iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro Buyer's Guide: Which iPad to Buy Within Your Budget This Holiday Season

Apple's iPad Lineup

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Apple has refreshed much of its iPad lineup for 2024, and the iPad mini is the latest. Here's how to choose the best tablet to fit your budget this holiday season.

Apple offers its iPads in a wide range of prices. The price range covers everyone, from value-conscious consumers to those with a bigger budget and higher demands.

The iPad is no exception. There's the entry-level iPad if you want a cheap but usable tablet, and the iPad Pro at the top end of the scale.

After a drought of iPad updates in 2023, Apple has been busy making changes to much of the iPad lineup. Changes were made earlier in 2024 to the iPad Air and iPad Pro, while an iPad mini update was added later in the year.

Despite this, Apple has retained the ability to offer iPads at virtually any price a buyer can afford. It’s still a potentially overwhelming choice, but knowing how much you want to spend can make choosing your iPad a lot easier.

What follows is AppleInsider’s analysis of the iPad market and what you should consider buying at each price point.

10th-generation iPad

The 10th-generation iPad supports the first-generation Apple Pencil.

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11-inch iPad Pro M4

The 2024 11-inch iPad Pro has Apple’s M4 chip.

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13-inch iPad Pro M4

The 13-inch 2024 iPad Pro features an Ultra Retina XDR display.

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9th Generation iPad

The 9th generation iPad is Apple's budget model.

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11-inch iPad Air 6

The iPad Air 6 is powered by the M2 chip and has a thin and light design.

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13-inch iPad Air 6

The 13-inch iPad Air 6 supports the Apple Pencil Pro.

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iPad mini 7

Apple's iPad mini 7 has the A17 Pro chip.

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See 4 more products…

Best iPad – Overall Price Ranges

Apple's entire iPad price range covers a lot of options. At the very low end of the scale is the $349 iPad, the entry-level 10th-generation model with 64GB of storage.

At the other end of the scale, the most expensive option is the 13-inch iPad Pro, which can be configured with 2TB of storage, Nano-texture glass, and cellular access. All of this will cost a hefty $2,599.

General iPad Price Range as of December 2024

That means the difference between the cheapest and most expensive iPad is $2,250. You can buy the six cheapest base iPad models for the same price as the most expensive one and still have $155 left over for cases and accessories.

For the purposes of our comparison, we’ve split the range into three segments: under $650, over $1,000, and the $650 to $100 range.

The Best iPad – Storage, Cellular, and Nano Texture

While base prices are the obvious point of comparison, there are options that can adjust the specs and final cost for you. This is where the price comparison can get a little tricky.

For starters, Apple offers its iPads with two general connectivity options. The standard model has Wi-Fi, but you can upgrade to cellular for $150 or $200.

iPad 10th Generation

Featuring a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display and an A14 Bionic chip, the 10th-generation iPad supports the first-generation Apple Pencil. Buy at Adorama Buy at B&H Buy at Amazon

It’s the cost of an upgrade, which in most cases is equivalent to more storage, and it can be worth it. If you want to connect to the internet wherever you are, with minimal use of other devices, this is the way to go.

However, you can use tethering options, such as turning your iPhone into a hotspot, to manage the cellular side of the connection. This will save you money since you won’t need two data plans, but you’ll be a little more dependent on your iPhone’s battery.

The second and more obvious difference is storage capacity, since you can pay to have more. If you tend to store and carry a lot of data, then upgrading your storage will be very useful.

iPad Model Storage Capacity Prices as of December 2024

However, as storage increases, so does the price of that upgrade. For the iPad Pro, which can go up to 2TB, that can add $1,000 to the price over the base price with 256GB of storage.

While AppleInsider would suggest using external storage as an alternative to paying high storage upgrade fees for the Mac, that’s impractical advice in this case. The iPad is designed to be portable, and external storage tends to add unwanted extras to carry around.

Instead, consider how much storage you actually need, whether you really need the extra capacity, and whether you can take advantage of services like iCloud for your data.

Size is also a factor these days, as the larger the screen you can work with, the more you can potentially do. Larger screens tend to be better for content creation, like for artists to draw on, but there will obviously be a price difference between the sizes.

