There’s a lot to love about the M2 iPad Air, including larger 11- and 13-inch displays, Apple Pencil Pro support, Wi-Fi 6E and Apple’s powerful M2 chip. But you know what isn’t great? The $559 starting price. Luckily you’re not actually forced to pay full price with this early Black Friday deal.
You can buy the iPad Air 11-inch for $497 over at Amazon right now. Not only is that $102 off the normal retail price, it’s also the lowest price we’ve seen this tablet drop to so far. If you’d prefer the larger screen model, fear not because the iPad Air 13-inch is down to $698 at Amazon. That’s also the lowest price we’ve seen that tablet reach, and $101 off the normal price tag.
The iPad Air 2024 is the perfect iPad for those of you that want an iPad Pro-style experience, but for a considerably lower price. Not only do these models have larger screens than previous iPad Airs, they also offer support for the Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard — which are the perfect tools to turn the slate into a portable productivity machine.
In our iPad Air 2024 review, global Editor-in-chief Mark Spoonauer warmly welcomed improvements to the speakers and cameras. The performance upgrades are particularly noticeable as well, and blew away the competition on benchmarking.
Apple’s M2 chipset offers excellent performance and power efficiency, meaning you can get a fair amount of work done for longer. Our testing found that you could get 11 and a half hours of life out of the iPad Air 2024, while the thin and light design should make it easy to carry around with you. The M2 is also capable of running Apple Intelligence once you upgrade to iPadOS 18.1.
There are some downsides, of course. There’s no Face ID or Thunderbolt support, and some people may not find that iPadOS can actually replace a MacBook full time. It’s also not quite as light as the iPad Pro 2024, which may matter if every ounce counts.
If you’re looking for one of the best tablets around, and don’t want to pay full price, then the iPad Air 2024 is the perfect option for you. Of course we are heading into the Black Friday season, with more money-saving deals than you can dream of. So if this isn’t quite for you, be sure to check out our Best Black Friday iPad deals page for more options.
