2022 iPad review: The best one—except for all the others

The front of the 2022 iPad.

Samuel Axon

The front of the 2022 iPad. Samuel Axon

The back of the 2022 iPad.

Samuel Axon

The back of the 2022 iPad. Samuel Axon

The front of the 2022 iPad. Samuel Axon

The back of the 2022 iPad. Samuel Axon

There was a time when Apple’s focus was on simplicity in its product lineups—on making a one-size-fits-all design for just about every consumer. In other words, it wasn’t too long ago that there was only one iPad.

Today, nothing could be further from reality. The iPad lineup includes six different models, not counting different finish colors or storage configurations, of course. Apple’s new tablet brings some welcome changes to the aging base iPad design, but it doesn’t quite carve out a strong position for itself in a robust iPad lineup.

Nonetheless, it modernizes an aging design and doesn’t shed anything that was great about its predecessor in the process—well, except for one thing, but we’ll get to that.

If the top-and-bottom bezels design of the original iPad seemed too outdated for you to tolerate, then you might consider buying this new 10th-generation model instead of its ninth-generation predecessor. But at least as many potential buyers will be better served by the still-available previous-generation model or the pricier iPad Air.

Specifications

Apart from the iPad’s design, not much has changed in terms of specifications over the previous tablet. The device is still offered in two storage configurations (64GB and 256GB), it still has a 12-megapixel front-facing camera that can record 1080p video at up to 60 fps, it still has stereo speakers (in landscape orientation this time) and dual microphones, it manages the same battery life, and the display still offers a pixel density of 264 pixels per inch, with a maximum brightness of 500 nits.

So what’s different? Well, the A14 system-on-a-chip to start. The ninth-generation iPad had the A13, one generation behind this one. Like its predecessor, the A14 has a CPU, a GPU, an NPU, and an ISP, among other things. But it isn’t radically different from the A13; it should offer 10–20 percent faster performance depending on the task. (We’ll test that shortly.)

While the screen has the same pixel density as we saw in the ninth-generation iPad, it has a new resolution: 2,360 by 1,640 pixels. That’s because the screen is bigger—10.9 inches diagonally instead of 10.2—thanks to significant reductions of the top and bottom bezels. The screen design differs from the pricier iPad Air in an important way: There’s an air gap that makes the Apple Pencil peripheral feel just a bit worse to use. That was the case with the ninth-generation iPad, too, so just note that there has been no improvement there with this refresh.

The rear camera has jumped from 8 megapixels to 12, with no optical zoom. It also can capture 4K video at up to 60 fps. It supports Smart HDR 3, Apple’s computational photography solution for taking better photos in some situations, especially in low light. The downside is that some photos have a processed look, as we discussed at length in our most recent iPhone review. We don’t see the iPad as primarily a photography device, so we won’t spend much time on it here, but the basics are there if you need them.

The new iPad supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 for connectivity, as well as 5G—a first for this model in all cases. The previous model supported slightly older Wi-Fi and Bluetooth standards and capped out at 4G. That said, most people don’t have Wi-Fi 6 routers, and 5G is only notably faster in certain urban areas, so these connectivity changes needn’t drive most people to upgrade.

Another notable change is the move from a Lightning port to USB-C. Apple had already moved the rest of the iPad lineup apart from the base iPad to the more popular USB-C connection.

The real benefit of moving to USB-C is that since it’s an industry standard, there will likely be better interoperability with a wider variety of chargers and peripherals. The iPad doesn’t always play nice with third-party peripherals anyway, but you’re bound to have more options regardless. You might have to buy some new adapters or cords if you’re coming from a Lightning-equipped iPad, though.

All told, this iPad is a bit of an amalgamation of the previous-generation iPad Air and the previous-generation iPad. It has been called “the FrankeniPad” in the Ars Technica Slack—and that about sums it up.

Oh, and one last note on the specs: The 64GB entry-level configuration is suitable only for devices used in limited contexts like point-of-sale or some educational uses. If you’re going to be loading apps, games, music, or movies onto this device, you’ll want more storage. The next step up is 256GB, for a whopping $150 more. For that reason, we don’t think of this iPad as being quite as affordable as it claims to be for most users. That’s just something to keep in mind.

Design

If you’ve used an iPad Pro, an iPad mini, or an iPad Air recently, the new iPad will look familiar. That’s thanks to the new, home-button-free design. Apple calls it an “all-screen” design, but it’s not; there are bezels on the edges, and they’re a lot chunkier than the ones you get in the iPad Pro. This one looks more like the iPad Air.

