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The iPad Is the Best Tablet

By Nick Guy, Dave Gershgorn and Roderick Scott
Updated
A 9th-generation iPad, shown on an orange background with a stylus and books shown to the side.
Photo: Sarah Kobos

Apple’s iPad has long been better than any other tablet you can buy, and each new iPad is a little better than the last. That’s still true with the 10th-generation iPad, which introduces USB-C and a number of quality-of-life improvements. But those new features come with a big jump in price, and Apple is still selling the great 9th-generation iPad, which is familiar, affordable, and offers plenty of power for most people. It’s still great for tablet-y things like consuming content or playing games, and Apple greatly improved the front-facing camera for video calls. That makes the 9th-gen iPad the first one to consider before looking at an iPad Pro or iPad mini, or even the 10th-gen iPad. For most people, it should be the one you end up with.

Everything we recommend

Our pick

With a large screen, a fast-enough processor, and Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard support, the 9th-gen iPad offers the features that most tablet users need.

Upgrade pick

If you’re willing to pay more for an updated design, a faster processor, and more color options, the 2022 iPad is the tablet for you.

Also great

If you’re willing to pay for laptop power in a tablet, the iPad Air is the tablet for you.

Our pick

With a large screen, a fast-enough processor, and Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard support, the 9th-gen iPad offers the features that most tablet users need.

All iPads share an unbeatable selection of apps, stellar hardware quality, long battery life, and unrivaled customer support. But the $330, 10.2-inch Apple iPad (9th generation) offers the best balance of price and performance, and it can do most of the things that the more expensive iPad Pro can do—such as pair with a Smart Keyboard or Apple Pencil—even though it’s smaller and its screen isn’t as good. The 9th-generation iPad has the same processor as the iPhone 11 does, so it’s not the most up-to-date tablet Apple sells, but it’s still fast enough for all but the most demanding tasks. (If you plan on creating high-res images and videos, you’d probably want an iPad Pro anyway.) The new 64 GB base storage capacity means most people won’t have to upgrade for more space; if you want or need more storage, it costs $150 to go up to 256 GB.

Upgrade pick

If you’re willing to pay more for an updated design, a faster processor, and more color options, the 2022 iPad is the tablet for you.

The newest entry-level tablet from Apple adds some long-awaited updates, including new color options, more processing power, better rear cameras, and improved FaceTime camera. It also finally moves the entry-level iPad to USB-C and removes the Lightning port, but Apple has taken the headphone jack and Home button with it. The 10th-gen iPad manages to retain the same 10-hour battery life as its predecessors, but the starting price point of $449 is much higher than the 9th-gen iPad’s.

Also great

If you’re willing to pay for laptop power in a tablet, the iPad Air is the tablet for you.

If you’re stuck deciding between the base iPad models and the iPad Pro, the Apple iPad Air (5th generation) just about splits the difference. In the latest Air, you get the fast M1 chip and an iPad Pro-like design, which we’ve found makes the tablet more appealing and comfortable to use. Apple also offers more color options for the Air than for any other tablet, and we liked the blue model we tested. But Apple has reserved pro features such as Face ID and a more fluid 120 Hz screen, which we had originally expected to make more of an impact on day-to-day use, for the iPad Pro. Luckily you can still use Apple’s best accessories, like the second-generation Pencil and the Smart Keyboard Folio, with the Air, and that makes it a great tablet for someone who is willing to spend some more cash for a better experience but might gawk at the price tag of an iPad Pro.

Dave Gershgorn, a senior staff writer at Wirecutter, has covered consumer and enterprise technology since 2015. He’s been on a quest to find a suitable electronic replacement for pen and paper for more than a decade, and he will let you know when he finds it.

Roderick Scott is a staff writer at Wirecutter and since 2010 has been reviewing consumer tech and accessories, including iPhones, iPads, and more.

Previous versions of this guide were written by Wirecutter’s Nick Guy, who has reviewed Apple products since 2011, including at Wirecutter since 2014.

Wirecutter’s Andrew Cunningham also contributed to previous versions of this guide.

We test iPads by using them for a few days to see how they feel when performing common tasks such as running apps side by side, streaming video, or playing games. We also measure the tablets’ performance using the Geekbench 5 benchmarking app, which gives us a good idea of how each new iPad stacks up against past iPads (and other, more expensive iPads such as the iPad Air or Pro). We also run the Geekbench 4 battery test, which isn’t a good predictor of real-world battery life but can at least give you an idea of how well each iPad compares to other iPads in that regard. Multiple Wirecutter staffers have used each of the iPads we recommend long-term to maintain that they perform well over time.

