Best Apple iPad Deals: Top 5 iPads on Sale

This 11-inch A16 iPad is a pragmatic choice for users who want a modern iPad experience without moving into the premium Pro price bracket. It suits students, families, and anyone who streams, browses, takes notes, or edits photos lightly — you get solid performance, a responsive Liquid Retina display, and long battery life. The key differentiator is cost-to-capability: you get a contemporary Apple chip and Touch ID at a lower price than M-series tablets. One consideration is storage: the 128GB configuration is sensible for many, but heavy photo or video users may want more space or a cloud workflow.

The 13-inch iPad Air with M3 is aimed at users who want a larger canvas without stepping into Pro-level pricing — creatives who sketch or paint, remote workers who value screen real estate for split-view tasks, and students who want a comfortable typing setup with an external keyboard. Its M3 chip brings a notable step up in multitasking and app performance compared with older Air models, and the 13-inch display makes it more laptop-like in daily use. Compared with Pro models, it keeps costs and weight down while offering most of the power many people need. The trade-off: it lacks the Pro’s Ultra Retina XDR display and some pro-level video throughput used in high-end color grading.

The 11-inch iPad Air with M3 is a compromise between portability and power — attractive to professionals who travel, students who carry their device between classes, and creatives who prefer a smaller drawing surface. It preserves many of the Air’s strengths (M3 performance, strong battery life, and accessory support) in a more pocketable form factor than the 13-inch Air. Its main advantage is balance: you get near-Pro processing without the weight and larger footprint of the 13-inch or Pro models. Consider that if you frequently edit HDR video or need the peak brightness of an XDR panel, the Pro line remains superior.

The 13-inch iPad Pro with M4 targets professionals who need maximum performance and the best display Apple offers in a tablet form. It’s a compelling choice for video editors, professional photographers, and 3D artists who benefit from the Ultra Retina XDR display and the M4’s GPU horsepower. The differentiator is end-to-end performance and display fidelity: if your workflow depends on high dynamic range or raw computational power, this is the model that stretches the iPad’s capabilities closest to a pro workstation. The downside is cost and weight: you’re paying for pro-grade hardware that many casual users won’t fully use.

The 11-inch iPad Pro with M4 is for users who want the Pro experience in the most portable Pro form factor. It’s ideal for creative professionals who travel, performers who want a powerful stage companion, or designers who appreciate a pro-grade display in a lighter package. It shares the M4 performance and LiDAR capabilities with the larger Pro but keeps the footprint easier to handle and carry. A potential consideration is that the smaller screen may feel cramped for heavy multitasking or complex timelines compared with the 13-inch Pro.