Need ios 26.3+ needed to address critical performance / system freezes on older ipads, e.g. ipad 9

I have an ipad 9 running ios 18 with no problems. Recently, i updated to ios 26.2, and it has major performance and system issues causing my ipad 9 to become sluggish, unresponsive to inputs and sometime it even freezes. This basically renders my ipad unusable ! If i remember correctly, update to ios 26.1 was ok. This all happens after ios 26.2, even after i turn off all performance features like windowed mode, multitasking, reduce motion, backgroun app refresh. On top of that, i still have plenty of storage, 66G and fast internet access. Apple, please help !!!