Apple iPad 2022 Review: The New Minimum

Farewell, physical home button; you served us well, but with the arrival of Apple's 10th-generation iPad (2022), you receive your much-deserved retirement papers. Only, not quite, because Apple is keeping the 9th-generation iPad around as a value play. Still, if we're talking new-new hardware, the 10th-generation iPad catches up with its tablet and smartphone siblings by ditching the physical in favor of swipes.

It's a sensible decision, not least because it frees the iPad's display to stretch — like a luxuriating kitten — out closer to the edges of the slate. There are still bezels, of course, but since you need somewhere to grip the tablet, I'll not begrudge them. The 10.9-inch Liquid Retina panel is, on paper at least, much the same as that on the most recent iPad Air, though it's not identical.

Chris Davies/SlashGear

That means a healthy 2360 x 1640 resolution, True Tone automatic color temperature adjustment, 500 nits of brightness — fine for indoor use, but less so when facing bright sunlight — and a fingerprint-proof coating. Apple leaves off the iPad Air's anti-reflective coating, however, which is a shame because that makes for a much nicer display day to day. The bigger loss, though, is P3 color gamut support. Side by side, the iPad Air's screen just looks nicer than that of the 2022 iPad. That's not to say the new, cheaper tablet is bad, but going back from the iPad Air experience may be tricky.

Sadly, the hover support that Apple added to the latest iPad Pro models isn't carried over here. That may not seem like much, but the ability to see what the effect of the stylus will be before you actually make contact with the display has an outsized impact on how usable it is. It shouldn't undermine the usefulness of apps like Freeform, though, which will be added to iPadOS 16 later in the year. Effectively a mind-mapping tool, it's an effectively infinite whiteboard that multiple people can collaborate on in real time. That includes handwriting, embedding images, videos, documents, links, and other content, and all with cross-platform support so that the same Freeform project can be accessed across Apple devices.

That's clever, but honestly, it's the smaller — but more intuitive — improvements and refinements that I'm enjoying. Things like the boosted search in Mail, and its ability to remind you if you wrote that you were going to attach a file but then try to send without one. Live Text, and its ability to extract text from both still images and paused video, has already demonstrated its worth on iPhone; now, it's arriving on iPad, too. The same goes for the ability to automagically clip objects from images and paste them — without all the messy background — into other images or documents. Of course, existing iPad owners are getting the iPadOS 16.1 update, too. 

The Apple Pencil isn't the only accessory Apple hopes to sell you. As before, there's a Smart Folio cover that protects the front and back of the tablet and acts as a two-angle stand. However, 2022 brings the new Magic Keyboard Folio, and it's a two-part assembly. A protective panel magnetically clings to the rear of the tablet, with an adjustable kickstand folding out to hold the iPad up. 

Then, a keyboard attaches to the Smart Connector on the bottom edge. It has hard keys with 1mm of travel and feels pretty much just like the keyboard offered with the iPad Pro. There's also a 14-key function row this time around, with shortcuts for things like screen brightness, search, volume, and media control. It'll fold up to protect the display when closed or all the way around the back — either as-is or flipped to keep the keys hidden — when you just want the tablet experience — or, since it's a separate part, you can tug it off altogether but still use the kick-stand. It's $249, while the Apple Pencil is $99.

Microsoft's Surface Go 3 is the obvious competitor on that front, and boasts a cheaper starting price, though by the time you reach a less-frustrating hardware configuration — and add in the optional keyboard and pen — the Windows tablet's price is about on par with Apple's. Chrome OS, meanwhile, has some reasonable options, though we'll probably need to see what next year's Android-based Pixel Tablet offers to see Google's most direct alternative.

As a package, then, Apple's offer this year really does feel well suited to its target audience. I suspect a lot of people who might consider an M1 MacBook Air would be just as much at home doing the same tasks on the new iPad with the Magic Keyboard Folio. I wish the latter was $50 to $100 less expensive, but it's still a pairing that starts at $698 — or $848 with the useful integrated 5G that Apple continues to withhold from its laptop range.

The same sort of setup with the old iPad felt a little more cramped, and the typing experience was less refined with its more basic keyboard cover. With proper keys this time around, and pushing the screen out to better fill the available space, the 2022 iPad feels less like a budget compromise. As a result, while you could go cheaper, you probably shouldn't.