The beginning and end of the iPad

Image: Alex Parkin / The VergePeople seem to like Apple’s new iPad Pro, with its better screen and impressive design. People also seem to really hate Apple’s new ad in which the company crushes centuries of creative tools because,...

The beginning and end of the iPad

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On The Vergecast: what’s next for Apple’s tablet, how money is breaking the streaming industry, and some local Wisconsin news.

By David Pierce, editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.

May 10, 2024, 1:01 PM UTC

A photo of an iPad on top of a Vergecast logo.

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge

People seem to like Apple’s new iPad Pro, with its better screen and impressive design. People also seem to really hate Apple’s new ad in which the company crushes centuries of creative tools because, in the future, there is only iPad. And after all the iPad stuff this week, people are still asking the same question: what is the point of the iPad?

On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk about the week in Apple news: the iPad Pro, the iPad Air, the Pencil Pro, the Magic Keyboard, the new apps, and much more. We also wonder if any of this changes anything about what the iPad is, how it works, and where it’s headed — or if the answers will only come at WWDC next month. Then we talk about that ad everyone’s mad about and why it seems like Apple has lost the benefit of the doubt with customers. (Apple issued an apology right after we finished recording — but that doesn’t change much.)

After that, we talk streaming. Because it’s earnings season, and we’re learning a lot about how things are going at Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and the rest of the services. Turns out, streaming is expensive? We talk about why the services are bundling, why it seems nobody can keep up with Netflix, and more.

Finally, we do a lightning round, which mostly turns into the Nilay Patel Victory Tour. We talk about the turmoil at Microsoft, the arguments about buttons and links that are taking over in Epic v. Apple, and the latest on what’s happening with that Foxconn site in Wisconsin.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, beginning with Apple:

On the state of the streaming wars:

And in the lightning round: