Apple has an enticing iPad lineup in 2026 made of a base-model iPad, the iPad mini with the A17 Pro chip, the iPad Air with the M4 processor, and the powerful iPad Pro with the M5 chip. For its tablets, the company is offering them in a wide range of prices going from $349 to up to $3,077, if you're willing to get the 13-inch iPad Pro with 2TB of storage, nano-texture display, 5G connection, Apple Pencil Pro, and Magic Keyboard. Still, the best iPad for most people in 2026 continues to be the base model.
Having owned several iPad models through the years, going all the way from the iPad 2 to the iPad Pro M4, I tested many base versions as well as mini, Air, and Pro options. My honest conclusion regarding Apple's lineup is that all iPad models deliver the same functionalities: A light, fun design with a great multi-touch experience, a bigger display than an iPhone, and a generally great tool for creative people thanks to the Apple Pencil and keyboard add-ons. Choosing the proper iPad comes down to how much you want to pay and how much you care about the tablet's perks.
For example, I love the outstanding OLED display of the iPad Pro, how speedy the M4 chip is, and the 13-inch size to have several apps opened at the same time (or when I just want to catch up with a TV show). However, any iPad would also do the same.
Here's why the base iPad model is the best tablet available
In March of 2025, Apple updated the iPad Air with the M3 chip (an M4 version is already available), and it also released the base model iPad with an A16 chip. Compared to the previous processor, the A13 Bionic, the base iPad got up to a 50 percent improvement in overall performance, and up to 30 percent faster. This tablet still follows the same design of the iPad 10, which ditched the Home Button in favor of the Touch ID on a side button, a more "bezel-less" design, and a more unified look compared to the rest of the lineup.
The A16 chip was present on the iPhone 15, making this tablet great for everyday tasks. Apple touts this iPad for school students or people who want a bigger display, to use for social media, reading the news, playing games, and more. iPadOS 26 is also a big improvement for this tablet as users can take advantage of Window Tiling, which allows them to have multiple apps opened at the same time with non-stop background activity. This means you can keep using your iPad to scroll on Instagram while you're exporting a file, and so on.
Pairing this tablet with the USB-C Apple Pencil or the Magic Keyboard Folio lets users take advantage of drawing, handwriting, or even working on the tablet as if it was a computer. Also very important to note, Apple updated this tablet with 128GB of storage space instead of 64GB, making it more reliable in the long term for storing files and downloading future updates.
Still, you might want to wait a bit more for the actual best iPad of 2026
While the 2025 iPad is still the best choice for most customers, my personal recommendation is for you to wait a bit longer. Apple has in store a new base-model iPad with the A18 or A19 chip, which rumors suggest will also bring a RAM improvement to up to 8GB. With a more recent processor and increased RAM, this also means this iPad will finally support Apple Intelligence.
Even though Apple's AI platform still feels overwhelming and underused, the company has big plans for the WWDC 2026 with iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, as it's partnering with Google to offer an all-new Siri experience. Siri will work more similarly to AI agents, and it will even tap information from your device to suggest actions, combine tasks, and more. Visual Intelligence, which is Apple's technology to understand the world around you and translate it into useful information, real-time translations, or even helping you find a product to buy, will also be a main feature of this update.
While Apple will likely maintain the same design of the iPad 10, the company will also update the internal specs of this tablet with its own connectivity chips as well as its own 5G modem, which will add a lot of value compared to the current version available. This new iPad could come in the second half of 2026, and while Apple Intelligence hasn't been really useful so far, users will likely enjoy the upcoming capabilities a lot, as they won't be available on the current base-model iPad.