In fact, it’s nearly indistinguishable from an iPad Air from even a couple of feet away. The only clue at that distance would be the color; the iPad comes in silver, blue, pink, and yellow. The iPad Air has a different set of colors. Even though the Air also comes in “pink” and “blue,” they’re different shades than what we see here.

We don’t mind the bezels, though; they make the iPad comfortable to hold without blocking the screen. If your finger does touch the screen, it usually won’t cause an issue because the iPad does a good job of rejecting unintentional touches. The materials feel nice, and the only thing that breaks this plain-slab look is a camera bump on the back. It’s tiny compared to the camera bump on modern flagship iPhones, though.

There are three buttons, all along the edges. There are the volume up and down buttons, and there’s an all-rounder on the top that’s used to wake the device from sleep, turn it off, and so on. Like the iPad Air and iPad mini, this device uses Touch ID instead of the Face ID authentication method seen in the iPad Pro and most modern iPhones. Since the home button has been axed, though, you press your finger lightly on the top button to have your fingerprint read—again, just like you would on an iPad Air. This can feel a little finickier than reading your fingerprint on the home button did, but it gets the job done.

The camera bump isn’t too invasive compared to some other recent Apple devices.

Samuel Axon

The camera bump isn’t too invasive compared to some other recent Apple devices. Samuel Axon

Touch ID returns, this time on a button on the side.

Samuel Axon

Touch ID returns, this time on a button on the side. Samuel Axon

The camera bump isn’t too invasive compared to some other recent Apple devices. Samuel Axon

Touch ID returns, this time on a button on the side. Samuel Axon

As for other buttons, you just get these volume controls.

Samuel Axon

As for other buttons, you just get these volume controls. Samuel Axon

We’ve moved on to USB-C, but we lost a headphone jack.

Samuel Axon

We’ve moved on to USB-C, but we lost a headphone jack. Samuel Axon

As for other buttons, you just get these volume controls. Samuel Axon

We’ve moved on to USB-C, but we lost a headphone jack. Samuel Axon

While there’s no Face ID, there is a 12 MP front-facing selfie camera. For the first time in the iPad’s history, that camera is now placed on one of the longer edges of the device—in the middle of what would be the top of the iPad if you have it in a landscape orientation while attached to a keyboard case.

For what feels like years now, we’ve been mainly using the iPad in landscape mode, either on a desk with a keyboard or in our hands while watching a movie or playing a game, so this change seems long overdue. Among other things, it means you look a little more natural when you’re on video calls while the iPad is sitting on a desk with a keyboard attachment. Apple introduced some software solutions to address that issue in prior iPads, and they helped a bit, but this is the ideal answer to the problem, and we’re glad to see it.

Reviewers and users have been asking for this camera position change for a while, and it seems a little strange it has come to the low-end iPad first. To us, this looks like a signal that Apple plans to redesign the iPad Pro, iPad mini, and iPad Air with this change, too, so look out for that in the next year or two if you’re considering purchasing one of those models.

There is one major omission compared to the previous iPad: The new iPad lacks a headphone jack. You’ll need to use either USB-C headphones or wireless ones like AirPods. That might make sense with more expensive tablets like the iPad Pro, in that it stands to reason that if you’re going all in on such a pricy tablet, you might be willing to get the best headphones Apple offers, too. But in a device on the lower end of the lineup, it’s not great that you have to spend at least $129 extra (almost 30 percent of the tablet’s base price) to get a matching audio solution from Apple.

Otherwise, we like this iPad’s design; it was great on the iPad Air, and it’s great here, too. It’s a nice step up over the ninth-generation iPad’s design, which hadn’t changed significantly in many years. With those big top and bottom bezels, the old iPad was starting to feel cramped by modern standards.

That said, the redesign doesn’t do anything to change how you’d use it. For most people, the old design was just fine. Since the screen isn’t improved in any significant way beyond adding on a few more pixels, we’re not inclined to recommend that you jump from another recent iPad to this one on the basis of the redesign alone.

Peripherals

As has been the case with iPads for a long time—and despite Apple’s recent emphasis in software updates—this iPad is best suited for passive consumption of content while held in your hand. However, Apple provides a couple of key peripheral options.

Apple Pencil

The first is the Apple Pencil, which you can use to make handwritten notes and draw in or interact with creative applications. You can even write directly into any text field in the operating system and a strong handwriting recognition feature will turn that into text on the fly. It’s neat. There’s definitely a crowd of iPad users who use the Pencil in tandem with voice recognition to interact with the iPad like a sort of intelligent notepad, and that approach works well on this device.

