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All iPads Top 5 Luckyest iPads

Homme

Homme

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 17, 2014
993
899
Sydney
In my opinion here are my reasons why


5. iPad Mini 4, for being the iPad to come out a good long time ago, that it’s A8 is superior to iPhone 6 ( trash iPhone) A8 thanks to 2GB of RAM and it’s 1.5Ghz SoC. It alongside its biggest brother the iPad Air 2 lost support as far back as the A10 iPhones and iPod Touch. That alone makes the iPad Mini 4 a well capable iPad against the iPhone 7 Plus in terms of security updates

4. Original GOAT, the iPad Air 2. it and the first gen iPad Pro made them far better than iPhones in terms of software support. A10X continues this trend but the A8X is top notch quality back then and is now for a couple of more years in terms of app support and security updates

The other two in another paragraph

3. iPad 5th Gen. is mentioned because it’s got iPadOS 16 while having the A9 SoC while iPhone 7, 7 plus and Touch 7th Gen with their A10 did not get iOS 16 ( though iOS 16 is superior to iPadOS 16 which is a very boring update

2. iPad 6th Gen: this iPad with its A10 and 2GB of RAM has iPadOS 17. Yes. That is a very lucky iPad which it has made Apple differ between iPad and iPhone in terms of OS updates

But number 1 which takes the cake

the iPad 7th generation

this iPad with its A10 and 3GB of RAM has iPadOS 18 and only pre A12 and newer SoC to get it . Yes. That is a very lucky iPad which it has made Apple differ between iPad and iPhone in terms of OS updates

But arguably the best thing about iPadOS 18 can prove how incredible the A10 Fusion is in terms of features and longevity but the biggest thing which AUTOMATICALLY makes the iPad 7th gen lucky is the A10X iPads kit getting iPadOS 18 whilst it getting it ( yes it won’t get iPadOS 19 but iPadOS 18’s security and stability will last it for years)


Love how the A10 even for iPadOS 18 has the new control centre feature though.
 
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Another vote for the 2018 iPad Pro: Got mine at launch and still going strong. Battery isn't what it was, but other than that I have no complaints whatsoever. Honourable mention to the Air 2 which my wife still uses and loves despite (only recently) losing support for the latest iPadOS.
 
I’m 78 and don’t have the enthusiasm to continually update that some of the younger people do. As you get older your mantra is “if it works, it works”. I am using the 6th Gen iPad, I use it a lot as it’s my go to device. It works and I’ve just loaded iPadOS 17, when it stops working I’ll update.
 
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skyhawkmatthew said:
Another vote for the 2018 iPad Pro: Got mine at launch and still going strong. Battery isn't what it was, but other than that I have no complaints whatsoever. Honourable mention to the Air 2 which my wife still uses and loves despite (only recently) losing support for the latest iPadOS.
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but even with the iPad Air 2 losing the latest iPadOS Support 1 year later we have 3 iPhones and 3 iPad Models not get iOS/iPadOS 17 and we haven’t seen a year in which this has happened since the A6/A6X devices lost support a year after A5/A5X didn’t get iOS 10 so I think when it comes to app support/security support the 15/16 version may lose over time but almost at the same/similar times ( and don’t forget tens or hundreds of millions of supported devices alongside the Air 2)
 
Homme said:
In my opinion here are my reasons why

5. A10X iPads. It was lucky enough to have beaten the A11 Bionic in terms of OS Support as I have known that the A10X is the most superior Chip since the beginning and now A10X revivals A12 iPhones in terms of performance in areas but yeah

4. iPad Mini 4, for being the iPad to come out a good long time ago, that it’s A8 is superior to iPhone 6 ( trash iPhone) A8 thanks to 2GB of RAM and it’s 1.5Ghz SoC. It alongside its biggest brother the iPad Air 2 lost support as far back as the A10 iPhones and iPod Touch. That alone makes the iPad Mini 4 a well capable iPad against the iPhone 7 Plus in terms of security updates

3, Original GOAT, the iPad Air 2. it and the first gen iPad Pro made them far better than iPhones in terms of software support. A10X continues this trend but the A8X is top notch quality back then and is now for a couple of more years in terms of app support and security updates

