Apple iPad 9th gen (2021) review

Familiar camera, now with EIS and a new ultrawide selfie

Right off the bat, our usual PSA for tablet cameras is in order here - unless you really don't have a better option, you should avoid using your tablet as a walkaround camera. Not only does it look quite odd and present some ergonomic challenges, but more than likely, any fairly recent smartphone camera setup will likely outperform the iPad 10.2 (2021) and its solitary 8MP rear camera.

This is pretty much the same 8MP camera from the 8th gen, as well as the 7th gen iPad. It has 1.12µm pixels and a pretty dim f/2.4 aperture lens. You get the same basic autofocus as well. The only new addition being gyro-EIS, which is now a thing on the 9th generation iPad. A minor upgrade, if we ever saw one, but we'll still take it.

The selfie camera on the 9th gen iPad, on the other hand, has gotten a major upgrade. You now get a significantly higher-resolution 12MP selfie, which Apple refers to as a FaceTime HD camera. It is also significantly wider than before, with a 122-degree field of view - perfect for group FaceTime calls, where you even get automatic reframing. But we'll get to that in a bit. Video capture on the selfie has been bumped up to 1080p, to match the main camera, and you can even do 60fps on the selfie cam. Plus, gyro-EIS works here as well. Unfortunately, you still get a fairly dim f/2.4 aperture lens.

Before we get to quality analysis, just a few words on the camera app. In a word, it feels quite dated, both in features and design. Apple should really consider updating it slightly or, failing that, fixing some of the bigger annoyances. Like, the fact that you still can't turn off EIS and the field of view cropping it comes with.

Camera app

At least you no longer have to go into the main system settings to adjust video resolution on the fly. That being said, the existing control is janky, hardly responsive, and switches between 720p and HD, with the latter actually referring to 1080p. But that's confusing on multiple levels.

Also, why is there no portrait option on the iPad, all the while the retro panorama mode is right there, alive and well.

Photo quality

Let's start with the main 8MP camera first. Photos from it can only be described as decent. That's about as much praise as we can give it. Well, that and perhaps the fact that autofocus is decently consistent, even if a bit slow. Colors don't look too bad either, perhaps a bit muted for our taste.

Apple iPad 10.2 (2021): 8MP main camera samples

Probably the biggest issue here is the limited dynamic range. Highlights, in particular, tend to get clipped more often than not. Noise is also quite an issue. Though to be fair, whatever Apple is doing for sharpening seems to be well-balanced, so noise is primarily noticeable when zooming.

Speaking of zooming, there is naturally no dedicated telephoto camera on it, seeing how there is just one shooter on the back. The iPad can still do zoomed shots, although entirely digital. There is a toggle for 2x zoom in the camera UI. These shots are probably best described as usable. Nothing beyond that, though.

Apple iPad 10.2 (2021): 8MP main, 2x zoom camera samples

All of the dynamic range and noise issues are still very much present. Softness is even worse, though.

There is no macro camera on the iPad either, but we were pleasantly surprised by how close the main camera was able to focus. If your subject doesn't mind, you can actually get some decent macro-style stills. Particularly if you shoot in 2x mode.

Apple iPad 10.2 (2021): 8MP main, close-up camera samples

Selfie photo quality

The new 12MP FaceTime HD selfie camera is nothing short of a major upgrade over the 1.2 MP, f/2.2 selfie snapper the regular iPad used to rock. Arguably, more so for video capture than photos, but stills get a decent boost too.

The selfies themselves are decent but far from impressive. There is a decent amount of detail, and the colors look vibrant, even if, arguably, a bit oversaturated. There isn't too much noise either.

Apple iPad 10.2 (2021): 12MP selfie camera samples

Dynamic range is one of the bigger issues. Shadows tend to get crushed easily. Unlike on the main camera, sharpening is pretty heavy-handed on the selfie cam. So much so that we would say it is the definitive feature of these shots.

The 122-degree ultrawide field of view is a nifty addition to the mix. You can switch between the narrow and the wide field of view with a single click on the camera app, both for photos and videos. Ultrawide shots are quite consistent in overall look to the narrow ones.

Apple iPad 10.2 (2021): 12MP selfie camera ultrawide samples

There is some additional softness near the far edges of the frame, which is to be expected from an ultrawide. On a more positive note, the barrel distortion correction seems to be doing alright.

For the sake of thoroughness, we also captured our standard posters with the iPad 10.2 (2021). A pretty hard task to pull off, actually, between the inability to fit the iPad inside any of the mounts we had at hand and then on a tripod, as well as the inability to disable EIS and stop the viewfinder from floating around. Still, feel free to pixel-peep.

Apple iPad 10.2 (2021) against the iPhone 6 and the iPad Pro 12.9 (2015) in our Photo compare tool

Video capture quality

The iPad 10.2 (2021) can capture 1080p video on both its main and selfie cameras, with the selfie also able to do 60fps capture. In terms of format, like recent Apple iPhone and iPads, this one captures HEVC, h.265 video, by default, as well as photos in the matching HEIF format. There is a "compatibility" toggle in the camera settings, which forces photos to JPG and videos to h.264. We would have preferred two separate controls for these, but the iPhone still has the same setup as well.

