In all of the hoopla surrounding Apple’s 2024 releases of the M4 iPad Pro, M2 iPad Air, and A17 Pro iPad Mini, people have forgotten just what a solid tablet the 10th Gen iPad is. Released in 2022, the 10th Gen standard iPad may not get the hearts and flowers of its newer stablemates, but for us it falls right into that sweet spot of great performance and even better price, especially now that Amazon has knocked another 20% off that number to bring it down to just $279.
When you look at the current iPad lineup and see the brand-new Pro starting at $999, the Air at $599, and even the little Mini at $499, the differences in features and performance with the 10th Gen iPad hardly warrant the hundreds of extra dollars in price.
Same Look, Better Deal
The similarities between the 10th Gen iPad and the 2024 models of the Air and Mini are legion. All have Apple’s brilliant Liquid Retina display with True Tone, and they share the same 5G and Gigabit LTE internet compatibility. The Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connections of the 10th Gen iPad are a tiny step down from the Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 of the 2024 editions. All work with the USB-C version of the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard Folio, and all are charged via USB-C rather than Lightning.
The 10th Gen iPad’s 12MP Wide camera with Smart HDR 3 and 4K video is an almost imperceptible step down from the Smart HDR 4 cameras of the 2024 iPad releases, and while the 2024 iPad Pro models boast an upgraded Ultra Retina XDR display with ProMotion technology featuring faster refresh rates, we really question whether that alone warrants the extra $700 in price. (You could take that difference and buy 10th Gen iPads for yourself and two of your friends and still have over a hundred bucks left over.)
Unbeatable Deal
Despite the name, the 2024 iPad Air is actually heavier than the 10th Gen iPad, by nearly a third of a pound. The 10th Gen iPad also stands toe to toe with its pricier cousins when it comes to battery life — all share the same robust 10-hour duration on a full charge.
Apple Pay and Siri are also among the unique Apple perks that the 10th Gen iPad shares with the far pricier 2024 iPads. Long story short, the upgrades of the 2024 iPads are great, but unless you really, really want to make the prestige buy of the very latest Apple tablet, the unsung hero of the lineup is the 10th Gen iPad, especially when it’s at its current unbeatable price of $279 at Amazon.
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