apple’s other products have in terms of display tech. Seriously, you probably don’t think about how nice laminated displays are because they’re so ubiquitous, but you really appreciate it once you are reminded what screens looked like before we were doing that.

Other than the price change and 9th gen elimination, there were no other updates here, so there’s not much to say other than…

What I want in 2025

After getting zero iPad updates in 2023, a first in iPad’s history, we saw a wave of iPads this year. The one left out was the base iPad, which is still rocking it’s 2022 specs. I fully expect to see the 11th gen iPad in 2025, and I think it will come with a jump to the A17 Pro or M1 processor, enabling Apple Intelligence. I have a sneaking suspicion that the base storage will remain at 64GB, which will (rightly) be a point of contention in reviews of the product. I also expect it to get support for the Apple Pencil Pro, completing Apple’s transition from Pencil chaos to a perfectly clean lineup where all iPads work with “the good Pencil” and “the better Pencil.” I expect the colors to shift a little but the rest of the physical specs, including the display, to remain basically the same.

On the mini front I would be shocked if we saw anything new here at all.

I also feel like the Air is going to take the year off as the next chip upgrade would probably be to the M4 (M3 never made it to the iPad line, so I think Apple is just moving on from this generation) and that would bring it in line with the Pros which I don’t see happening. If we see a Pro update in the first half of the year, then I think the chances of a new Air rise quite a bit for the fall.

These predictions have been pretty safe so far, so let’s get a little riskier with the iPad Pro, which I do expect to get an update again in 2025. I think the physical form factor will remain the same, however the chip inside will get an upgrade. This could be the M5, but I have a sneaky suspicion that this could be the year the Pro chip makes its way to the iPad. I know it’s a little crazy, but I can see a reality where Apple appeals to the truly hardcore iPad users who do video editing or other creative jobs and give them an iPad with even more power. This could be an option for the M5 models, or it could even be an M4 Pro variant added to the existing iPad Pro line. This could also come with the first iPads with 24 or 32GB RAM on the Pro models (iPad Pros are 8/16GB today depending on storage). And yes, I do expect these to have eye-watering price tags.

How is the iPad as we exit 2024?

I think 2024 was a pretty great year for the iPad on the hardware front, and I'm so happy to be able to say that after last year. The new mini is okay, but the new Air is very good and the new Pro is spectacular. Many of my complaints about Apple Intelligence apply to these iPads as well, but I think these products stand up on their own as good to great updates to their respective product lines even if you take AI out of the equation entirely. Hell, that's basically what Apple did and I think it's helped! The iPad Pro marketing page just mentions Apple Intelligence in passing when listing the benefits of the M4 processor, but the rest of the page seems quite aligned with the things that people actually want from a new iPad and that's great to see.

When I was coming up with my hopes for 2025 above, I was happy that all of those hopes were to make great products better, there was no need to "save" anything that had fallen out of favor.

The one dark mark on the iPad in 2024 was that the software basically stood still. The vibe among the iPad enthusiasts seems to be near shock in how little changes in iPadOS 18, and while that may be another casualty of Apple Intelligence, it is a bit of a bummer. iPadOS 18 is the 15th major OS release for iPads, so it's not a huge surprise that we're not getting revolutionary changes each year, but I do think iPad fans felt a bit forgotten this year and I hope they don't feel that way next year.

On the whole, a very good year for the iPad and I'm looking forward to what they do next.