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I’ve been thinking a lot about tablets this month. In some ways, that’s to be expected — after all, I’m coming off spending a couple of weeks with Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab S10+, thinking about how a $1,000 Android tablet factors into the current landscape of rival laptops. We also saw the launch of a very different tablet this week, as Apple finally deemed its three-year-old iPad Mini worth revitalizing. Despite being on opposite ends of the size spectrum, both of these devices paint a fairly accurate picture of the state of tablets, and I’m not sure it’s a particularly pretty one.

Let’s take the Galaxy Tab S10+ first. Samsung’s newest default flagship tablet — the Galaxy Tab S9 has been left behind as the 11-inch model to buy — provides a pretty impressive experience. It’s got a great display, excellent speakers, and feels as speedy as ever, no matter how many apps you leave running in the background or open in windows within windows. However, at $1,000, it faces some stiff competition, and not just from its rival tablets.

From the latest Surface Laptop to the MacBook Air, you can buy some excellent tablets for the same price, and they’re bound to be more capable than their Galaxy Tab counterparts. It’s strictly a limitation with Android — no matter how powerful the processor, some of the apps I (and many others) rely on everyday for work simply don’t translate to this platform. No matter how good movies look on this thing, it’s still best at consumption, not creation.

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And what of the iPad Mini? Nearly a year ago, I laid out my desire for a small, modern 8-inch tablet, and technically speaking, Apple has complied. The new iPad Mini pairs an upgraded A17 Pro chipset — the one found in the iPhone 15 Pro Max — with, presumably, additional RAM for Apple’s (still) forthcoming suite of AI features. And, to be frank, that’s about it. Looking closely at the two specs sheets might highlight some additional changes (Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 6e support), but considering how long the company takes between updates, I can’t imagine anyone rushing out to buy this at launch.

It all adds up to a period of stale upgrades for tablet hardware. The last time we saw a truly new concept in this space was, to my eyes, the Pixel Tablet. Google’s concept of a tablet crossed with a smart display — dock and all — was pretty ingenious in theory, but some serious limitations and a predictably high price helded it back. These days, most people probably opt to buy the Pixel Tablet without its (now optional) dock, and without a refresh, Google’s most up-to-date slate is wasting away with a Tensor G2 SoC.

I’m curious how many people are still using tablets in their daily lives. Have you found space — and the right model — to keep tablets around as that infamous “third device?” Or do today’s supersized smartphones feel large enough to skip out on big screen slabs? If you’re still using a tablet, let us know which one using the poll below. Sound off in the comments if you’d like to see something like an upgraded, improved Pixel Tablet, too. I know I certainly would.