I agree on the pricing point. My reason for waiting is cause I'm also waiting on the 2018 MBP 15" refresh (before I decide to go for a 2015/2017 model if the update is not what I hope), and that purchase takes precedence over owning a (new) tablet...And upgrading my 6S (soon) will be to a used 7/8/X.
So I figure by the time I can potentially pay for an iPad on top of those two big purchases, we're talking late 2018 potentially 2019 anyway.
Being more a desktop, laptop and smartphone user than a tablet user, having never owned a tablet myself, I see a physical button like the home button perfect when in hand use on a phone (though the X way is the new standard, I'm okay with that). But having such a vital function as the home button unfortunately is, on a pad device that many time will be sitting like a laptop on some sort of horizontal "table" - swiping and not having to reach over and actually physically press a button, would make for so much more of a smooth experience IMO. You can safely take away the "one hand issue" when we're talking iPads, so it makes even more sense on those...Like a giant trackpad that's obviously fully 3d touch capabable in and of itself, but with no physical buttons needed other than for turning it on and off, and volume is nice to have physically as an option...Heck, just implement the iPhone X way of swiping onto the iPads as a user option, and bam - they wouldn't even need to hurry up with a redesign and the experience for the X owners using their iPads would be a more streamlined experience. (although I think an edge to edge, no hump, OLED screen would be a huge selling point and 2018 wouldn't be too early for that, from a consumer standpoint, both for the X (which probably won't happen) but also for the iPads (which would have less need for all those cameras IMO but, obviously that will probably get a hump too and/or take years to catch up going edge to edge unfortunately...).