8.1
Apple iPad (9th gen, 2021)
Like
- Better A13 processor
- More storage (64/256GB)
- Center Stage camera zooms in video chats
- Works with older keyboard cases
- Headphone jack
Don’t like
- Older design
- No USB-C
- Uses first-gen Pencil
My original review from 2021 is below.
The 9th-gen iPad isn’t new. It isn’t fancy. It has a big old circular home button. It still has big bezels around the screen. There’s no USB-C. No Magic Keyboard or newer Pencil support. But I’m OK with that, for its price, and you or your kids might be, too.
I wrote this review on the new ninth-gen iPad. I’m able to do this because the iPad allows connections to keyboard cases, like the Apple smart keyboard cover I’m using to write this. It’s not as good as the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro and Air, but it’s good enough (and costs less). And good enough is exactly what the ninth-gen iPad is: In fact, compared with all other iPads right now, it still covers all the bases just fine. Let me explain.
Next to the new iPad Mini (right), the new iPad (left) may seem a throwback. But hey, from a distance, it looks pretty similar.
Design: The same
It looks exactly the same as last year. It has that old circle Touch ID button. It still uses Lightning, not USB-C. And, you know what? It’s fine. It works with last year’s iPad cases. And it’s the last iPad on Earth that has a real headphone jack. And its starting price is the same. But Apple’s bumped the storage up, finally, with 64GB on the $329 (£319, AU$499) version — you could survive with that, just about — and 256GB on the $479 version, which I’d recommend without a doubt if you’re planning to download any movies for travel, or any content-making apps.
If you didn’t have any big emotions about last year’s iPad, this year’s basic model won’t wow. It would be nice to have less bezel, switch away from Lightning and also, to have stereo speakers. (Sound only comes out of one side of the iPad in landscape mode, like always, but the fancier iPads fix that. Answer: Deal with it or use headphones.)
Pencil support is fine, but that older Pencil has nowhere to go unless you buy a case that has a loop to hold it (those do exist, like Logitech’s keyboard folios). And the front-facing camera is still stuck on the side in landscape mode, which is how you’ll have it set up for laptop-style use.
Watch this: iPad Mini 2021 vs. iPad 9th gen, reviewed: Which to buy
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