iPad has probably had the most dramatic shift of all of Apple's platforms, since its inception. It began as doing very few things to a very high quality, but now it does almost everything, badly. I hope history finds it to have been more than just an incubator for Apple's Mac silicon during the wayward years
Multitasking options w/ split screen/slide over/stage manager (ignorable if you want)
The best display Apple makes in the 12.9 (MacBook Pro caliber but w/ touch screen)
Cellular connectivity
Keyboard/trackpad/pencil support (also ignorable)
Most people have basic computing needs (email, notes, calendar, web browsing, watching media, etc). I’d argue iPad now does all these well, and is best in class for some (modularity/media/notes).
@stroughtonsmith I think my issue was more with your quote “It began as doing very few things to a very high quality, but now it does almost everything, badly.” It still does everything well that it did well at its inception, but now also has a ton more features/capabilities (i.e. significantly better displays/speakers, multitasking support, pencil/keyboard/trackpad/mouse support, cellular, USB C/peripheral support, resizable windows, etc. But I do agree it has not lived up to its potential.