Ugh, well, at least it is liquid now🤷♂️
But tbh, it always has been subpar, ever since the first iPad Air (2013). Too thin, cheap aluminum alloys, wrong sized frame (vs older, book-like one). It feels like if I buy one, I will crack it in first month of active use, it is purely a bedtime e-book reader and not an active tool you would take with you on the beach, in the mountains or anywhere else. Also it has no IP68 protection, no wireless charging, landscape camera now, useless pencil charging ports that make chassis weak, no 3.5 Jack port like on Macs, no SD card slot (and never had) or no second USB-C. Very weak and basic device, though I can see some use cases for it (storing photos, editing them, video work, music production etc).
Apple kinda wants it to be a computer, but... they don't want it to.
Here is an old ad where they don't want to call it "computer", but still not calling it "tablet"
It is simply cheaper and more eco-friendly to just keep using your existing devices even while these no longer feel good. So I understand OP's frustration. I was choosing between iPad vs MacBook 2 years ago, went with MacBook, now want an iPad because MacBook doesn't have some features I want. At the same time I understand that when I get an iPad, it would be collecting dust like my old iPad, because I am not a fan of using it just solely for said features.
So hating on Apple and their products isn't inherently bad. Bad is that they don't listen to their customers. In ideal world they should have been making products with all features user might need or not need, instead they just release whatever they thing is right.
