Exactly. And a 14" iPad would make scores even more readable. It is the only thing that I see making me update my first rev 12.9.
On the other hand, my iPhone is in serious danger of being permanently forgotten on my desk, because the only reliable way I see to sync my desktop calendar to mobile is to copy it into a DayTimer.
There could be more proximity and hovering developed, for airbrushing. Or I’ve often wondered about a slider touch surface on the pencil or an actual button you could hold down.
Mark Gurman is reporting that it will have haptic feedback. Apple Rivals Retool; iOS 18, M4 iPad Pro, Vision Pro 2, and AI Details - Bloomberg
It seems a little absurd to me that a uniquely useful device like the iPad would be accused of “descending into irrelevance” simply because the iPad market isn’t growing the way it did in past years. The true significance of a tool like the iPad cannot be expressed by a balance sheet. It may seem like the value of everything in the world can be reduced to how much money it makes, but this is most assuredly not the case. The multitude of professionals who rely on the iPad to get their jobs done would laugh at the suggestion that an iPhone or a laptop could help them do their jobs just as well. And I do not think Apple has put so much time and energy into the iPad solely for the benefit of couch potatoes who use it to control their big-screen tv. An iPad is not a replacement for a full-featured computer or an iPhone. It’s an iPad. Those who have no need for its uniquely useful capabilities may not want to buy one; but they definitely do not speak for the rest of us.
Oooh, okay, that would be nice.
Or they could put an “eraser” on the other end like Wacom.
That’s not what I wrote, which was:
Our question is if we’ll see changes—in hardware or in the version of iPadOS due a month later at WWDC—that make the iPad compelling to those for whom it has slowly descended into irrelevance behind the Mac and the iPhone.
Those for whom the iPad remains useful aren’t being addressed here. My comment was aimed at those who have found that their iPad just sits unused next to a heavily used Mac and iPhone.
My mistake, Adam. Sorry if my reply ruffled any feathers.
No worries, just want to make sure that criticisms are directed appropriately. 
Could be a nice new Apple Pencil…
Well, almost certainly a new pencil, those are some impressive strokes, I wonder why ‘Let Loose’…
Usually heard after “Cry havoc and…” and followed by “…the dogs of war”
Must be some pencil.
Additional data point (on the eve of the event):
Currently visiting my granddaughter in Honolulu, and helped her turn out a congratulatory video for her mom yesterday on a creaky HP laptop.
Her family is returning stateside this summer, and to start her new school year (she will be a senior in high school) she will be receiving a new iPad. She really wants the iPad, and has requested a pink one. She sees it as both useful tool and a bit of status.
I whispered “MacBook” to her a couple of times, as editing the video on the HP was so painful and klutzy, but she really prefers the iPad.
Well, to me it was a disappointment but first here is what was announced:
New iPad Air in both 11" & 13" sizes
New iPad Pro in both 11" & 13" sizes, very thin 5.1mm & 5.3mm respectively, M4 chip, New Magic Keyboard
New Apple Pencil Pro that works with both of the above
iPadOS two new Pro Apps: Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad and Logic Pro 2 for iPad
The Basic iPad now starts at $349
No mention of iPad Mini except as an afterthought by Tim during the Outro.
So as an iPad Mini user, I was very disappointed and consider my time wasted when I could have been washing my breakfast dishes!