Selecting the perfect pill means extra than simply selecting a display dimension or a selected model — it’s about discovering the suitable steadiness of energy, portability and options that match your way of life. Whether or not you’re in search of an off-the-cuff sofa companion for net shopping or a robust laptop computer alternative for work and creativity, there’s an amazing pill on the market for everybody.
From premium fashions with gorgeous OLED shows or Liquid Retina shows, to extra reasonably priced picks that also provide loads of versatility, at present’s finest tablets are extra succesful than ever. Gadgets just like the Apple iPad Air now include USB-C ports and a wide range of storage choices, whereas Android and Home windows fashions provide totally different working system experiences to fit your private choice. Whether or not you need a compact pill for journey or a bigger display for productiveness and streaming, we’ve rounded up the highest performers that can assist you discover the suitable match.
Desk of contents
Finest tablets for 2025
Display screen dimension: 11- or 13-inch 120Hz tandem OLED XDR touchscreen | CPU: Apple M4 | Storage: As much as 2TB | Battery life: As much as 10 hours | Digital camera: 12MP rear, 12MP entrance
Learn our full Apple iPad Pro (M4) review
In numerous methods, the M4 iPad Pro is overkill for many. Its chip is simply as highly effective as what you may at present get in a MacBook Air and it has an arguably a greater display because of an OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh fee, to not point out assist for each contact and stylus enter. It’s additionally out there in two sizes (11 and 13 inches), so that you get some management over how transportable you want it to be. In the event you actually need a pill that may change a laptop computer, that is pretty much as good because it will get, significantly on this aspect of the Apple vs. Android/Home windows divide.
This era of iPad can also be shockingly skinny and lightweight, so it’ll mainly disappear into your bag with out including a ton of heft. In the meantime, Apple’s new Magic Keyboard is sleeker than earlier than whereas additionally that includes a bigger trackpad and a really useful row of perform keys. The one actual draw back is worth, with the smaller, 11-inch mannequin beginning at $999, and the 13-inch mannequin beginning at $1,299. And that’s earlier than you think about the price of issues like further storage or equipment. However in the event you’ve received the money and need a top-of-the-line pill, it’s exhausting to go fallacious with the M4 iPad Professional.
Alternatively, in the event you respect what the iPad Professional can do however don’t wish to shell out fairly that a lot cash, the iPad Air is a extra reasonably priced choice. We think about it to be the best iPad for most individuals. Its display isn’t fairly as good and its M2 chip is a pair generations outdated, however all of the necessary issues are there together with Apple Pencil compatibility and the flexibility to connect a Magic Keyboard (although you’ll have to make use of an older mannequin). Critically, it additionally prices almost half the value with the 11 and 13-inch fashions beginning at $599 and $799, respectively.
- Probably the perfect display I’ve ever seen
- M4 chip is extraordinarily highly effective
- Thinner and lighter than earlier than, making it simpler to carry
- Entrance digicam is now on the panorama edge
- Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Professional embody important new options
- Prohibitively costly
- Not backwards appropriate with outdated equipment, and new ones are nonetheless expensive
Photograph by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
Display screen dimension: 11-inch LCD, 12.4-inch or 14.6-inch Tremendous AMOLED | CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | Storage: As much as 1TB (relying on mannequin) | Battery life: As much as 9 hours | Digital camera: S9: 13MP rear, 12MP ultrawide entrance / S9+: 13MP + 8MP ultrawide rear, 12MP ultrawide entrance / S9 Extremely: 13MP + 8MP ultrawide rear, 12MP + 12MP ultrawide entrance
Learn our full Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra review
In the event you’re in search of a flexible Samsung pill, the Galaxy Tab S9 presents three display sizes: 11, 12.4 and 14.6 inches. We solely reviewed the 14.6-inch Galaxy Tab S9 Extremely, however all three tablets have an identical specs aside from display dimension and some slight variations within the digicam array. Whereas the S9 Ultra is a bit too huge to be comfy utilizing in your palms for very lengthy, the 11- and 12.4-inch fashions are your best option for an Android pill on the market, with excellent screens and an included S Pen stylus for note-taking and sketching that’s extraordinarily responsive.
Samsung bumped up each the RAM and processor on the Galaxy Tab S9 sequence. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip is greater than highly effective sufficient for every part I needed to do, and the 12GB of RAM is an enormous bump over the 8GB on the earlier years’ tablets. These tablets are even rated IP68 for water and dirt resistance – so if you wish to take your S9 within the bathtub and watch a film, you don’t have to fret about destroying it if it slips into the bathtub. Add in a strong accent ecosystem with a number of totally different keyboard covers plus the Dex multitasking mode and the S9 could be a highly effective productiveness device, too.
