I hate to admit I bought a lemon, but I did.
Last year, I bought Apple’s entry-level iPad 11 (the A16 model).
It replaced a positively Jurassic iPad Air, which had a pretty badly cracked screen. In fact, in a couple of places, the screen was actively shedding tiny shards of glass. The only thing keeping it together was a screen protector I threw on it, which wouldn’t stick properly because of the missing sections and cracking. It developed a couple of large air pockets that didn’t help things.
The tablet worked OK, but I grew tired of the antiquated Home button and its aging processor, which sometimes slowed to a painful crawl and stuttered if I was doing too much with it.
When I picked up the new iPad 11, I couldn’t be happier with it. I loved all its modern touches: the wonderful, lightweight, full-screen design; the USB-C charging; the Touch ID sensor built into the Home button.
Yeah, it’d be better with Face ID, but in general, I’m very happy with it, especially because I snagged it at exactly the point it dipped to its lowest-ever price in a pre-Black Friday sale.
But because it’s based on the A16 chip, which also powers the iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, it misses out on Apple Intelligence.
Right now, that’s not the biggest deal. Yeah, the writing tools are handy, but Image Playground? Please.
What I’m worried about is “smarter” Siri, which Apple is poised to deliver this spring.
While it may not or may not live up to the hype, smarter Siri will likely be better than current Siri, and I’d love to be able to run it on my new iPad.
That’s not going to happen, making my iPad, well, maybe not a lemon, but lemon-ey.
I should have waited until this year, when the entry-level tablet gets a much better internal upgrade, while likely remaining at the same price.
The same is true for several other models in the iPad lineup, with the iPad mini getting perhaps the best upgrade of all in 2026. Here’s why it’s going to be a great year for iPad.
Also in today’s newsletter:
The giant CES electronics trade show is getting started in Las Vegas, with a lot of Apple accessory makers showing off new wares.
Anker has four new chargers to add to its ever-growing lineup, including a clever new power strip that anchors to the edge of your desk, hiding a lot of cable clutter.
Belkin also has a new lineup of chargers, power banks and hubs at CES. Its new eight-port, dual-monitor hub, for example, includes a privacy button that instantly blanks connected monitors.
For video pros, OWC just launched an 8TB version of its Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 SSD. The first 8TB drive with Thunderbolt 5 support, it doubles the speed of the Thunderbolt 4 version, pushing files at a blistering 6,000 MBps.
Moft makes a line of clever snap-on MagSafe wallets and stands, which just gained support for Apple’s Find My technology.
Today’s the day in Apple history when Apple launched the distinctive blue-and-white Power Mac G3 minitower, nicknamed the “Smurf Tower.”
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
Cult of Mac’s buyback program
Tweets of the day
Wallpaper of the day
One more thing ...
I sold my Volkswagen Bus, and Steve [Wozniak] sold his calculator, and we got enough money to pay a friend of ours to make the artwork to make a printed circuit board [for the Apple I computer]. And we made some printed circuit boards, and we sold some to our friends. And I was trying to sell the rest of them, so that we could get our Microbus and calculator back.
Today’s poll
What's the biggest upgrade coming to an iPad in 2026?
Results from last Friday’s poll: Are you making any New Year's resolutions?
Best reader comments
Subscribe to The Weekender — Get the week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.