iPad drops to all-time low price of $250 for Black Friday — and it’s the model I recommend most

Apple makes some very fancy iPads these days. But for the stuff most people do with their iPads — watching videos, reading books and documents, and surfing the web, the best iPad to buy is the standard 10th-generation iPad. This is the iPad I recommend to everyone other than artists and high-end video professionals. 

And while heavy discounts on Apple products are super rare, the iPad 10th-gen is on sale for $100 off — a 28% discount — at Amazon for Black Friday. The iPad retails for $349 but Amazon is offering it for $259 (26% off), but don’t forget to check the $9.01 off coupon before you check out to get the price down to $249.99. 

Also: The best Black Friday deals: Live updates

To give you a sense of what a terrific deal this is, this iPad had been selling for $450 from the time it launched in 2022 up until earlier this year. 

This is a great iPad to gift to a kid, an elderly relative, or a friend or family member who doesn’t need a full computer but wants a bigger screen than a phone to do some of their favorite or most-needed digital activities. That can also include video calls, filling out web forms, looking up information with Google or ChatGPT, and online shopping. 

Also: The best iPad deals for Black Friday 2024

This was the first iPad to get a front-facing camera that’s centered on the long end of the iPad so it works great for video calling and video conferencing when it’s placed in landscape mode.

If you want to use this iPad for email, notetaking, or writing, then I’d recommend also grabbing the Logitech Combo Touch keyboard case ($105) or the ESR keyboard case ($82). Both are a lot cheaper than Apple’s $250 keyboard case and the Logitech offers better protection.

Also: I gave away my Kindle and iPad within hours of testing this tablet

And if you’re thinking about giving a tablet as a gift this year, ZDNET is also bullish on the TCL Tab 10 Nxtpaper 5G, which has a paper-like display that makes it a mix between an e-reader and a traditional tablet. And at $239, it’s about the same price as the iPad 10th-gen. 

For Apple fans, the other Apple product on sale at an aggressive discount for Black Friday is a pair of AirPods Pro 2, which you can buy for $154.00 — 38% off the regular $249 retail price. And remember that the AirPods Pro 2 now come with a software upgrade that turns them into a medically approved hearing aid.