Actually nice Android tablets are few and much between, and Google stepped again into the ring with its personal Pixel Tablet. Whereas it’s not compelling sufficient as a pill to knock the Galaxy Tab S9 out of our high spot, it may very well be an intriguing choice for those who need a system that can be utilized as each a pill and a wise show. Admittedly, it shines because the latter, which makes it a great factor that Google contains the bottom within the $500 worth. There’s additionally an $80 case you may get for the Pixel Pill, which provides a really helpful kickstand that you should use everytime you don’t wish to dock the system however nonetheless wish to prop it up.
- Stunning display
- Nice audio system
- Highly effective {hardware}
- S Pen is extraordinarily responsive
- Dex mode is a surprisingly highly effective multitasking interface
- Costly
- Too many Android apps aren’t designed for an enormous display
Photograph by Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
Display screen dimension: 13-inch OLED touchscreen | CPU: Snapdragon X Plus/X Elite | Storage: As much as 1TB | Battery life: As much as 14 hours | Digital camera: Quad HD front-facing Floor Studio Digital camera, 10MP rear digicam
Learn our full Microsoft Surface Pro Copilot+ review
The Surface Pro is every part we’ve needed the Floor pill line to be for years. It’s extremely quick and environment friendly, because of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Elite and Plus chips. Its neural processing unit (NPU) additionally permits probably highly effective AI options, although the present crop received’t be helpful to everybody. We’re additionally nonetheless ready to see Microsoft’s controversial Recall characteristic in motion, which has been delayed to deal with its many safety issues.
The brand new OLED display choice seems great: It makes colours pop off the display and in addition ensures inky darkish black ranges. Coupled along with surprisingly highly effective audio system, the Floor Professional is a strong choice for watching video on the go.
When it’s paired along with the brand new Floor Professional Flex keyboard ($350), you may kind and mouse across the Floor utterly wirelessly, which opens up fully new methods of utilizing it. So long as there’s a small desk close by, or someplace to prop up the pill, you may work with only a skinny and lightweight keyboard in your lap. It’s additionally good to see Microsoft pack in 16GB of RAM with the bottom Floor Professional mannequin.
Whereas we’d nonetheless wish to see the corporate bundle in a keyboard and refine its kickstand, the Floor Professional stays one of the vital modern PCs out there at present. — Devindra Hardawar, Senior Reporter
- Snapdragon X Elite and Plus chips are splendidly quick
- Stable battery life
- Wonderful OLED display choice
- NPU permits for highly effective AI options
- Flex keyboard makes it extra versatile
- Stable AI options
- All keyboards offered individually
- Nonetheless exhausting to make use of in your lap
- Will get costly rapidly
Apple
Display screen dimension: 11-inch, 2360 x 1640 LED | CPU: A16 | Storage: As much as 512GB | Battery life: As much as 10 hours | Digital camera: 12MP entrance, 12MP rear
Learn our full Apple iPad (A16) review
If all you need is a pill for streaming films, taking part in the occasional sport or doing mild work now and again, the entry-level iPad (A16) might be lots. Its A16 chip isn’t as highly effective for enhancing high-res movies or working probably the most graphically intense video games because the iPad Air, and it’s much less prone to obtain each new iPadOS characteristic down the street. It already lacks Apple Intelligence and the Stage Manager multitasking mode at present. However for youths and most informal iPad customers, these actually aren’t big losses.
