Which iPad Should You Buy Into 2025? And welcome to our iPad Buyer’s Guide! We just received the final iPad update for the year—the iPad Mini. This lineup won’t change in the coming months, so this article is here to help you decide which iPad you should buy now.
In this guide, we’ll cover a variety of features, testing everything from speakers, performance, display quality, and overall value to help you make the best choice. Let’s kick off with a quick update on the iPad Mini 7. This model now offers double the storage, double the RAM, a faster USB-C port, and the new A7 Pro chip with Apple Intelligence, similar to other high-end iPads. The only iPad without this support is the budget iPad 10, which still uses an older chip—but more on that in the performance section.
Best iPad buying guide for 2025
iPad: Specs and Prices
The entire lineup and explain some of the specs: First of all, we have the iPad 10 with a 10.9-inch display, A14 chip, and 64 GB of storage for $350. It’s actually a really good deal because it used to be $450 when it just came out. Apple earlier this year gave us a $100 price cut, so it’s a killer value!
We also have the iPad Mini 7, the brand new one, which has an 8.3-inch display, now with 128 GB of storage and an A17 Pro chip for $500.
Then we have the 11-inch iPad Air with the M2 chip and 128 GB of storage for $600. There’s also a 13-inch model (not shown here), which is basically identical, just with a larger display for $800.
Next, we have the 11-inch iPad Pro with the M4 chip and 256 GB of storage for $1,000. Finally, there’s the 13-inch model with the same specs but a larger display for $1,300.
iPad : Speaker
which one sounded the best, but to me, honestly, the iPad Pro sound is so much better because they actually have four-speaker audio. That means every single grill you see on the outside has a speaker built-in, while the others just have landscape speakers (meaning only half of the actual grills have speakers in them, with one on each side). The iPad Pros are a lot better, especially on the 13-inch model—the bass is just insane, making it so nice to listen to music, watch movies, shows, or whatever.
Especially for gaming, if you want to hear footsteps of people around you, the iPad Pros are the best.
iPad : Microphone quality
Comparing the microphone quality: this is the mic on the iPad 10, and now this is the microphone on the iPad Mini 7 (the new one), and then this is the 11-inch iPad Air, and then this one is the M4 iPad Pro 11-inch model. Finally, we have the 13-inch iPad Pro.
Now, both the iPad Pros should be sounding a lot better than the other iPads because they actually have four studio mics, while the others only, I think, only have two, and they’re not even studio-quality. So, this should be good for, let’s say, recording for professional audio or whatever you’re doing; the mic should sound amazing.
iPad : Design
Now, jumping over to the exterior design differences, you can see that all of them now have the same modern design with the flat top, flat bottom, and flat sides. It looks absolutely beautiful, so much better than those older iPads. But one thing you notice here is that the budget iPad 10 has the brightest colors in terms of options. This is the yellow, and it is so yellow, which is crazy to me. The iPad Mini and the iPad Air also have some nice color options, but they’re not as poppy in terms of colors. Of course, the iPad Pros just have the simple space black and silver—it’s the most professional, basically no color at all.
Now, you can see the camera bumps: the iPad Mini, iPad 10, and iPad Air all just have that single bump with the microphone below. You can see the Mini actually has the smallest microphone hole right there, while the budget iPad 10 and Air have a larger camera hole, but they don’t have a flash, which is interesting. Like, why would Apple give the Mini flash but not the Air? That’s actually kind of weird.
Then, you see a huge difference on the pros. They have a square-ish camera bump, and Apple has removed one of the cameras—they must have decided it wasn’t needed. You just have the standard camera, LiDAR for 3D modeling and apps, a microphone hole, a flash, and an additional little hole that’s actually for an ambient light sensor to enable more accurate auto-brightness for the display and camera.
It’s also really cool that finally, these little iPad texts match up perfectly. On the iPad Mini, it says “iPad Mini,” just “iPad” on the 10, iPad Air, and iPad Pro—finally, Apple, thank you! You also see these little connectors, which are for the Smart Connector.