To keep things simple, we’re treating the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air and iPad Pro models as separate models, much like the Wi-Fi and cellular variants.

The last option is nano-texture glass, a feature borrowed from the Pro Display XDR. It’s a treatment that reduces glare on the screen, making it easier to see despite harsh ambient lighting.

This only really matters for those buying the larger capacity iPad Pro models. Unless you’re looking to spend a serious amount of money on a tablet, nano-texture won’t be an issue at $100.

The Best iPad Under $650

The budget end of the range is pretty easy to understand. At the very bottom, you only have one choice: the base 10th-generation iPad with 64GB for $349.

At $499, you have your first real choice, as you can choose an iPad with a larger 256GB of storage, a 64GB version with cellular, or an iPad mini with 128GB of storage. These are all pretty safe bets, but we'd recommend the iPad mini for its upgraded chip to support Apple Intelligence.

iPad models you can buy for under $650 as of December 2024iPad models you can buy for under $650 as of December 2024iPad models you can buy for under $650 as of December 2024

For $599, you can buy an 11-inch iPad Air with 128GB of storage and an M2 chip, or an iPad mini with 256GB of storage. The iPad Air is probably the better option, but the iPad mini is always a better option if you want a smaller tablet you can carry around.

At $649, the high end of the scale, the choice comes down to the 256GB Wi-Fi iPad, the 128GB iPad mini with cellular, or the two $599 options. The iPad Air and iPad mini are likely your best options, depending on whether cellular and size are important to you.

The Best iPad: $650 to $1,000

The $650 to $1,000 section is one of the more difficult parts of the range, since there are several models that are out of service and out of date.

Picking up where the previous section left off, the next price point to consider is $699, where the 11-inch iPad Air gets an upgrade to 256GB of storage. The iPad mini might be a better option here, but again, screen space might be at a premium.

iPad prices range from $650 to $1,000 as of December 2024

For $749, the 11-inch iPad Air gets a 128GB cellular option, while the iPad mini with cellular gets up to 256GB of storage. The 11-inch iPad Air with cellular seems to be the one to go for here, though again, it depends on the size.

At $799, we get the iPad mini with the largest capacity without cellular at 512GB, but there’s also a 13-inch iPad Air with 128GB of storage. If you don’t need a 13-inch screen, going for the smaller screens with more capacity probably makes more sense.

iPad mini 7

The iPad mini 7 has an A17 Pro chip. Storage starts at 128GB. Adorama Coupon

Get $20 to $25 off the iPad mini 7 with promo code APINSIDER. Plus save $10 on AppleCare.

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For $849, the 11-inch iPad Air with cellular gets up to 256GB of storage, making it the best buy in the lineup. Again, if you can ignore the size issues.

Moving up to $899, your choices are the 512GB 11-inch iPad Air, the 256GB version with cellular and a $50 savings, or the 256GB 13-inch iPad Air. The 256GB iPad mini with cellular is still an option for $150 less if size matters.

Though for an extra $50, you can get the 512GB iPad mini with cellular or the 128GB 13-inch iPad Air with its own cellular option. The Air models, again, are probably where you should put your money.

At the high end of this particular scale, the iPad mini isn’t really an option anymore. For $999, you can get pretty much everything on offer at the $949 level, or you can get the 11-inch iPad Pro with 256GB of storage.

If you don't absolutely need the performance of the M4 chip, you could probably save some money and get more capacity with any of the iPad Air models at this point.

But getting an iPad Pro might be pretty tempting here.

Best iPad – $1,000 and up

This region is largely dominated by the iPad Pro models. However, the high-capacity cellular options of earlier versions are still possible depending on your needs.

For $1,049, you can buy a 512GB cellular 11-inch iPad Air or a 256GB cellular 13-inch iPad Air. You can save $50 and get the entry-level 11-inch iPad Pro, which may be a better deal overall.

iPad prices over $1,000 as of December 2024

For $50 more, at $1,099, there are 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models without cellular, with 1TB and 512TB of storage, respectively. If you don't need a lot of storage, you should consider either the cellular iPad Air, which is slightly cheaper, or the base 11-inch iPad Pro.

Once we reach $1,199, the cellular 11-inch iPad Pro becomes an option with 256GB of storage. You can get a 512GB version without cellular for the same money.

