Apple’s Best iPad (for Most People) Is Still 20% Off Before Prime Day Ends Tonight

Amazon's big deal days end tonight, October 8, but until then, Lifehacker is sharing the best sales from product reviews, comparisons, and price tracking tools before they run out.

If you're looking for an iPad, you have no shortage of options to choose from. Apple now sells several powerful iPads with the same components as Macs. But while all of Apple's iPads are excellent in their own right, most of us don't need the extra power, hardware or features found in these more expensive tablets. In fact, most of us are probably perfect for Apple's first iPad– corresponding call, iPad.

If this is true for you, you're in luck. In just a few hours, you can save 20% on Apple's latest iPad. Apple sells this tablet for $349, but during the last hours of October Prime Day, you can get it for $279.

Apple's entry-level iPad doesn't look entry-level. The tablet has an 11-inch display with minimal edges. It pairs nicely with Apple's other, more premium iPads, without the added price. You get a single 12-megapixel camera on the back of the tablet and a 12-megapixel selfie camera on the front. In fact, the camera is located on the landscape side of the iPad, and not on the portrait side as you are used to. This makes it easier to frame yourself during video calls with the iPad in the same position as you hold the laptop display.

This iPad is powered by the A16 chip, which is why some people call it the iPad A16. This is the same chip that powers the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15, and while it's not the most powerful hardware Apple includes in its iPads, it's quite capable of running the apps you're likely to use on your tablet. Unless you want to do any graphics-intensive work or play extremely demanding games, the A16 chip should run iPadOS without issue.

While this iPad works great as is, you can also add some additional accessories. apple pencil is a must-have for anyone who wants to use their iPad for drawing or handwriting notes while Apple Magic Keyboard Folio turns your iPad into a laptop.

Really the only issue I see with this iPad for most people is the storage size. This tablet only comes with 128GB of internal storage, which can fill up quickly if you store a lot of photos, videos, and files on your device. If you need more storage space, you can increase up to 256 GBwhich is currently 16% off during Prime Day. ($379, down from $449.) If you know most of your data is in the cloud or accessible via streaming, you can probably get by with 128GB. But $379 isn't a bad price for future-proofing your iPad.

Looking for something else? Retailers like Walmart and Best Buy have competitive Prime Day sales, which are especially useful if you don't have Amazon Prime.