Unfortunately, it only supports the first-generation Apple Pencil. The second-generation model offers several improvements, like a lighter and more comfortable design, special gestures, nicer materials, and most importantly, a much less awkward charging solution.

To make matters worse, Apple hasn’t redesigned the first-generation Apple Pencil with USB-C. Since it charges via a physical connection, that means you’ll need to use an adapter with the iPad. It’s cheap, and it’s included with new Pencils, but this charging design (which has you sticking the Pencil into the port on the bottom of the iPad awkwardly for extended periods of time) was already one of Apple’s all-time worst design choices. Now that oft-mocked solution includes a mandatory adapter to boot. Ouch!

Sure, it’s good that folks coming to this iPad from a previous model can bring their old first-generation Pencils along, but it’s a real drag for new iPad owners, and we have to believe there was a better solution available to Apple and its users here. Alas.

Magic Keyboard Folio

It seems that when there’s a new iPad, there’s a new keyboard peripheral. The Magic Keyboard Folio is Apple’s latest take on the tablet-attached keyboard. The good news is that the keyboard itself is great. The keys feel similar to those on a MacBook keyboard, and there’s even a function row with controls for brightness, volume, and so on.

I typed a chunk of this review using the Magic Keyboard Folio with the iPad on a desk, and it felt good. Many tablet-attached keyboards feel notably inferior to their laptop counterparts, but that’s not true here.

It feels just as good as the keyboard peripherals you can buy for the iPad Pro. The addition of the function row arguably makes this keyboard superior to the iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard—though it seems a safe bet that Apple will add one to the Pro’s keyboard attachment in its next redesign.

The Magic Keyboard Folio comes in two attachable parts, which is a little awkward compared to a single-piece design, if you ask us.

Samuel Axon

The Magic Keyboard Folio comes in two attachable parts, which is a little awkward compared to a single-piece design, if you ask us. Samuel Axon

The keys are great, though, and you get a function and media controls row.

Samuel Axon

The keys are great, though, and you get a function and media controls row. Samuel Axon

Here’s the iPad wrapped up in a closed Magic Keyboard Folio, which functions as a case.

Samuel Axon

Here’s the iPad wrapped up in a closed Magic Keyboard Folio, which functions as a case. Samuel Axon

The keys are great, though, and you get a function and media controls row. Samuel Axon

Here’s the iPad wrapped up in a closed Magic Keyboard Folio, which functions as a case. Samuel Axon

The Magic Keyboard Folio also includes a trackpad. It’s a bit cramped, but it works great otherwise. Both the keyboard and trackpad are difficult to use gracefully in your lap, though; they’re clearly designed for use on a desk.

We’d also be remiss not to note that this thing is the spitting image of Microsoft’s Surface keyboard, right down to an adjustable flap at the back. We like the stand-and-case design of the Surface keyboard slightly more but prefer the keys and layout of this keyboard.

The real downside to this peripheral is that it’s expensive. At $249, it’s more than half the cost of the base-configuration iPad itself. Yikes. Logitech offers more reasonably priced alternatives that feel almost as good, so most buyers of this iPad will want to go that route.

Performance

Based on the chip that Apple included here, you’d expect the 2022 iPad to perform almost exactly the same as the last-generation iPad Air, which also had an A14 inside. That’s pretty much what we found. We’ve tested this chip before, and there are no surprises here; it offers slightly better performance than the previous-generation iPad but falls notably behind the M1-equipped Air.

The best one—except for the others

Once upon a time, Apple offered just one iPad model. If that were the case today—if this was the only iPad—it would be an easy recommendation. It would be the best tablet you could buy, for any use case.

However, this is one of six distinct iPad models. Each of those other iPads—the ninth-generation iPad, the iPad mini, the iPad Air, the 11-inch iPad Pro, and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro—have a meaningful place in Apple’s lineup, laser-targeting a particular type of user with unique needs.

This iPad doesn’t. Like the iPads of years ago, it’s trying to be everything for everybody by drawing both the best and the worst features and components from the previous base iPad and the iPad Air.

But if you’re just looking for a point-of-sale device, a personal way to passively read the news or watch TV, or an entry-level gaming or education device for your kids, look no further than the $329, ninth-generation iPad; this 10th-generation model’s Air-like redesign doesn’t add anything essential to that, but it adds at least $129 to the price.

If you’re looking for a productivity and creative device for taking notes, typing on the go, and top-notch performance—in other words, the full iPad experience—you can grab the iPad Air, starting at $599. For users interested in those things, it’s worth the extra money.