A person using the fingerprint scanner on the 9th-generation Apple iPad.
Photo: Sarah Kobos

Our pick

With a large screen, a fast-enough processor, and Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard support, the 9th-gen iPad offers the features that most tablet users need.

The 9th-generation Apple iPad—the standard, 10.2-inch model that Apple officially calls the “iPad (9th generation)”—is still the best all-around tablet for most people. Its combination of performance, features, hardware quality, app selection, and accessories makes it superior to any other company’s tablets, and at its base price it offers a better value than almost anything else Apple sells. The iPad Air and the iPad Pro models boast better performance and larger and nicer screens, and the iPad mini is smaller and easier to hold, but the regular iPad is good enough for most people.

The 64 GB starting storage will be enough for most people. Apple’s ecosystem encourages you to store your photos and other media in the cloud and to stream your music and videos, so you might not need much on-device storage space. But if you plan to use a lot of apps or to store a lot of photos, music, or videos on the iPad itself, spending more (typically $150 more) on the 256 GB version may be worthwhile. We don’t love that there’s no 128 GB option in between, but 64 GB still allows for a good number of apps, documents, and other media.

It has a familiar design. Despite its smaller screen, the 9th-generation iPad is just a shade thicker and heavier than the 11-inch iPad Pro or the 10.9-inch 5th-generation iPad Air. Like the older models, it supports the 1st-generation Apple Pencil and the Apple Smart Keyboard. Because the Smart Keyboard uses Apple’s Smart Connector (the three dots on the left edge of the tablet) to communicate with the iPad, the keyboard doesn’t need its own battery, and you don’t need to fiddle with Bluetooth to get it working. And since this tablet uses exactly the same design, all cases and Smart Connector accessories that work with the 7th- and 8th-generation iPads also work with the 9th-gen version, and vice versa.

The lock screen on a 9th-generation iPad.
The 9th-generation iPad has the same basic design as the last generation. Photo: Sarah Kobos

It's an aging iPad, but its processor is still capable enough. The 9th-generation iPad now looks dated by comparison to the high-end iPad models, with a 10.2-inch touchscreen surrounded by relatively slim borders on the sides and relatively thick ones above and below, plus Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint scanner embedded below the screen. As on previous iPads, the screen on this version has an oleophobic coating that resists fingerprints and makes wiping off skin oil and other grime easier, and the tablet is light enough for an adult to hold comfortably in one hand. Thankfully, Apple added an antireflective coating, something that previous iPad screens have been missing. This is also the first “basic” iPad to support True Tone, Apple’s system for adjusting the screen’s color temperature based on the ambient light in your surroundings. It’s not a necessary feature, and you may very well prefer it turned off, but it’s there if you want it.

The 9th-generation iPad uses Apple’s A13 processor, the same as in 2019’s iPhone 11 and 2020’s iPhone SE. It’s a noticeable downgrade from an M1 iPad, but if you just want a basic tablet for web-browsing and playing lightweight games, it’s still plenty fast enough. You’re likely to notice the speed difference in everyday tasks and 3D games compared to the processors on older iPads, but the differences compared with the A12 processor in the 8th-gen iPad are pretty minimal. And with 3 GB of RAM in this iPad—up from 2 GB in older generations—everyday interactions such as switching between apps or Safari tabs will feel much more responsive than on older iPads because the apps and tabs don’t have to reload every time you switch away from them and then back.

The rear-facing camera is good enough for quick photos and document scanning. The 8-megapixel back camera lets you shoot panoramas, snap multiple photos in burst mode, and record slow-motion and time-lapse videos. You also get software video stabilization, though you don’t get the iPad Pro’s camera flash, wide-color photo capture, or ultrawide lens; if you need a smartphone-class camera in a tablet, check out the iPad Pro instead. The front-facing camera, on the other hand, is more comparable to that of the Pro-level devices and includes one of our favorite iPad Pro features: Center Stage. The ultrawide 12-megapixel camera tracks people in the frame, allowing you to move around while on a video call without walking out of the picture. It works quite well.

An iPad shown connected to a smart keyboard stand, with a n Apple Pencil next to it.
The iPad supports both the Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard, which you can purchase separately. Photo: Sarah Kobos

It offers solid battery life. When we ran the battery test in the Geekbench 4 benchmarking app, the 9th-generation iPad lasted an impressive 13 hours and 57 minutes, about 20 minutes longer than the previous version and more than three hours longer than the 7th-generation iPad. The actual battery life you get depends on what you’re using your tablet for, but in any case the new iPad lasts longer than its predecessor despite being significantly faster.