USB-C Speed Difference
Let’s talk about the USB-C ports because we have some changes this year. They’re all USB-C, but the speeds are quite different. The Best Budget iPad 10 is actually limited to 480 megabits per second, which is the same as Lightning Port speeds—super, super slow. The iPad Mini 7 finally got updated to 10 Gbps, which matches the iPad Air, but the iPad Pros actually have Thunderbolt ports that go up to 40 Gbps—insanely fast for transfers. Thunderbolt also supports nicer docks and hubs and daisy-chaining for better display support.
Face ID vs Touch ID : Security
For security, the budget iPad 10 has Touch ID integrated into the power button, which is great. You’ll also find this feature on the iPad Mini and the iPad Air. However, what I really like about the iPad Pros is that they come with Face ID built-in. With Face ID, you simply put your face in the frame, and it instantly unlocks without needing to press a button. Face ID is incredibly convenient because it works in any orientation—no matter how you hold the iPad, it’s just magic.
iPad : Keyboard Support
Looking at the front displays, you’ll notice differences in immersivity across the lineup, but before diving into displays, let’s talk about the front cameras. Each iPad here has a landscape ultrawide selfie camera, except for the iPad Mini, which keeps it at the top for vertical mode. This is because the Mini is too small to support the Smart Connector on the back, which enables keyboard cases. So, it’s designed more like a standard iPad.
For keyboard options, the iPad 10 has a Magic Keyboard Folio, which is fantastic; it powers the keyboard independently and has a detachable keyboard section with a stand. The iPad Air gets the original Magic Keyboard, a solid choice, but the iPad Pros get the newest Magic Keyboard with an improved trackpad and aluminum design for a premium feel, and it’s priced at $300 for the 11-inch model, the same as the Air’s keyboard. The 13-inch model is a bit more expensive, but worth it.
As for Apple Pencil support, all iPads support the new $79 USB-C Apple Pencil, though it lacks wireless charging and some advanced features. However, every iPad except the iPad 10 also supports the Apple Pencil Pro at $129, with features like squeeze for palette, barrel roll for brush angle, haptic feedback, hover support, and even Apple Find My support—an excellent upgrade from the Pencil 2.
iPad : Display Quality
the display quality differences. Right away, you can see how much more immersive the larger displays are compared to the Mini. The Mini’s display looks tiny with thicker bezels, while the 10.9-inch budget iPad improves slightly but still has thicker bezels. The 11-inch iPad Pro steps up with thinner bezels, and the 13-inch iPad Pro is just massive. Personally, the 11-inch feels like the best middle ground.
In terms of color quality, the iPad 10 lags with sRGB colors, whereas all other iPads support P3 wide color gamut, offering a more vibrant color range. You’ll notice in testing that the iPad 10 doesn’t display certain colors as fully as the others. Plus, the iPad 10 lacks full lamination, which means there’s a slight gap between the display and cover glass, resulting in a hollow sound and visible gap at certain angles, leading to less intense blacks.
Additionally, the iPad 10 lacks an anti-reflective display coating, unlike the other iPads, making it more reflective in bright lighting.
Brightness is another big difference: the iPad 10, Mini, and Air all max out at 500 nits. However, both iPad Pros deliver an impressive 1,000 nits of standard brightness thanks to their tandem OLED display technology—two OLED panels stacked together for increased brightness and efficiency. This means deeper blacks and more vibrant text, as they don’t have to work as hard, resulting in longer-lasting battery life. The LED technology on the non-Pro models makes blacks appear more gray in comparison.
When viewing OLED HDR videos, the iPad Pro displays vibrant blacks and rich contrast, while the other iPads appear grayish. The iPad Pro can also reach 1,600 nits brightness for HDR content, which is outstanding.
