Earlier quoted context omitted.
No year will ever be "the year of Linux on the desktop", despite that phrase being so old that if I'd conceived a child when I first heard it, I'd be a grandparent already. The fact that you can't imagine a device being useful until it can compile the Linux kernel etc., that you dismiss it as a "Netflix machine", says more about you than about Apple.
What are most people doing with the iPad that they were being held back by the M3 chip in order for the M4 to be such a game changer for them?
But if you’re talking compared to the M2, it has a number of updates
1. Significant performance and efficiency gains
2. New GPU with raytracing and mesh shading , and much higher performance.
3. AV1 decode
4. New display controllers required for the new tandem OLED
5. Huge upgrade to the neural engine
I’m sure I’m missing stuff, but the M4 iPad Pro is a legitimate step up from the M2 for capabilities. Unless you fall in the camp of it being just a media consumption device