It’s pretty interesting how many of the latest innovations make the iPad less appealing as a a low-friction tablet, and how they make Microsoft’s Surface line look better and better. The iPad is no longer way lighter or way easier to use. The main saving grace is that it’s still possible to use the iPad as a dumb single-tasking device, but that doesn’t exactly require M2 level performance.
They seem to be painting themselves into a corner: bringing performance way up beyond the needs of the typical casual user (and the price way outside the budget of the casual user) and complicating the UI to be able to use all that performance for the few power users that would probably rather use macOS. Interesting times.