Finally, the iPad Pros feature 120 Hz ProMotion technology, dynamically adjusting the refresh rate from 24 Hz to 120 Hz for smooth performance, especially in animations and gaming. In contrast, the iPad 10, iPad Mini, and iPad Air are limited to 60 Hz—meaning games max out at 60 FPS on these models, whereas the iPad Pros can support up to 120 FPS for ultra-smooth visuals.
iPad : Geekbench 6 CPU Performance
the performance comparison. Running Geekbench 6 on all devices, we see some stark differences. The iPad 10 has just 4 GB of RAM with an A14 chip, making it the most limited and quite outdated. The iPad Mini 7 is equipped with the newer A17 Pro and 8 GB of RAM, a nice upgrade. The iPad Air features the M2 Chip with 8 GB of RAM, while both 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pros come with the M4 chip and 8 GB of RAM as standard, with potential upgrades if opting for 1 TB storage models.
After running the CPU benchmark, the results clearly show that the iPad Pros dominate, performing 80% better in single-core than the A14 in the iPad 10. Interestingly, the iPad Mini 7 scores a higher single-core score than the iPad Air despite being more affordable. This is due to the 3-nanometer A17 Pro in the Mini, compared to the 5-nanometer M2 in the Air. However, with eight cores (four performance and four efficiency), the M2 in the Air does have a higher multi-core score—10,000 compared to the Mini’s 7,300.
The A14 in the iPad 10 comes in last, scoring 4,920 in multi-core, less than half of the iPad Air. The iPad Pros, with 13,000 in multi-core, demonstrate a significant performance lead across the lineup.
iPad : Web Browsing Performance
I know that’s a lot to take in, so let’s just keep it simple. This is Speedometer 3.0, which basically shows you how snappy your iPad is going to be in terms of general web browsing and many simple web-based apps. Let’s start the test on all of these devices right here and see the differences that we get.
Look at that, guys! The M4 iPad Pro scores 36.3, making it literally one of the fastest personal computers, even outperforming many laptops and desktop computers in terms of web browsing. It’s insane—72% faster than the iPad 10. Once again, we see the Mini being faster than the Air due to its superior single-core performance, but they should all be very snappy, just the iPad 10.
iPad : Geekbench 6 GPU Performance
we also have graphics, which matters a lot on these iPads because many people use iPads for tasks like gaming and even video editing, both of which depend heavily on graphics performance. So, let’s run the GPU Benchmark in Geekbench 6.
There you go, we have our scores! Take a look at this: the M4 iPad Pros are scoring over 3.2 times higher than the budget iPad 10. That’s where you get the extra performance for spending the extra cash—over three times better for gaming performance and everything else. It’s over twice as fast as the iPad Mini, and surprisingly, it’s not that far ahead of the M2 Chip in the iPad Air. But, of course, you’ve got to keep in mind that you’re limited to 60 Hz, so even though you have this really fast graphics performance, you can’t go up to 120 FPS because the display can’t support it.
iPad : 3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Since Geekbench is more of a graphical processing kind of benchmark, I do want to do something that’s a lot more related to gaming. This is 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme, which will actually show us the FPS you should expect in a game. So, let’s go ahead and run this.
And holy smokes, guys! The difference is even larger: over four times higher FPS on the M4 iPad Pro compared to the budget iPad 10, and well over double compared to the iPad Mini. The iPad Air is still pretty dang fast at 36.7 FPS.
Of course, this is a benchmark, so it’s not showing the real-world FPS. This should definitely be hitting 60 FPS in a lot of games, and it should be hitting 120 FPS in some games as well. So, as far as gaming goes, the iPad Pros are the best of the best, especially with 120 Hz displays.
Now, before we get into the buyer guide section of this video, I want to quickly cover some wireless specs. All of these have Bluetooth 5.3 except for the iPad 10, which is stuck with Bluetooth 5.2. All of them have Wi-Fi 6E, except for the iPad 10, which has Wi-Fi 6, meaning it does not have the extra 6 GHz band. However, the iPad 10 is the only one that still has a physical nano SIM card slot for LTE service; the rest of them rely on eSIM exclusively.