It continues to get software updates and has access to a giant app library. One of the biggest benefits of the Apple ecosystem is the constantly improving software, which appears even on older hardware. The 9th-gen iPad will receive new features via iPadOS updates for many years, and it includes iPadOS multitasking features that make new iPads more capable than older ones; like the iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPad Pro, the 10.2-inch iPad can open three applications on the screen at once.

You’ll miss out on the newer design and features from the newer iPads. Unlike on the most recent iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPad Pro models, there’s a gap between the 9th-generation iPad’s LCD panel and the front glass. As a result, interactions using the Apple Pencil have the slightest bit more delay, and if you look closely you can see the gap, in contrast to the experience with more premium iPads, where it looks like what’s on the screen is painted on.

In addition, the 9th-generation iPad lacks a few features we really like in the iPad Pro line, such as a camera flash, ProMotion display tech (Apple’s term for a 120 Hz refresh rate), a USB Type-C port, and support for the 2nd-generation Apple Pencil. However, those features are part of what makes the Pro models, well, pro—and why you have to pay at least $450 more for an iPad Pro. The 10th-generation iPad adds a USB-C port and some camera improvements, but you’ll have to pay $130 more for those features, along with a slightly better display.

Cellular connectivity won’t offer the fastest speeds on this iPad. Although the iPad is available with a cellular connection for a $130 premium, it’s LTE, not 5G. This likely doesn’t make a big difference for a lot of people, but it’s something to consider if you’re going to spend that much for an upgrade.

A photo of the yellow 10th-generation iPad is shown on a table next to a wireless keyboard.
The 10th-generation iPad. Photo: Dave Gershgorn

Upgrade pick

If you’re willing to pay more for an updated design, a faster processor, and more color options, the 2022 iPad is the tablet for you.

Apple’s 10th-generation iPad doesn’t bring every single spec and feature over from the iPad Air, but it’s not far off. It’s slightly smaller but still has a bigger, higher-resolution screen than the 9th-gen iPad, it has a faster processor, and it finally moves the FaceTime camera to landscape position. It also adds Wi-Fi 6 and a USB-C charging port, but longtime iPad users are losing the Home button. The 10th-gen iPad also ditches the headphone jack. You’ll pay more for all of these improvements: It costs a lot more than its predecessors.

It offers a slew of improvements over the 9th-gen iPad. The 10th-gen iPad is smaller than the 9th-generation iPad in every dimension—height, width, depth, and even weight—all while giving you a larger screen by shrinking its bezels. Its display size has increased from 10.2 inches to 10.9 inches (with a minuscule increase in resolution). The 2022 iPad’s processor also gets an upgrade from the A13 Bionic to the A14 Bionic processor, which is better at handling tasks like 4K video editing, recording podcasts, and more. And the 10th-gen iPad also gets faster, more reliable overall connectivity with the addition of Wi-Fi 6 support, and Bluetooth 5.2 should make stronger connections with Bluetooth devices at longer ranges.

The A14 Bionic processor promises 20% faster performance than its predecessor. To test that claim, I used apps like GarageBand for music creation, Adobe Fresco to make some art, and iMovie for editing 4K videos with zero lag or other issues. And the new chipset also helps the new iPad maintain the 9- to-10-hour battery life Apple has consistently delivered for years. Of course, using more intensive apps or a cellular connection will decrease the time between charges.

The new FaceTime camera on the 10th-gen iPad is a huge improvement for video calls. The FaceTime camera has been upgraded to 12 megapixels, which is a boost from the 9th-gen’s 8MP lens. This front-facing camera has moved from Portrait to Landscape position, which puts the selfie camera in the top center when using the iPad with a keyboard or on a stand. The higher-res FaceTime camera offers less-grainy output in good lighting, and it looks good over Zoom, while Apple’s Center Stage feature (which keeps you centered and in focus during video calls) works well. And the rear camera now supports 4K video and slow motion video capture up to 1080p at 240 frames per second.

The 10th-gen iPad sacrifices the headphone jack and Home button for USB-C. Like on the iPad Air, the Touch ID sensor has moved to the Power Button on the edge of the tablet. The 2022 iPad also swaps out the Lightning port for USB-C, which allows for faster charging, external monitor support, and support for USB-C-based accessories. This iPad doesn’t support the 2nd-gen Apple Pencil, but you do have two other versions to choose from: the 1st-gen Pencil or the new entry-level Apple Pencil, which charges over USB-C. Unlike the 2nd-gen version, the cheapest Pencil doesn’t have features like pressure sensitivity, double-tap to change tools, or wireless pairing and charging.