For $1,249, the cellular 13-inch iPad Air gets 512GB, while the cellular 11-inch iPad Air gets 1TB. Again, screen size or capacity, the iPad Pro line is still arguably the best path forward.

M4 iPad Pro

Apple's M4 iPad Pro comes in two sizes — 11 and 13 inches — and is Apple's thinnest product to date. Adorama Coupon

Get up to $100 off and $30 off additional AppleCare with promo code APINSIDER at Adorama.com.

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When the 13-inch iPad Air reaches its 1TB capacity option at $1,299, it will have to compete with the cheaper cellular options listed above, as well as a new competitor. That's when the 13-inch iPad Pro arrives, albeit with 256GB of storage.

That 13-inch iPad Pro would be decent enough, but remember, you can save $100 and get twice the capacity with the 11-inch version. Or save $50 and get a 13-inch iPad Air with cellular and 512GB of storage.

At $1,449, the latest iPad Air configuration with 1TB of storage on the 13-inch model becomes an option. For just $50 more, you can get a 13-inch iPad Pro with 256GB of cellular or a 13-inch iPad Pro with 512GB of storage.

After that price point, only iPad Pro models are available, meaning you only have to worry about screen size, capacity, and cellular connectivity. For the 1TB and 2TB models, you can pay an extra $100 to add nano-texture glass, which improves image quality.

You hit the top end with the 11-inch iPad Pro for $1,999, or $2,099 if you fork out for Nano-texture glass with 2TB of storage. At that level, you can get the Cellular version with Nano-texture glass and 1TB of storage for $1,899, the 13-inch iPad Pro with 1TB and glass for $1,999, or the 13-inch with Cellular and 1TB for $2,099.

The scale continues to $2,299, where the 11-inch iPad Pro with Cellular bumps up its storage to 2TB and uses Nano-texture glass. For the same money, the 13-inch iPad Pro also has 2TB without glass, while the 13-inch with Cellular and glass is $100 cheaper.

The 13-inch iPad Pro without cellular leaves the chat at $2,399, again with 2TB of storage and a glass back. Again, that's a $200 savings to get the cellular equivalent with 1TB of storage and a nano-texture finish.

Finally, for a nosebleed-inducing $2,599, the 13-inch iPad Pro with cellular maxes out at 2TB of storage and the aforementioned glass.

The Best iPad – How to Pick a Tablet

Choosing the best tablet is always going to be difficult when you have a lot of options available. With Apple’s product lineup, this is certainly the case when you get to the middle of the range.

Going for the more powerful options is usually a good idea, but you really have to have a need for it. If the iPad is going to be your primary computing device, it makes sense to pay for the higher-end models.

For a fair number of use cases, the basic iPad can handle most of the average user’s everyday tasks.

Screen size will always be a factor, and you have three to choose from: the iPad mini, 11-inch, or 13-inch. We’ve found that larger tablets tend to be more useful for productivity and content creation, so going for the 13-inch device might be a good idea.

2024 iPad Air 6

Apple has redesigned the 2024 iPad Air, adding a 13-inch model alongside the 11-inch one. Adorama Coupon

Get up to $50 off tablets and up to $20 off additional AppleCare with promo code APINSIDER at Adorama.com.

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Cellular is perhaps the most disposable feature of all, since you can simply connect your iPhone or mobile hotspot if local Wi-Fi is unavailable. The price difference can be enough to cover the cost of other feature upgrades.

Storage is the biggest price option, and it’s not a linear jump. The cost increase is negligible at the lower end, but it can certainly increase the price significantly.

That said, you have to ask yourself if you really need 2TB of storage in the iPad Pro. You can save $400 and get 1TB, which is perfectly usable even for professional purposes.

Consider which features can help you when it comes to AppleCare+ and accessories. These extras, often overlooked when evaluating a new iPad, add to the overall cost, but can be very useful.

That aforementioned $400 savings could easily net you an Apple Pencil and some AirPods, or even a Magic Keyboard, for your shiny new tablet.

Where to buy Apple's iPad

Nearly every iPad model is currently on sale in our iPad Price Guide. At the time of publication, discounts of up to $400 can be found on the Pro models, with prices across the range (including the 9th generation) starting at $199.99. Jump straight to the individual price guides below: