One of the best iPad Prime Day deals we've seen so far is a fabulous saving on this iPad 10, down to just $399 before the main event has even begun.

Boasting the awesome A14 chip, a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, a set of 12MP cameras, and Touch ID, the vibrant colors of the iPad make it a superb entry-level option for those who don't want to fork out on an Air or Pro, while not being quite as cheap and basic as the old iPad 9th-gen. 

A stunning saving on iPad

• iPad deals: Amazon | B&H Photo | Best Buy | Walmart

The iPad 10th gen launched alongside the newest iPad Pro M2 models, updating the aging iPad 9th gen with a new chassis and screen. It's not quite as powerful as the other models available, but neither is it quite as expensive. This deal makes it even cheaper than the other best iPads, only beaten out by the still available 9th gen. 

The iPad comes with the same design language as the iPad Air and Pro, featuring stylish and sleek bezels. We'd recommend this iPad for anyone who wants a tablet for watching movies and TV shows, web browsing, and light productivity such as working on documents. It doubles as a nifty laptop when paired with the Magic Keyboard, and this model supports the Apple Pencil too. Just be careful though, strangely, it only offers support for the first generation Pencil, so don't buy the wrong one! If you want more processing power, the iPad Air is a great option. A more premium experience still is the iPad Pro, offering 120Hz ProMotion technology for buttery smooth scrolling and viewing. 

Make sure that you grab one of the best iPad cases to go with your new iPad to make sure that it remains scratch and dent-free.

The iPad 10th generation redesigned the base model iPad, bringing the slick industrial design of the iPad Air to a more budget-oriented price bracket. Now, that iPad has been discounted at Amazon by $50 to return it to its lowest-ever price of $399.

This isn't the first time we've seen this price, although when it lands it tends to leave fairly quickly, so it's worth getting on this one quickly.

iPad 2022 $50 off

• iPad deals: Amazon | B&H Photo | Best Buy | Walmart

The iPad 10th gen launched alongside the newest iPad Pro M2 models, updating the aging iPad 9th gen with a new chassis and screen. It's not quite as powerful as the other models available, but neither is it quite as expensive. This deal makes it even cheaper than the other best iPads, only beaten out by the still available 9th gen. 

With its 10.9-inch screen, it looks every bit like the iPad Air, although you won't find an M1 chip under the hood. Instead, there's an A14 Bionic chip, which will keep things going quickly and smoothly. The camera on the back is nothing to write home about, but it's a solid shooter to take some snaps in a hurry when your iPhone is out of reach, or you need something with a bigger screen for the viewfinder.

Make sure that you grab one of the best iPad cases to go with your new iPad, and make sure that it remains scratch and dent-free.

In a series of tweets over the weekend, prolific Apple leaker Ming-Chi Kuo spoke about a foldable iPad potentially arriving in 2024, which may mean we'll see no new iPad improvements in terms of hardware this year. 

To me, that's great news if it's true because, while iPad hardware continues to go from strength to strength, there's still some work to be done on the software side, which a break from new models could facilitate.

We saw the operating system of the iPad take a change of name from iOS to iPadOS in 2019, bringing external storage support and, with iPadOS 13.2, debuting trackpad support a few months later so you could connect an external mouse to the tablet.

However, we've seen subsequent releases fall behind the rate of innovation we see in iOS. It's understandable on one hand, as the iPhone is Apple's golden goose. But on the other, iPad users have had to wait an extra year for new features, such as widgets on the home screen in iPadOS 15, while they had long since arrived in iOS 14.

It feels as though Stage Manager, debuting at WWDC 2022, should have been a change in fortunes for iPadOS innovation — being a brand new feature with iPad its primary target. But it debuted in a buggy and confusing fashion.

So with the focus on software this year, Apple should drill into iPadOS 17, tweaking iPadOS to make its tablet line a content-creation — not just consumption — range for everyone.

Future fixes

In the past, I've used an iPad as my main machine, using it for everything from college work, to helping me write a book in 2020 during the pandemic. However, its multitasking features have always felt limiting to me, while trackpad support didn't feel as intuitive as it should have.

So when iPadOS 16 was announced at WWDC 2022 with a new way of multitasking in the form of Stage Manager, I was part of the crowd who was enthusiastic about this feature. You could have more than two apps display at once, and if you connected your iPad to an external display, you could have up to six apps at once. While this also debuted with macOS Ventura, Stage Manager on iPad looked like a major step up for multitasking.

But when it came to using it during the public beta season, I ended up feeling frustrated, and that feeling stayed with me even when it was released as part of iPadOS 16.1 to everyone in the fall of 2022. It was confusing when managing windows, and sometimes, the feature would crash entirely, with my iPad having to restart back to the lock screen.

As it stands for iPadOS, this new feature still feels confused. And again, a feature on iOS is ready to be used — lock screen widgets — while they're nowhere to be seen on iPad.

The Magnificent iPadOS Seventeen?

Let's see iPad take a backseat for 2023, and let's see its software debut with refinements across the board instead. 

As well as introducing a bunch of lock-screen widgets and great wallpaper collections  in iPadOS 17, let's get improvements in Stage Manager, such as getting rid of the invisible grid that snaps apps to certain places on the display.