Despite all of the changes, it still feels like an entry-level iPad—just a more modern one. The larger, slightly higher resolution 10.9-inch display is a welcome addition for watching YouTube, Netflix, or other media. You don’t get the iPad Air’s laminated display or the Wide Color Display features or an HDR-capable panel, but it’s good enough, and it’s an improvement over the 9th-gen iPad for viewing content.

The 10th-generation iPad with Magic Keyboard Folio. Photo: Dave Gershgorn

 

The 10th-gen iPad has its own Bluetooth keyboard accessory. Apple’s The Magic Keyboard Folio is similar to the Microsoft Surface Pro’s Type Cover, adding a Surface-like kickstand to the iPad. Despite its $249 price tag, the new keyboard is a pleasure to use. It adds a wide trackpad with multi-touch gesture support, like Apple’s Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro, and a keyboard reminiscent of the older all-white MacBooks from 2006—there’s even a function row that the $299 Magic Keyboard doesn’t offer.

Trying to decide which of the six iPads to buy can be a chore in itself. There’s the 9th-gen and 10th-gen base model iPads, the 6th-gen iPad Mini, the 5th-gen iPad Air, and two iPad Pro models. We like the 10th-gen iPad’s upgraded features, but for $120 less, you get close to the same experience with the 9th-gen iPad. Then there’s the 6th-gen iPad mini, which gives you faster performance, a better but smaller display, and support for the 2nd-gen Apple Pencil for just $50 more than the 10th-gen iPad. Want iPad Pro-level performance, a better display, and support for the 2nd-gen Apple Pencil? The iPad Air delivers that for $150 more than the 10th-gen iPad. And this is all without jumping to the iPad Pros, which offer Apple’s best hardware and start at $799 for the 11-inch model and $1,099 for the 12.9-inch model. The 10th-gen iPad is a solid tablet, but its price tag makes your iPad buying decision a little more confusing.

The back of a blue iPad Air (5th generation), being held upright by a hand.
Photo: Dave Gershgorn

Also great

If you’re willing to pay for laptop power in a tablet, the iPad Air is the tablet for you.

The iPad Air (5th generation) represents a step up from the iPad (9th generation) in almost every way. It gives you more color options to customize your tablet, a much faster processor, a nicer display, and compatibility with a better set of accessories. The downside is the price: You pay about double for all those features.

The iPad Air has a Pro-level screen, though it lacks a high refresh rate. The Air’s display is sharp and bright, making it a nice choice for watching movies, playing games, or browsing the web. It has a 60 Hz screen, which means it refreshes the image on the display 60 times per second. Higher-end smartphones and the iPad Pro, in contrast, have a 120 Hz screen, which makes animations seem smoother and less jittery. But unless you really care about this feature or own a few other 120 Hz devices, you’d be unlikely to notice any issues in day-to-day use.

The iPad Air is compatible with iPad Pro accessories. While the standard iPad works only with the standard Smart Keyboard Folio and the first-generation Apple Pencil, the Air works with the same accessories as the 11-inch iPad Pro (which we recommend in our guide to the best professional tablets). That means you can use the second-generation Apple Pencil for digital art and the Magic Keyboard if you do a lot of typing and want a laptop replacement. Although we maintain that the iPad Pro is better for people who work in illustration or create content with their tablet, the Air is priced so that the tablet, stylus, and keyboard together cost less than $1,000.

It doesn’t have Face ID, but Touch ID is fast and accurate. The iPad Air’s fingerprint sensor is built into the tablet’s power button, instead of in the home button as on the 9th-gen iPad. The iPad Pro models are the only iPads with Face ID, the facial-recognition tech that Apple uses in its iPhones. We found both systems to be reliable, and we wouldn’t upgrade to the iPad Pro for Face ID alone.

A finger touching the top of an iPad Air (5th generation), which is where the fingerprint sensor is.
Photo: Dave Gershgorn

This mid-tier iPad uses Apple’s faster, high-end processor. We also like that the iPad Air has Apple’s M1 processor, which means the device will likely receive support via software updates for longer than its predecessors or the standard 9th-generation iPad. The M1 chip is the first version of the company’s custom-designed processors, and newer versions of the chip now power Apple’s high-end laptops and desktops.

