No Pro. No Air. No mini. No Pencil. No Stage Manager. No Magic Keyboard. Just a big aluminium slab running iPhone OS, sitting somewhere between an iPhone and a Mac — and leaving everyone wondering what on earth they were supposed to do with it.
It’s been 16 years since the original iPad arrived, and PCMag has been digging back into its first review.
And reading about that very first iPad today is a proper nostalgia trip.
Back then, the idea of carrying around a tablet that was essentially a giant iPhone felt a little strange. Apple was creating an entirely new space for itself, but nobody really knew where it would lead.
There were no years of iPad history to lean on. No established expectations. No giant app ecosystem built specifically for a tablet. Just this enormous touchscreen device that somehow felt both completely familiar and completely new.
And look at where we are now.
The iPad has grown into its own little universe, with different sizes, wildly different hardware, desktop-class chips and accessories that can make the whole thing feel remarkably close to a Mac.
But the original?
That was the beginning.
Sixteen years later, I guess its just fun to look back at the moment before we knew what the iPad would become.
And remember the time when owning a tablet felt like holding the whole world in your hands.