Apple's big iPad design choice could signal a permanent change in the way we think about the tablet

IPad Pro with M4 chipset.

In the fourteen years since Apple launched the iPad, the device has gone from a glorified giant iPhone to a bonafide laptop replacement. Apple’s new M4 iPad Pro boasts a chip more powerful than some of Apple’s best MacBooks, such as the M3 MacBook Air, and a stylish Magic Keyboard with aluminum to mimic that premium laptop experience. 

This year, Apple’s new best iPads, the iPad Pro and the new M2 iPad Air, also got new landscape-oriented cameras to reflect that most people use their iPads in landscape as a laptop replacement, rather than in portrait. In fact, there’s only really one detail change that would seal the deal, and Apple is thinking about pulling the trigger.