When is the best time to buy an iPad? We investigate

Macworld

We’ve all been there. You decide to pick up a shiny new device, so you head to the shops and return home with your expensive purchase; all is well with the world. Then a week later a newer, better version is released, and you’re left wondering whether you’ve wasted your money.

In this article we show how to avoid this trauma by explaining when it’s the best time to buy an iPad.

If you’re struggling to decide which one is the right device for you, incidentally, you should also take a look at our iPad buying guide.

When is the best time to buy an iPad?

It’s easier to say when the worst time to buy a new iPad is: just before a new version is launched. That’s when you find out you could have got more for your money and the retailer you brought from drops the price of the model you now own because they want to clear out the old stock.

To avoid this you might want to check to see if Apple is about to update the range of iPads you are interested in. Unfortunately there is no clear schedule to when Apple will update any of the iPad models because Apple doesn’t tend to update iPads as regularly as it does iPhones. But you can be reasonably confident that if the iPad you want to buy is less than a year and a half old it probably isn’t about to be updated.

However, buying an iPad just after it launches isn’t necessarily the best time to buy one either. This is the time when you will be paying the most for a new iPad, not because Apple might drop prices but because other resellers probably will. We see iPad deals from retailers throughout the year, but the best deals tend to happen during Amazon Prime Day (July and October) or Black Friday (November). For this reason we would recommend that those are good times to buy a new iPad.

Apple doesn’t discount its products in its own stores, but it does offer vouchers with new purchases from time to time–and Black Friday is one of those times as is the Back to School deal that it runs throughout the summer months. So if you want to get vouchers from Apple those are good times to shop at the company’s stores.

When was the iPad updated?

Life would be a bit easier for the iPad fanbase if you could always rely on the latest update to your preferred model appearing in September, as is the case with the iPhone. Instead, Apple updates its iPads on a less predictable schedule, with new models tending to appear around September/October or April, and often with a gap of two or more years between updates.

Here’s a list of the iPads on sale today and when they were last updated:

iPad mini (A17 Pro): October 2024

iPad (A16): March 2025

iPad Air (M3): March 2025

iPad Pro (M5): October 2025

When will Apple launch new iPads?

The next update is likely to be to the iPad mini (A17 Pro), we also hope that Apple will soon update the iPad A16 as that is incompatible with the Apple Intelligence features. As for when to expect these updates, spring 2026 is possible but we think we could be waiting until fall 2026.

Is now a good time to buy an iPad?

Here’s our breakdown of the four types of iPad that Apple currently sells, and in each case whether you should buy now or wait.






Should I buy iPad (A16, 2025)?
























Best Prices Today:








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Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide






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BUY (but consider an alternative)

Last updated: March 2025

Is now a good time to buy? Yes. But keep in mind that there are Apple Intelligence features you won’t be getting now, or in the future, so a different iPad might be a better choice.

The current 10-inch iPad arrived in March 2025.

This is the cheapest iPad, with a starting price of $349/£329, and as such it is an easy model to recommend for those who don’t care about the latest flashy innovations and instead want a reliable, mid-size tablet in fun colors, for general use.

However, if size isn’t important, you may be better off with the smaller iPad mini, which starts at $499/£499. Another reason to choose the iPad mini or iPad Air is that the standard iPad doesn’t support Apple Intelligence, which could mean missing out on features coming to the iPad in the future.


Read our full

Apple iPad (A16) review







Should I buy iPad mini (A17 Pro, 2024)?
























Best Prices Today:








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Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide






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Price comparison from Backmarket








BUY

Last updated: October 2024

Is now a good time to buy? Yes. We don’t expect an update until 2026 or later.

The 2024 iPad mini offers 128GB storage at the entry level, rather than a measly 64GB. This is a definite point in its favor. In addition, the 2024 model features a chip compatible with Apple Intelligence features, so it will be nicely future-proofed for a while (and it’s likely to be a few years until Apple updates it).

There is a choice of color options, as there are on the iPad and iPad Air. The iPad mini has pale blue, purple and starlight in contrast to the bolder color choices on the Air and standard iPad.


Read our full

Apple iPad mini (A17 Pro) review







Should I buy iPad Air (M3, 2025)?
























Best Prices Today:








Retailer


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Check




Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide






Product


Price




Price comparison from Backmarket








BUY

Last updated: March 2025

Is now a good time to buy? Yes. We don’t expect an update until 2026 or later.

The iPad Air with M3 chip is a stunning machine at a comparatively affordable price. It has some competition from the iPad Pro (which has a much more meaty M5 chip), and it’s no longer the thin, light offering it once was now that the iPad Pro is just as slim.

Like the iPad Pro the iPad Air now comes in two sizes, so you can choose either a 11-inch or 13-inch display. It’s the iPad Air that has the fun color palette though, available in blue, pink, yellow or silver, while the Pro has a more professional color scheme.


Read our full

Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M3, 2025) review







Should I buy iPad Pro (M5, 2025)?
























Best Prices Today:








Retailer


Price









Check




Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide






Product


Price




Price comparison from Backmarket








BUY

Last updated: October 2025

Is now a good time to buy? Yes. The iPad Pro now has a M5 chip and we don’t think that it will be updated again for at least 12 months.

As the flagships of Apple’s tablet range, the iPad Pro 11-inch and 13-inch are highly desirable devices that boast incredible levels of performance. These features don’t come cheap, though.

The M5 iPad Pro which arrived in 2025 is already more powerful than it has any right to be, so we don’t think you need to wait for the M6 iPad Pro to launch.


Read our full

Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (M5, 2025) review