The other two in another paragraph

2. iPad 5th Gen. is mentioned because it’s got iPadOS 16 while having the A9 SoC while iPhone 7, 7 plus and Touch 7th Gen with their A10 did not get iOS 16 ( though iOS 16 is superior to iPadOS 16 which is a very boring update

But number 1 which takes the cake

the iPad 6th generation

this iPad with its A10 and 2GB of RAM has iPadOS 17. Yes. That is a very lucky iPad which it has made Apple differ between iPad and iPhone in terms of OS updates

But arguably the best thing about it is iPadOS 17 can prove how incredible the A10 Fusion is in terms of features but the biggest things which AUTOMATICALLY makes the iPad 6th gen better than the 7 plus ( same A10 but with 3GB) is ( prepared to be embarrassed iPhone 7 users because this also includes iPadOS 16 with the iPad 6th Gen ( not including 7th Gen because it was released a year later and is in the middle between the 6th Gen iPad and A10X in terms of release date/performance/tenacity/luck)

What iPad 6 triumphs over iPhone 7

Passkeys. A very useful tool iPhone 7 users don’t get, on a budget iPad

Rapid security response ( very random thing but anyway)

But holy moly

iPad 6th gen proves that the A10 can handle customization on the Lock Screen and everything else like iOS 16, a huge win for this iPad

Widgets on the Lock Screen, another big win for iPad 6 Gen

Interactive widgets. What we have been needing for some time and it’s happened but it’s supported on the iPad 6 and not the iPhones. Yes it’s an embarrassment

I can’t think of more, im exhausted and please say your thoughts
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I tend to disagree with almost everything here... and agree with some of the following comments.
The main issue is that your "best" judgement is mainly based on OS support. For me there are much more important things, especially given that most iPads get very long OS support anyway.
For me what is important is how good is the experience with the iPad both when new and over the years, not if it gets one or 2 more years of support, especially as app compatibility is mostly fine for at least a couple of years after the end of support. And hardware is important from this point of view, including accessories.
I have (or have owned) the ipad 2, air 1, mini 2, air 2, pro 12.9 2015, mini 4, pro 9.7. pro 10.5, pro 11 2018, pro 12.9 2018, mini 5, pro 12.9 m1. If I manage to find the time I'll make a comment with my opinion on the experience with those devices (most of which I still own).
 
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I had the Air 2 and I will agree that it was a great iPad - so light and powerful. I have a 7th Gen that is a bit laggy on iPadOS 17, but also a 2020 iPad Pro 11-inch that continues to run like a champ after 3 years - I'm hoping for 5 years out of it.
 
Notwithstanding the iPad Pro 9.7 being booted and not having iPad OS17. It still works very well. Not seeing a rationale to invest in a new iPad at this juncture...
 
Sadly my iPad Pro 9.7 lost support with iPadOS 17, so I'd call its longevity only average. One more year and I would've felt like it was great. It's okay, though, because Apple's miserly decision to put 2GB of RAM on a "Pro" laptop in 2016 means that it's pretty dang slow. Playing YouTube videos in Safari is a real exercise in patience.
 
This is tough to answer because people value different things. I value performance and battery life, others value software longevity, others value things like accessory availability.

No iPad has withstood my own expectations thus far. All iPads, in my honest opinion, have vastly overstayed their software support lifespan, and have been obliterated by iOS updates.

32-bit iPads are disqualified because iOS 9 and 10 are abhorrent on those devices. The Air 1 has been obliterated by iOS 12. First and second-gen iPad Pros suffered a lot on iOS 12 (my 9.7-inch iPad Pro is decent on iOS 12, but the keyboard lags slightly and battery life is 25% worse than iOS 9), let alone iPadOS 16 and 17. 5th, 6th, and 7th-gen iPads suffered the same fate.

Maybe, just maybe, if I had to pick one, I’d echo the other comments: the 3rd-gen iPad Pro is the first iPad with a full-screen design language AND it has fared a lot better in terms of performance and battery life than all of its predecessors. It is, perhaps, the oldest perfectly usable iPad today. If - and only if - the 9.7-inch iPad Pro had the performance and battery life it has on iOS 12, I’d add it into the list. It isn’t perfect, but I’m happy with it. The closest to that (not perfection, but decent), is the 3rd-gen iPad Pro.

