Best Black Friday tablet deals: Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab

Black Friday is done and dusted for another year, but the sales are far from over. Whether you’re looking to buy the latest Apple iPad, checking out a Samsung Galaxy Tab, or thinking about something completely different, there are some fantastic Black Friday deals still available right now. With so many choices out there, we’re helping you out by picking out some of the best Black Friday tablet deals around. Read on while we take you through the highlights so you know exactly what you should buy and how much you can save.

Top 5 Black Friday tablet deals

Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite — $170, was $200

Although Samsung’s Android tablets don’t command quite the same market presence as the Galaxy smartphones, they are still the best Android tablets money can buy. That said, the flagship models are expensive, so if you’re looking for a pared-down Galaxy tablet that’s easy on the wallet, check out the Galaxy Tab A7 Lite. This one sports an 8.7-inch 1340 x 800 display, so while it’s on the slightly smaller side compared to standard tablets (which typically come in at 10 inches or more), it’s a good size for regular use while still being small enough to comfortably stow in your bag when you’re on the go. It comes loaded with Android 11 pre-installed, too, so if the Amazon Fire tablets aren’t to your liking but you don’t want to pony up the cash for the more expensive Galaxy Tab models, this is a great — and cheap — Android pick and among the best early Black Friday tablet deals we’ve found.

2021 Apple iPad — $299, was $329

Cheap tablets have their place, but if you want something that you’ll use for extended periods often (and will do so for a couple of years at least), then you need to consider an iPad. Apple’s tablets are still the ones we recommend for most people, with the standard 10-inch 2021 model representing an incredible value. Apple gave its 10-inch tablet an update this year, but that came with a considerable 50% price increase, and we don’t feel that the 2022 Apple iPad is really worth the extra money — for the money, the 9th-gen 2021 iPad is still where it’s at. It performs well, delivers a smooth iPadOS software experience, and has some notable upgrades over the previous model with its bumped-up base storage (64GB from 32GB) and greatly improved camera. For around three Benjamins, this Black Friday tablet deal is a great way to get your hands on an iPad without emptying your checking account.

2022 Apple iPad Air — $551, was $599

One of the reasons we can’t strongly recommend the new 10-inch 2022 iPad is that you can get the 2022 Apple iPad Air for not much more (at least when it’s on sale as it is right now), and it’s simply a better buy. That’s actually putting it lightly because the iPad Air was our top overall pick among the best tablets we’ve reviewed. The new 5th-gen iPad Air packs Apple’s fantastic M1 chip to deliver laptop-like performance in a tablet package, and one that costs considerably less than the iPad Pro. It’s a great mid-range option between the standard 10.2-inch iPad and the higher-end Pro models, and although it only offers 64GB of base onboard storage, that’s a compromise most of us can live with — you may just have to avail yourself of iCloud storage. The 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display is sharp and vibrant, and the iPad Air pairs well with accessories such as a keyboard case, letting you easily adapt the tablet for whatever use you wish.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra — $1,000, was $1,100

Although Apple still rules the tablet roost, Android tablets (and the Samsung Galaxy stable in particular) have come a long, long way in recent years, and the gap between them isn’t nearly as big as it used to be. A case in point is the excellent Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra. Aptly named, this is the current leader of Samsung’s flagship tablets, and it’s a beauty. Android users who have been waiting for a true answer to the iPad Pro will find it in this tablet: With a gorgeous 14.6-inch 2960 x 1848 Super AMOLED 120Hz display, it outsizes even the largest iPad, and can easily be paired with a good keyboard to pull double duty as a laptop for work. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 CPU and 8GB of RAM provide more than enough muscle for anything you’d need to do on this thing, while 128GB of storage gives you plenty of space for your essential apps and files. Quality like this never comes cheap, but Black Friday tablet deals can take some of the bite out of the Tab S8 Ultra’s usual price.

2021 Apple iPad Pro (M1 CPU, 12.9-Inch) — $1,050, was $1,099

On the other hand, if you want a truly capable tablet and it’s gotta be an iPad, then you should already know to look no further than the iPad Pro. This 2021 model is available in two sizes, 11 and 12.9 inches, but we recommend springing for the larger one, especially if you have any intentions of using it like a laptop with a good keyboard case. The iPad Pro 12.9-inch can easily handle it thanks to its M1 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM, which delivers incredible performance. The 12.9-inch Pro model also packs a gorgeous Mini-LED display which is absent on the 11-inch variant (another reason to spring for the bigger one in our opinion). Early Black Friday iPad deals let you score the 128GB iPad Pro 12.9-inch for around a grand right now.

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