Naming the line "Pro" is not a stupid idea. It's absolutely required, otherwise anyone would confuse the cheaper iPAD lacking lots of features with the Pros.
When I make all these suggestions I not only talk about the fanboys which have owned tons of Apple products. I am mentioning the new customers or people like me which would benefit from an unique name even if it has the "Pro" attached to it that would make it easier to identify among 378 others.
If anyone here talks about videogame consoles in gaming communities I bet 1% will know which generation a specific product came from. For example: the Super NES is from the 4th:
en.wikipedia.org
It's not important to know, for instance, the first Sony PlayStation console was released in 1994/1995 or the PS One revision came in the year 2000. When we talk about the PS1 we don't attach SCPH-1001 or SCPH-9001 into the name (for a quick search, that's what I mean).
We may be looking for all that, but what it matters in the end is if we are talking about the PS1 and not PS4, or the old Dreamcast.
The screen size is never going to be a major difference between the iPADs, because there are other companies offering similar products.
When you look for a tablet you are concerned if the name attached to it conveys something (and which company is behind it, of course) that means it's a top product with a combination of features that make it better among similar models.
That's how I can tell you the iPhone 4 is inferior to the iPhone 11.
So if I tell you "PlayStation" you know this is one of the best-selling videogames of all time because it had a massive library, good graphics, etc. which Atari Jaguar lacked.
At the same time if I tell you that I own an iPAD Pro you will have to ask me what screen size the device has, in an attempt to first check if it's an old model such as the IPP 9.7 from 2016 or the 10.5" from 2017.
If it happens to be the IPP 11" or 12.9" then it could be multiple ones, so I have to add the year.
iPad Pro 12.9'' from 2015
iPad Pro 12.9'' from 2017
iPad Pro 12.9'' from 2018
iPad Pro 12.9'' from 2020
iPad Pro 12.9'' from 2021
The problem here is that telling you it's from the year 2018 or 2020 doesn't mean anything, that if it's from 2018 instead of 2020 then it's useless, garbage.
While stuff that came in 2021/a few years later is miles better.
How would you know, if you only had this information about it?
iPad Pro 12.9'' 2018
iPad Pro 12.9'' 2020
Knowing the year means nothing. At least to me.
When you buy a tablet it is supposed to last MANY YEARS, not to be replaced so quickly.
That's why I mentioned Windows XP. It was released in 2001 and was the most widely used operating system until August 2012 (remember Windows Vista and Windows 7 were released in 2007/2009).
If I replace "Windows XP" with "Windows 2001" or "Windows 5.1" no one will know I am mentioning XP.
Sometimes even if you attribute numbers to relevant releases it may be a bad idea. I stopped investing in videogames more than a decade ago (I only care about PCs). Yet even I know the PS3 was way different than my old PS2 and the same for the PS4 compared to what came before. But I doubt the PS5 is much different from the PS4. Meaning just naming it "PlayStation" has not drawn my attention, the name has been worn out.
Repeating the same name over and over is not a good marketing strategy.
Insisting in naming it "PLAYSTATION" suggests to me Sony is not being original. A few decades ago it was really common to use these odd names. Today it sounds ridiculous, for whatever reason...
When you say all iPAD Pros are... Pros! and nothing specific such as "iPAD Pro 4K" (even the Apple TV had that, that's why I know I am better buying the 5th gen from 2017 and not what came before - note how the insertion of "4K" was perfect and made me realize this is an improvement over the past releases) then you are implying (even if that was not your intention) that all of them are the same.
Like I said: if Apple makes major changes such as adding 5G, 2 TB of space, 16 GB of RAM, better battery, etc. much better CPU/GPU, OLED, etc.
Then it has to put a new name attached to it. If the changes are small then I would propose they name it like this:
iPAD Pro 1st gen
iPAD Pro 2nd gen
iPAD Pro 3rd gen
iPAD Pro 4th gen
Such as we do when we release iOS 14.0, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3
And then iPAD M1 or anything else like iPAD Max or iPAD Pro Max to make you forget everything that came before.
When Apple makes a significant release (iOS 15) then it's way different from 14.X. You may have tons of 14.X releases, with few changes/fixes. That's to be expected.
So if they release something with a new name we could tell it's a departure from past releases.
We could easily find in all search engines.
Naming it Pro again is in the eyes of customers as effective as saying this can be compared to an old IPP 9.7 from 2016. I am not implying we are all dumb and would be easily fooled by a mere change in a product's name.
I am saying it's a mistake to insist in calling twins by the same name. On the surface they may look the same, inside and if you follow their lives they are totally different. Two human beings.
You wouldn't call one "Michael 11:05 AM" and the other "Michael 11:09 AM", would you?
When you look for a new monitor the first thing the store tells you it's what is the intended use:
Gaming ? 5K/4K/2K ? Curved ? UltraWide ? Thunderbolt ? Portable ?
Then in a monitor page you read stuff like that:
************
[COMPANY'S NAME] FV43U 43" QLED UHD 4K 3840 x 2160 144Hz 1ms (MPRT) FreeSync Premium Pro, 1 x Display Port 1.4, 2 x HDMI 2.1, 2 x USB 3.0, KVM w/ USB Type-C Gaming Monitor
************
Knowing it's the number 4 release from Samsung doesn't tell me anything, if it's good or bad. What I need to know isn't there in the title.
Knowing it has been released in 2021 is also useless information, because crap is released every year, such as the basic iPADs. For example: a 4K monitor with a 60 Hz refresh rate against another 4K with 120 Hz.
Of course if I call both 60 and 120 Hz monitors "Pros" I am scamming the customers.
Don't you think this is the case?
Even worse is to call the regular iPAD as "iPAD 2020" or "iPAD 5th generation" while at the same time releasing the Air and Pro Lines which also make use of the "2nd/3rd/etc. generation" and year.
If the "BASIC" iPAD and the Air are both lacking stuff which the best iPAD has, then why release the BASIC + Air?
From a marketing standpoint everything I said makes sense.