It does seem like a confusing lineup, in terms of current gen models you've got, in ascending order of price

iPad ($349) iPad Mini ($499) iPad Air 11" ($599) iPad Air 13" ($799) iPad Pro 11" ($999) iPad Pro 13" ($1299)

So from a pricing perspective, it does kind of make sense. The naming is all over the place though.

The iPad Mini is more expensive and better specced than the iPad. And then the Air sounds like it should be a light version of the iPad, but is actually better specced than the iPad.

My guess is that non technical people don't care about things like names and spec, but buy iPads based on pricing. And if people are buying the entry level iPad, why drop it?

Price ladder strategy. Need to keep enticing people to upgrade to the fairly closely priced higher end product until they end up at the Pro.

Yes, this also gets me mad, but the strategy works I guess? I recently bought an iPad for my wife and I ended up getting an Air (M2) instead of the basic one just because she wanted to draw and sadly the iPad doesn't support a Apple Pencil with pressure sensitivity. But also the Air doesn't have the features that I wanted (120Hz display), but the Pro is too expensive, so I ended up compromising.

Different product launches have different people running them that want to do things their way, and not enough leadership to keep the overarching vision consistent.

basic iPad = iPhone SE/e

iPad Air = regular iPhone

iPad Pro = iPhone Pro (Max)

iPad mini = iPhone mini (if it still existed)

I would definitely buy an iPad Pro that had regular MacOS on it like a MacBook. Otherwise I have had an iPad for about ten years and it’s been collecting dust for about 9.5 (will sell a cheap iPad 1, DM me!).

I get that it's unclear. But in practice, this only matters upon purchase, and then it's simply an option whether you want one, or not.

My mom's iPad's screen has failed so she asked me to look into a new iPad for her. I'm not generally interested in Apple products personally; in just five minutes of research, I ran into the same confusion you have. iPads used to be simple: there was iPad and iPad Air. One would only buy an Air if one's use case was basic apps without a lot of hardware requirements (e.g., for children).

My mom also uses one of those magnetic keyboard attachments; she needs a new one because it's in rough shape. Come to find out some of them are over $300.