Anyway, we recorded videos in h.264 for the best possible quality. These get saved with an AVC stream of about 15.5 Mbps, which is decent for 1080p, alongside a single channel of AAC audio. That's right, the iPad only captures mono audio. Pretty disappointing. All of this is saved in a MOV, format, as opposed to the more widespread MP4. Not a major issue, though.

The rear camera on the iPad 10.2 (2021) captures very respectable 1080p videos. We would say that that's about the best we can expect from the hardware at hand. Detail is good for a FullHD camera; colors are also pleasant.

The dynamic range is limited, but that's no surprise coming from the photo section. Noise is a bit more than we would have liked, too.

At 2x zoom, videos continue to be serviceable, but with noise even more apparent. The same goes for the narrow dynamic range.

There is constant EIS working on both the main and selfie cameras of the iPad 10.2 (2021). You can see how well it copes for yourself. We think it is decent but not overly impressive. Unfortunately, there is no way to turn it off.

Here is how videos from the main camera stack up against other devices from our extensive video comparison database.

Apple iPad 10.2 (2021) against the iPhone 6 and the iPad Pro 12.9 (2015) in our Video compare tool

Videos form the selfie camera arguably look on par, if not even better than ones from the main camera. The resolution is, once again, 1080p. Detail is ample, the colors look great, there is pretty much no noise to speak of. Dynamic range is still a bit of an issue, but a showstopper.

As mentioned, you can choose whether to capture videos in a narrow field of view or using the full 122-degree capabilities of the camera. These videos look a bit jarring at times, especially if you are holding the iPad at an arm's length. That's just par for the course.

Like we mentioned, gyro-based electronic image stabilization is now available for both the main and the selfie cameras on the iPad 10.2 (2021). The stabilization itself is decent, but not actually that impressive. It deals with more jarring jitters fairly well, but that's about it.

Unfortunately, there is no way to turn off EIS. Though, to be fair, that is only ever a practical issue if you want to precisely frame a subject. Here are a narrow and a wide selfie video side by side to compare the quality of the EIS.

To be clear, Apple doesn't expect many of its users to go out and actually capture videos with the selfie camera. The most likely use case for the selfie cam, as a whole, is definitely video calling. Apple actually makes great use of the extra-wide field of view, automatically re-framing and adjusting the view on the fly during video calls.

The feature is called Center Stage and works surprisingly well, following a singular subject around, as well as automatically widening the frame when another face is detected. Unfortunately, the nifty automatic re-framing only seems to work within the FaceTime app, as well as potentially in the Zoom app.

Low-light camera quality

The main 8MP camera on the iPad 10.2 (2021) struggles quite badly in low-light conditions. Pretty much an expected development from the mere 8MP sensor, with a quite dim f/2.4 lens in front. Photos come out looking very soft and pretty noisy. Though, to Apple's credit, not overly so. Nor is there an absurd amount of oversharpening applied. The algorithm appears to be doing the best it can with the hardware at hand.

Apple iPad 10.2 (2021): 8MP main camera low-light samples

Light sources are pretty blown-out, yet both shadows and highlights look a bit better than what we would have expected from the limited dynamic range on offer here, meaning the auto HDR is pulling its weight nicely. By the way, before you ask, there is no Night mode. Just Auto HDR.

Honestly, even zoomed shots at 2x and 5x aren't comically bad, which is a bit of a pleasant surprise.

Apple iPad 10.2 (2021): 8MP main camera low-light zoom samples: 2x • 5x

That is not to say we would consider these good in any way.

Low-light selfies are a bit of a mixed bag, but there is absolutely no doubt that the new 12MP camera is a massive upgrade over the selfie shooter in older models. By default, selfies have an automatic screen flash feature enabled, which tends to be quite consistent and triggers as expected. The rather large display of the iPad shines in a skin-tone color and, in turn, the camera seems to ease up on any additional processing, which leads to a darker, less HDR-looking and boosted shot, but one that tends to have more details and a more natural look in areas where the light from the display did shine.

Apple iPad 10.2 (2021): 12MP selfie low-light samples with screen flash

You can, of course, chose to disable screen flash, which kicks all of the HDR-style stacking and boosting back on. You might stand to benefit from this mode in some cases.

Apple iPad 10.2 (2021): 12MP selfie low-light samples

Overall, though, selfies are decent but unimpressive. The amount of detail is solid, but like the main camera, the dim f/2.4 lens is just a massive limiting factor, leaving soft and noisy stills behind.

Low-light videos are in pretty much the same boat quality-wise. That is to say, soft and noisy, with blown-out light sources, but still usable. Depending on your interpretation of the word.

Just don't try to add any digital zoom to the mix, since quality deteriorates rapidly.