Miles Somerville of
9to5Mac found the tablet to be a good value proposition at its price point. He described it as having a nearly identical appearance to its predecessor, but with improved battery life, enhanced performance owing to the upgrade from the
A10 Fusion to the
A12 Bionic, and better screen sensitivity for
Apple Pencil use, while continuing the poor implementation of Pencil charging on a perpendicular direction from the tablet's
Lightning port. Stein commended it for its faster processing that handled
iPadOS better than previous models, better support for Apple Pencil and keyboard cases, and a faster charger included in the box. He described the continuing design as "comfortably big enough" for typical content, with thoughtful touches, but a dated look because of the large bezels, and welcomed the ongoing inclusion of a
headphone jack and rear-facing camera that sits flush with the tablet body. He noted that the lack of screen lamination and consequent flex of the screen during touches could be noticeable to users of higher-end tablets, that the lack of flash on either rear or front camera would hinder low-light teleconferencing and
FaceTime Video use, and that the included amount of RAM was low compared to other tablets. == Timeline ==