This could be a huge improvement on its own here, as you're not restricted to where Apple wants you to place these apps in Stage Manager.

And while we're at it, let's see some of those widgets on iPadOS finally display your fitness info from your Apple Watch. Seeing those three rings on the lock screen or home screen on that big, beautiful iPad Pro display would be a great time saver, and just makes more sense instead of having to check your iPhone or Watch face for this.

Building on this potential, let's also see Control Center be part of the multitasking tray when you're switching between apps (in the overview when you drag up from the bottom of the screen), and not just have it show on its own. It looks odd on an iPad mini, and ridiculous on a 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Expanded Control Center features, such as more accessibility toggles, wouldn't go amiss either.

These will only make me use my iPad Pro more, and even consider an iPad mini in time. The tablet has a place for everyone, it just needs more refinement to make it that perfect middle-ground between an iPhone and a Mac.

Anyone hoping to pick up a fresh new iPad this year might be best waiting until 2024, if a new report turns out to be accurate.

That report claims that Apple's 2023 iPad refreshes will feature minimal improvements — if those iPads are refreshed at all. Instead, it's thought that Apple will have its big new updates ready for 2024 with the iPad Pro, in particular, benefiting from a new display technology.

Those hoping for a larger iPad will also have to wait a little while longer.

Waiting game

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, writing via the weekly Power On newsletter, reports that he doesn't expect any major updates to the iPad lineup in 2023. That means that those holding out for a new design or big new features might be better off holding onto their money for another year.

Gurman writes that while we've heard rumors of new, larger iPad tablets, they won't be ready this year. He says that he's been "told not to expect those this year." Apple had been rumored to have designs on a 14-inch iPad, but that now seems unlike to arrive any time soon.

As for the iPad Pro, Gurman writes that the 11-inch and 12.9-inch tablets won't get a new refresh until the first half of 2024. However, those updates might be worth the wait with a new design and OLED displays thought to be in the cards. The use of OLED would be the first for any iPad and could allow for improved color reproduction and better contrast.

As for the iPad mini, iPad Air, and base model iPad, Gurman points to minor spec bumps as the likely case for 2023. But he does also suggest that we might not see any new updates at all, although that seems unlikely.

With Apple possibly having a year off in terms of big iPad updates, all eyes will be on the rumored AR/VR headset that is now expected to debut within the next few months.

A stunning new report claims that Apple is working on a massive 16-inch version of the iPad that it plans to release at the end of next year, further blurring the line between iPad and the MacBook. 

In a paywalled article from The Information seen by iMore, Wayne Ma writes that Apple "s developing its largest iPad yet, a model with a 16-inch screen that it hopes to release in the fourth quarter of next year, according to a person familiar with the project."

Ma says the move may fuel speculation that Apple could one day merge the iPad and MacBook "into a single product line" or merge the operating systems. 

Coming soon?

The report states that Apple is targeting the fourth quarter of 2023 for a launch, but says "the person familiar with the new iPad cautioned that the release date for the device could change." 

The report claims Apple's 16-inch iPad, which would dwarf Apple's best iPad, the iPad Pro with M2 (12.9-inch), would likely "be geared toward creative professionals such as graphic artists and designers who prefer a larger screen."

The report follows news earlier this year that Apple is also working on a 14-inch iPad. Although speculation around that device states it may not be a "Pro" device with all of the bells and whistles. 

Apple recently released a new 10th-gen iPad alongside the aforementioned iPad Pro. It features an all-new design, USB-C, awesome new colors, the A14 chip, and more. However, it's price point throws the iPad lineup into disarray, rendering the iPad Air somewhat useless and blurring the iPad's status as Apple's cheap, entry level device.

On the Mac front, Apple has been tipped to unveil new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M2 chips later this year.  

What you need to know

• Apple reportedly wants to move both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro to OLED displays in 2023.
• This after it debuted the mini-OLED 12.9-inch iPad Pro this year.

Apple will ditch mini-LED and move to OLED for its iPad Pro displays in 2023, according to a new report. What's more, whereas mini-LED was reserved for the larger iPad Pro this year, both sizes will reportedly get OLED displays the year after next.

This comes via a report by The Elec which also believes that Apple will debut OLED in another iPad product next year, potentially as a dry run before bringing the technology to the iPad Pro lineup.

Apple's switch to mini-LED was a long time coming after seemingly never-ending rumors, but its move to OLED was always in the cards. The two technologies are similar in their benefits and drawbacks. OLED would benefit from stronger performance in low-light environments, however. Some buyers of the new mini-LED iPad Pro have recently pointed to that being a problem with the current model.

In terms of the 2023 iPad Pro models, the report believes that Apple will change up the type of OLED display used, choosing a flexible OLED instead of a rigid one.

We are of course still a long way from 2022, let alone 2023. Apple has time to change plans that might already be in place, so keep that in mind when making buying decisions. The current iPad Pro is an excellent tablet, especially with the mini-LED screen in the 12.9-inch model. You can bag one of your own by checking out our list of the best iPad Pro deals, too.