The USB-C port opens your iPad Air up to use with more peripherals. The iPad Air design also includes a useful USB-C port, similar to the previous generation of the tablet. USB-C is much more widely used than Apple’s proprietary Lightning port, which is now used only in the iPhone, the base iPad, and a handful of Mac accessories. (Apple is now moving away from the Lightning port with the introduction of the iPhone 15.) This means you’ll be able to plug devices such as a keyboard, a solid-state drive, or even an external monitor directly into the iPad Air. The port also makes it easier for you to plug the iPad Air into your Mac for use as a second display, which mercifully removes a dongle from your life.

The Air’s storage options aren’t ideal. The two options are either 64 GB for $600 or 256 GB for $750. Although 64 GB is enough for most people, that capacity is too small for anyone to save a bunch of movies and shows alongside a slew of apps, photos, and documents. The 256 GB option, on the other hand, is probably overkill for most. It’s unfortunate that Apple doesn’t offer a 128 GB model, which would likely be the best option for most people.

The front of an iPad Air (5th generation), showing the home screen.
Photo: Dave Gershgorn

If you really need the storage and are looking at the 256 GB model, note that you’re dangerously close to the $800 price of the iPad Pro with 128 GB of storage, which is worth the extra $50. If you find that the Pro fits within your budget, check out our guide to the best professional tablets. But don’t let Apple push you out of your preferred price range if you’re unsure whether you’ll need the extra space. The 64 GB iPad Air is a great tablet, and if you’re often within Wi-Fi range, you’ll likely be streaming content to it, anyway.

An iPad mini shown next to a passport, demonstrating the iPad's small size.
Photo: Sarah Kobos

Released at the same time as the 9th-gen iPad, the iPad mini (6th generation) is less a small “basic” iPad and more a diminutive version of the 4th-gen iPad Air. It’s an excellent device if you need or want a small tablet with a faster processor and a more modern design than on the iPad we recommend above, but those factors are less important than the size. The iPad mini isn’t the best choice if you’re trying to get work done or to participate in remote learning on a tablet—the screen is too small for that. But for kids or for people with smaller hands who primarily want to watch videos, play games, doodle with the Apple Pencil, or chat with friends, it can be more comfortable to use than the standard iPad. The single biggest strike against it is its price: The iPad mini starts at $500, about 50% more than the 9th-gen iPad.

It looks like a small iPad Pro. Previous iPad minis have looked like the cheap 9th-gen iPad, with wide borders, curved edges, and a Touch ID–equipped Home button. The 6th-generation model is a departure, taking its design cues from the iPad Pro and iPad Air lines. Shared features include:

  • flat-side design
  • “edge-to-edge” display (with a 0.3-inch border)
  • Touch ID in the power button
  • rear camera with flash
  • front camera with Center Stage
  • USB-C port instead of Lightning
  • magnetic connector for the 2nd-generation Apple Pencil
  • optional 5G connectivity

There’s no Smart Connector to hook up a keyboard, but you probably wouldn’t like using a tiny keyboard with this iPad, anyway.

Because there’s no air gap between the display and the glass, the iPad mini’s screen looks better than the standard iPad’s. And using it feels as if you’re directly interacting with what’s on the screen, rather than with an image below it. The anti-reflective coating makes a small but noticeable difference, and the screen supports Apple’s ambient-light-based True Tone color shifting, which makes the screen a bit easier on the eyes in warm indoor lighting.

The speakers and camera at the top of the iPad mini.
The iPad Mini has the square-edge design of the larger iPad Pros. The fingerprint scanner is in the power button on the top, above the camera. Photo: Sarah Kobos

It’s not as powerful as an iPad Air, but it’s more impressive than a 9th-gen iPad. The 6th-generation iPad mini’s Apple A15 Bionic processor is faster than the A13 processor in the 9th-gen iPad. We didn’t run into any stutters or slowdowns in our testing. And, as in every iPad, the battery lasts for 10 hours or more; we got nearly 11 hours in our Geekbench tests.

Apple’s smallest iPad now has competition in the form of folding phones. The new features are all welcome upgrades that bring the iPad mini in line with almost every other iPad—the 9th-gen model is now the only “classic” design left. And the design change allows for more screen space in a slightly smaller overall package. The weight is evenly distributed, and we found the iPad mini comfortable to hold for extended reading sessions, though there’s something about the design that’s just begging to be folded in half. Perhaps we have foldable phones on our minds—Google has the Pixel Fold, the OnePlus Open is a current favorite, Samsung has the Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 as part of its Galaxy lineup, and even Motorola is back with a foldable Razr. Especially when we were holding the iPad mini in landscape, one of our first thoughts on pulling this tablet out of the box was that we wished we could fold it up like a book.

