My first >11.1-inch iPad was the first generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Barring the eventual dropping of support for it to run the latest iPadOS releases, it had a perfect feature set and did everything I wanted from it. The thing that caused me to ditch it was that I found the Smart Keyboard attachment to be indispensable and the one that Apple had for both the 1st and 2nd generation 12.9-inch iPad Pros had an Apple Quality Repair Extension Program that essentially entailed replacing the failed product with another product that would inevitably fail in the exact same way. After replacing three of these, I gave up and sold the aforementioned iPad Pro.
About three years ago, I bought an Apple Certified Refurbished 3rd Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro along with a Smart Keyboard Folio. The keyboard is awesome. I wish the folio offered better protection for the iPad itself (just this morning, I lightly bumped the iPad into a doorway leaving a very tiny mark). But, for what I want to do with this combo, it fits the bill! The only thing I'm not a fan of about this setup is that video calls aren't great due to Apple positioning the front-facing camera at the top in portrait mode on those, rather than landscape mode.
I'm not in a huge rush to get a new 12.9/13-inch iPad. My current one works fine and I'm guessing it'll be another year or two before A12X Bionic is on the chopping block in terms of iPadOS support. However, I'm always considering my eventual upgrade plan. Considering that, barring design changes and a failure-prone smart keyboard folio, the only important feature (to me) that is missing from a 1st Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro that the 3rd through 6th Generation models have is a modern enough SoC to run the current iPadOS release, the 12.9/13-inch iPad Air, on paper, is exactly what I want.
However, Apple is neither rating the existing Smart Keyboard Folio for the 3rd through 6th Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro as being compatible with the new "13-inch" iPad Air nor releasing a new model for it. I'm basically stuck with the older Magic Keyboard attachment as my sole first party option for that iPad. Considering the commonplace battery drain that the original Magic Keyboard for iPad has, I'm not exactly thrilled by that as a possible option. I could certainly spend more money on a 13-inch M4 iPad Pro and hope that its new Magic Keyboard attachment doesn't suffer from the same battery draining issues that its predecessor does. Considering the M4 iPad Pro has A LOT of new technology conventions (relative to iPads) and that they aren't cheap, this isn't an ideal option. I could go with an Apple Certified Refurbished 5th (M1) or 6th (M2) 12.9-inch iPad Pro and then get the Smart Keyboard Folio for that one, but then I lose out on the camera being where it should've been on a 12.9/13-inch iPad from the get-go. Short of switching to a '+' model of Samsung Galaxy Tab S or going with a third party keyboard attachment, all of my options here kind of suck.
It's a huge shame because, on paper, the "13-inch" iPad Air is otherwise perfect for my needs as an eventual replacement to my 3rd Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
About three years ago, I bought an Apple Certified Refurbished 3rd Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro along with a Smart Keyboard Folio. The keyboard is awesome. I wish the folio offered better protection for the iPad itself (just this morning, I lightly bumped the iPad into a doorway leaving a very tiny mark). But, for what I want to do with this combo, it fits the bill! The only thing I'm not a fan of about this setup is that video calls aren't great due to Apple positioning the front-facing camera at the top in portrait mode on those, rather than landscape mode.
I'm not in a huge rush to get a new 12.9/13-inch iPad. My current one works fine and I'm guessing it'll be another year or two before A12X Bionic is on the chopping block in terms of iPadOS support. However, I'm always considering my eventual upgrade plan. Considering that, barring design changes and a failure-prone smart keyboard folio, the only important feature (to me) that is missing from a 1st Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro that the 3rd through 6th Generation models have is a modern enough SoC to run the current iPadOS release, the 12.9/13-inch iPad Air, on paper, is exactly what I want.
However, Apple is neither rating the existing Smart Keyboard Folio for the 3rd through 6th Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro as being compatible with the new "13-inch" iPad Air nor releasing a new model for it. I'm basically stuck with the older Magic Keyboard attachment as my sole first party option for that iPad. Considering the commonplace battery drain that the original Magic Keyboard for iPad has, I'm not exactly thrilled by that as a possible option. I could certainly spend more money on a 13-inch M4 iPad Pro and hope that its new Magic Keyboard attachment doesn't suffer from the same battery draining issues that its predecessor does. Considering the M4 iPad Pro has A LOT of new technology conventions (relative to iPads) and that they aren't cheap, this isn't an ideal option. I could go with an Apple Certified Refurbished 5th (M1) or 6th (M2) 12.9-inch iPad Pro and then get the Smart Keyboard Folio for that one, but then I lose out on the camera being where it should've been on a 12.9/13-inch iPad from the get-go. Short of switching to a '+' model of Samsung Galaxy Tab S or going with a third party keyboard attachment, all of my options here kind of suck.
It's a huge shame because, on paper, the "13-inch" iPad Air is otherwise perfect for my needs as an eventual replacement to my 3rd Generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