Who Should Buy the iPad 10?
the buyer guide, starting with the budget iPad 10. Who should buy this iPad? Well, first of all, it’s only $350, and it actually gets cheaper if you go on Amazon. I’ll leave some links below to the best deals on Amazon for all these, so definitely check those links for the best prices.
But this one is crazy low in terms of price: $350, and you get a decent iPad. Yes, it doesn’t have the best display or the best chip, but for younger kids, it’s fast enough for casual gaming, web browsing, and YouTube—things that kids do. Even younger teens will be happy with this, especially with the colors.
Also, because you have the SMART connector, if you want to buy this for doing business-related web work, you can get the Magic Keyboard Folio for a nice typing experience.
Who Should Buy the iPad Mini 7?
We have the iPad Mini 7, the new version priced at $500. Since it just came out, you might not find as good of a deal on Amazon, but keep in mind that it comes with double the storage compared to the iPad 10, offering 128 GB, which is a significant value addition.
Personally, I have an iPad Mini 6 at home, and it’s my favorite iPad—better than the rest—because I already have a laptop for all my work needs. I just want an iPad for iPad-specific tasks, and the Mini is by far the most convenient one to hold in your hands, especially for playing games. Its compact size is perfect for on-display controls, making it super nice to use.
Additionally, I have two young kids who enjoy playing their games, watching shows, and YouTube on it. For me, it’s the perfect iPad, and that’s why I like the iPad Mini. It’s a lot faster and supports Apple Pencil, making it really good in terms of value for all your iPad activities.
Who Should Buy the iPad Air?
the iPad Air. This is the 11-inch model, and this is good if you want a more premium feel where you have the large 11-inch display, but you have a really nice display in terms of the quality. You have the LED, you have full lamination, you have better speakers, and you have support for the really, really killer Magic Keyboard, which a lot of people love to use. But to be honest, this is actually my least favorite iPad because it’s kind of stuck in the middle.
$600 to $800 for the 13-inch model is a lot of money to spend for still having an LED 60Hz display. Because that really limits the performance in terms of the FPS; you’re not getting 120, which really sucks, and it’s a lot of money. So, who should buy this iPad Air? I mean, realistically, I think everybody should just skip it.
Who Should Buy the iPad Pro?
Older M2 chip? It’s just not that good. Now let’s get into the 11-inch iPad Pro with the M4 chip. This is $1,100, which is crazy expensive and meant for those who have the budget to spend on something like this. But you get so many upgrades: tandem OLED, which is a game changer. We know these iPads are getting OLED displays, but they’ll only be single panel; this one has dual panel OLEDs, which will continue to be the best. You also have Face ID on the front, thinner bezels, the M4 chip for all that performance, 8 GB of RAM, and 120 Hz ProMotion for the gamers out there.
Just so many advantages, especially like the quad speaker system and the better microphones. This is a crazy good iPad for an expensive $1,100.
And then finally, we of course have the 13-in iPad Pro. Who should buy this? Honestly, I think it’s for people who need a massive display or a massive setup with the Magic Keyboard, especially the new one, which is so much nicer than the original. Or if you’re an artist and need a huge canvas, or if you like to watch movies on a huge display with really nice speakers. $1,300 is a lot of money, but for some people, it’s worth it. You’ll know if you want to buy and if you need to buy an iPad like this because it is a lot of money.
Conclusion
With that said, here is my conclusion: If you want to get a great iPad for an amazing price and you’re on a budget, the iPad 10 is still a solid choice. If you’re looking for my favorite iPad, which I think is the best for typical iPad tasks, the iPad Mini 7 is absolutely amazing. It offers enough performance and is great for gaming. I’d say skip the iPad Air this time around and wait for the newer version to come out. The iPad Pro is by far the best choice if you have a lot of money to spend.
So, with that said, hopefully, you enjoyed this iPad buyer’s guide. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me down below in the comments.
