The most compelling use case I've seen yet for the iPad is for regular people who don't want a desktop or laptop computer, but don't want to do everything on their phone. The iPad is just a really big smartphone that with a folio keyboard can become an impromptu laptop if needed. In my extended family I have a few people who are using it for this exact use case and love it. Only one of them even has the keyboard, and all of them do everything on their iPad they'd otherwise use a 'real' computer for.

Way back when the iPad first came out, I didn't get it. But I read a lot, got one, and rather liked it. My conclusion was it (especially pre-pencil) was a somewhat luxury and rather optional device that did some things quite well. But was rather unnecessary compared to a MacBook or iPhone (or substitute some generic equivalent). And even non-Max smartphones are much bigger than they used to be.