Firstly, yes, Apple do take the iPad very seriously as one of their flagship and best selling products. Secondly, I have not experienced any of the issues you are describing with the iPad Air.
Also, other companies such as Samsung and others you have described tend to fill devices with unnecessary technology and power which the tablet and its user could never make use of. The way I see it, Apple are very careful in the specifications of the iPad in ensuring they have the amount of power necessary without including pointlessly high specs. Besides, the iPhone and iPad were the first phone and tablet to include a 64bit processor.
In short, Apple do care a great deal about the iPad and take it very seriously indeed. What they don't do is fill devices with unnecessary power in order to brain wash apparently passive consumers into buying devices because they think, "moar powerz iz so much better diss meanz samzung is betta appel sux."
Ps. Consumers are becoming less and less passive meaning they know exactly what they're buying before they hand the money over and will not be brain washed by simple marketing techniques used by companies such as Samsung (in which impressive looking specifications and jargon is used to make a device appear better than it is in print).