Candidates? Maybe, just maybe, M1 iPads? The iPad Air 5 and the 5th-gen iPad Pros? I don’t know what will their software longevity be, and I am fully aware that Apple can obliterate anything and everything through iOS updates, but those are my current candidates to overtake the 3rd-gen iPad Pro.

I absolutely love home-button iPads, but they’ve overstayed their software welcome. Maybe Apple can “save the species” by actually giving its last iteration (the 9th-gen iPad), a decent lifespan even on its final iOS version, but who knows.

I don’t know what the exact performance and battery life is of the 3rd-gen iPad, but I reckon it’s the oldest one I would be happy to use today, if fully updated. So my prize goes to that one. The rest? Too damaged. And I say this pretty sadly, as the 9.7-inch iPad Pro I’m writing this on is my favourite iPad ever.

I mean...
erikkfi said:
Sadly my iPad Pro 9.7 lost support with iPadOS 17, so I'd call its longevity only average. One more year and I would've felt like it was great. It's okay, though, because Apple's miserly decision to put 2GB of RAM on a "Pro" laptop in 2016 means that it's pretty dang slow. Playing YouTube videos in Safari is a real exercise in patience.
Click to expand...
This shouldn’t happen. At all. I cannot call an iPad “the best iPad ever” if it has overstayed its software welcome this much. This isn’t acceptable, sorry.

I just tried this on my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12, and there’s no difference with my Air 5. If this is slow, I can’t imagine how it fares for everything else. Like I said, the only issue mine has is a battery life 25% worse than iOS 9, and very sporadic, negligible keyboard lag (that can totally be overlooked: I wrote this on that device and the keyboard has been flawless. It hasn’t lagged once). If the final software iteration looked like this, I’d be happy. Sadly, I can’t say that with iPadOS 16, its final iteration. In spite of my issues, and seeing comments like these, I’m happy to have this iPad on, perhaps, the newest decent iOS version. When I lost iOS 9, I was almost forced into iPadOS 13. I was able to install iOS 12 by mere days.

In conclusion, there’s no iPad older than the 3rd-gen iPad Pro that has had a decent result, and no home-button iPad (sadly), that meets my expectations older than its final iteration, and even more sad is the fact that Apple has an absolute metric ton of iOS updates left to obliterate that model, too.

Edit: maybe the 8th-gen iPad with the A12 is fine, too? Then add that one to the list, for now.
 
And another vote for the 2018 iPad Pro. When I ordered the 2018 iPad Pro at launch, I remember feeling extravagant, as I already had iPad Mini 4, which was still going strong. Prior to which I had owned the original iPad, iPad 4, iPad Air (1st gen) & iPad Mini 2…so a lot of iPads, probably getting around 2yrs usage out of each. 5yrs on, my 2018 iPad Pro is still going. It turned out to be a great buy & I have more than had my money’s worth from the purchase.
 
Updating my thread to say that the 7th Gen iPad is the luckiest iPad ever because of iPadOS 18. So lucky in fact that it got it but the A10X iPads didn’t get it.

And it getting it proves how far the A10 SoC has conquered. The iPad 7 is better than the 7/7+ and even the 8/X ( yes the X in most cases) because they didn’t get iOS 16/iOS 17.
 
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Air 5: Lower launch price than the Air 4 it replaced, double the RAM of its smaller sibling the Mini 6, and for the first seven months of its life it had an identical chip to the latest iPad Pro (and also RAM, unless the Pro was bought with 1TB+ storage.) No other Air will have that, it’s obvious the Air will get the chip from the recently discontinued Pro.
 
Abazigal said:
For me, the 2018 iPad Pro. Still supported today, still running smoothly and supporting the latest accessories. Not bad for a 5-year old tablet.
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The iPad I kept the longest. I only upgraded to the 2024 Pro for the OLED display. If it didn’t have that, I would still be using the 2018 now.
 
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