I think most of us want lighter/thinner devices. I know I do.
I had coffee, this morning, with a friend who purchased my old iPad 12.9 1st generation several months ago. At that time I went with the 10.5.
We compared the earlier model with my current 12.9 Pro 3rd generation. To be fair I only had my folio and he had the Apple keyboard case. But I don't think the Apple iPad Pro 3rd gen. folio would have made much difference in our overall comparison.
OMG the 1st generation iPad 12.9 hefted and looked like a "steampunk" version of the iPad! The old darlin' still works great BTW. No offense steampunk fans
The 1st generation iPad 12.9 is of course heavier, larger, and thicker. No surprise when you compare specs "on paper".
But, until I compared
the old to new, in person, I don't think I really appreciated the design progress until we made
that side by side physical comparison. Same screen size. "Whoa", I said to myself as I let it sink in.
So, has Apple sacrificed durability over design? Unfortunately, I think they have to some extent. I don't want to treat my iPad Pro 12.9 3rd generation like a "snowflake". So, I am at least going to keep the Apple folio and keyboard folio on it at all times. Maybe an upgrade to the Otterbox Symmetry is in the offing. I don't think that will add too much more size and weight over the folios.
So is there a middle ground in design that considers durability vs. design? I don't know. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy the heck out of my current iPad.