It’s a little expensive. If you do like the size, the 6th-gen iPad mini is a great choice. But price is a major factor here. The 64 GB base model costs $500, and it’s a huge $150 premium to jump to 256 GB, the only other storage level. Want 5G connectivity? That’s yet another $150 price bump. It’s hard to justify these costs unless the tablet’s size is a crucial factor for you—and if it is, well, you don’t really have any other options.

If you don’t use your iPad for more than an hour or two a day (or if you’ve never been bothered by its performance), you probably don’t need the latest and greatest unless you want the ability to use an iPad as a second monitor for a Mac running macOS Catalina or later.

On the other hand, if you have an older iPad and you use it frequently throughout the day—for example, as a tablet computer running lots of apps, as a way to stay in constant contact via email, text, audio, video, and social media, or as a media and gaming device—and it’s feeling out of date and sluggish, you may benefit by upgrading to the latest model. The 9th-generation iPad is noticeably faster than 2014’s iPad Air 2 or 2017’s 5th-generation iPad, especially for graphics-intensive apps.

If you’re contemplating upgrading, the fact that Apple continues to support older models with new software updates means you can likely sell your current iPad for a reasonable price (selling back to Apple directly is easy but generally gives you less money than you could receive elsewhere). Alternatively, you can pass it down to a child or other family member, and they’ll have a tablet that’s still good for basic use, as well as most kids apps and learning apps.

All iPad models include Wi-Fi connectivity, but for $130 to $150 more, you can add support for LTE or 5G, which means you can get an internet connection anywhere your cellular carrier offers service. And you don’t have to use the same carrier you have for your phone: The cellular versions of the iPad include an Apple SIM or a digital eSIM that you can activate on any carrier from the tablet itself.

If you frequently need internet access away from Wi-Fi and you can’t (or don’t want to) tether to your phone, a Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad is worth considering. You can’t add cellular capabilities to a Wi-Fi–only iPad later, so you have to make the decision when you buy the tablet.

A Certified Refurbished iPad purchased directly from Apple is every bit as reliable as a new one and is almost always cosmetically indistinguishable from new. It also comes with a full one-year Apple warranty, and it’s eligible for Apple’s optional AppleCare+ extended warranty. In other words, you’re getting something that’s basically new at a significant discount. Because of this, some of our Apple experts buy only Apple refurbs.

Not every model of iPad is available at all times through Apple’s refurb store. If you know the specific configuration you want to buy, we recommend setting up an alert on Refurb Tracker: Choose your country, choose iPad, and enter keywords (for example, “Pro AND 128GB”), and the site will notify you (via email or RSS) when matching models are available.

The iPad Pro in both its sizes offers more power than most people need, for a higher price than most people should pay. It provides definite benefits, including an edge-to-edge display, Face ID instead of Touch ID, Apple’s newest M2 processor, and support for the 2nd-generation Apple Pencil. But unless you plan on using your iPad as a replacement for your main laptop or insist on a bigger screen, stick with the 9th-gen iPad. If you’re sure you want an iPad Pro, consider a refurbished 2018 or 2020 version, which offers more than enough power.

This article was edited by Arthur Gies and Caitlin McGarry.

Meet your guides

Nick Guy

Nick Guy is a former senior staff writer covering Apple and accessories at Wirecutter. He has been reviewing iPhones, iPads, and related tech since 2011—and stopped counting after he tested his 1,000th case. It’s impossible for him not to mentally catalog any case he sees. He once had the bright idea to build and burn down a room to test fireproof safes.

Dave Gershgorn

Dave Gershgorn is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter. He’s been covering consumer and enterprise technology since 2015, and he just can’t stop buying computers. If this weren’t his job, it would likely be a problem.

Roderick Scott

Roderick Scott is Wirecutter's staff writer reporting on smartphones, tablets, and accessories. He is the former publisher of TechGuySmartBuy, where he reviewed everything from phones to headphones to smart speakers to cars. He is also a former aspiring songwriter, music producer, and A&R working with local talent.

Further reading

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    You can do a surprising amount of work on an iPad with the right gear. These are the best accessories for turning your iPad into a mobile work space.

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    The Best Tablet for Kids

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    The best tablet for your kid is the old one you aren’t using anymore. If you’re buying new, Apple’s 9th-generation iPad has the best app selection.

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