Apple’s 9th-gen iPad returns to an all-time low of $199 for October Prime Day

The final hours of Amazon’s October Prime Day have arrived, but plenty of deals are still live, so if you’ve had other things to do over the past day or so, there’s still time to shop the sale. A number of Apple deals are still going strong, including this iPad offer. Right now the The 9th-gen iPad is going for $199. That matches the lowest price we’ve seen so far and represents a 40-percent discount off the regular price of $329.

Let’s be very clear: this iPad is quite old at this point. Apple released it in 2021 and the company has since rolled out another base iPad, along with several mini, Pro and Air models. If you’re looking for a more recent model that Apple will support for longer, you can check out our guide on how to pick the best iPad for you. This sale feels very much like a case of trying to clear out old stock, but there are plenty of valid reasons to opt for the 9th-gen iPad instead of a more powerful model.

Apple

Apple’s 9th-gen iPad has dropped back down to a record low price. If you’re looking for the cheapest possible iPad that can handle basic tasks, this is perhaps the way to go.

$199 at Amazon

We gave the 9th-gen iPad a score of 81 in our review, due to its solid camera, performance and base storage (64GB) upgrades and the solid battery life. It lasted for 14 hours on a single charge during our initial video-streaming tests. It even has a headphone jack, which is a definite plus point.

The tablet will certainly do the trick if all you really need is a tablet to catch up on reading, browse the web, handle some emails and watch videos — more so if you’re already in the Apple ecosystem. You’ll be able to doodle on this iPad with the original Apple Pencil, but this model is not best suited for professional-level design work or productivity.

Apple tends to support iPads for at least five years in terms of iPadOS updates, so it’s likely (but not a sure thing) that you’ll be able to install up to iPadOS 20 on this thing. As such, you should be able to stream video via the likes of Netflix to this tablet for several years to come.

If you’re willing to spend a bit more on an iPad, here are some other solid iPad Prime Day deals we found:

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice, and stay tuned to Engadget.com for all of the best tech deals coming out of October Prime Day 2024.