The A16 chip is lots quick for commonest iPad Issues, whereas battery life stays strong at roughly 10 hours per cost. The aluminum body continues to be splendidly skinny, mild and durable, plus it’s out there in a bolder set of colours than the pricier iPads. We do want the show was laminated, and the truth that it doesn’t assist the perfect Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard is annoying. However the $349 price ticket helps paper over points like these — that is your most cost-effective route into the iPad expertise by far. —Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter, Shopping for Recommendation
- A16 chip is lots quick for many issues folks do with iPads
- Double the storage and 2GB extra RAM than earlier mannequin for a similar worth
- Construct high quality and battery life stay strong
- iPadOS nonetheless has the perfect app library and richest characteristic set for tablets
- No Apple Intelligence
- Show is due for some updates
- Apple Pencil scenario continues to be annoying
- Magic Keyboard Folio is overpriced and never very best on a lap
- iPads with M-series chips are in all probability extra futureproof
- No Apple Intelligence
Will Lipman Images for Engadget
Display screen dimension: 10.1-inch 1080p show | CPU: 2.0 GHz octa-core processor | Storage: 32GB, 64Gb (expandable as much as 1TB) | Battery life: As much as 12 hours | Digital camera: 2MP entrance digicam, 5MP rear digicam
In the event you’re out there for a brand new pill to your youngster, the Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is the simple decide, particularly for first time customers. Amazon Fireplace tablets are fairly user-friendly, and the HD 10 Children Professional isn’t any totally different. Beginning at $200, it is the most affordable pill on this checklist, and in contrast to extra adult-oriented fare, it comes with an included “kid-proof” case and a two-year guarantee. Amazon says in case your child breaks the pill, the corporate will change it at no cost.
Different helpful add-ins embody a free one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+, which unlocks greater than 20,000 video games, books and apps designed for youngsters. There’s additionally a useful dashboard for fogeys that lets you set deadlines, content material filters and academic targets. And although its 3GB of RAM and 32GB of base storage aren’t a lot, its 1080p show is lots sharp and it has a microSD card slot for expandable storage. And if you need a barely smaller and extra reasonably priced choice, there’s the $140 Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro too.
Essential issues to contemplate earlier than shopping for a pill
Earlier than you begin taking a look at particular gadgets, the primary factor you need to do is determine what you propose to make use of your new pill for. That’s as a result of if all you want is one thing to maintain a child busy, shopping for a model new Apple iPad Air or iPad Professional doesn’t make a ton of sense. On the flip aspect, if you wish to use a pill for video enhancing or drawing, you’ll must take issues like efficiency, versatility and stylus assist extra critically — particularly in the event you’re contemplating utilizing it as a laptop computer alternative.
You’ll additionally wish to take into consideration stuff like how typically you propose on touring with the system and if it’s extra for productiveness, or for much less demanding stuff like net shopping or streaming exhibits. There’s additionally an necessary trade-off to contemplate with regards to battery life as properly. Bigger gadgets are inclined to have longer runtimes, although a rise in dimension might make it much less transportable.
How we take a look at tablets
When evaluating totally different tablets, there are a number of necessary issues we search for above all else: strong efficiency, a great display and lengthy battery life. For efficiency, we run a handful of artificial assessments like Geekbench 6, whereas additionally performing quite a few hands-on, real-world use instances reminiscent of enhancing photographs and taking part in video games. And with tablets typically serving as hybrid gadgets, we additionally think about how simple it’s to multitask and change rapidly between varied apps. The extra responsive a tool feels, the higher.
As a result of a pill’s show is such a crucial part, we additionally view a variety of content material to gauge issues like brightness, coloration gamut and dynamic vary. It’s necessary to consider the distinction between varied panel varieties like OLED, which usually produce richer colours and wonderful distinction however will not be as shiny as a mini LED show. Lately, refresh fee has change into an more and more necessary spec as 90Hz and 120Hz screens could make scrolling smoother and graphics seem sharper in video games.
We additionally think about a pill’s design (together with issues like dimension, weight and water resistance), its connectivity (WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, 5G, et cetera) and particular options like stylus assist or the flexibility to function a secondary show. That’s as a result of, whereas tablets have been typically seen as content material consumption gadgets previously, higher-end gadgets just like the Floor Professional and iPad Professional are greater than able to replacing a laptop for lots of people.
Lastly, we take a look at battery life by working our commonplace native video rundown take a look at, which entails taking part in a single video on a loop from one hundred pc till it runs out of juice. Ideally, a pill ought to have the ability to final a complete working day, however longer runtimes are all the time welcome — particularly for customers counting on them for productiveness, leisure and storage choices on the go.
Different tablets we examined
Apple iPad mini
Apple up to date the iPad mini for 2024 with some under-the-hood adjustments together with a brand new processor and extra RAM to assist assist Apple Intelligence options. Whereas the iPad mini is among the finest iPads you should buy, its small dimension makes it a bit area of interest. Provided that you favor your pill be the scale of an ereader do you have to think about this one.
Google Pixel Pill
The Google Pixel Tablet excels as a wise show reasonably than a easy pill. Because the latter, it is unexciting, however when paired with its speaker/charging dock, it turns into far more helpful. It may very well be a great choice for those who already dwell throughout the Google ecosystem and use the Google Assistant typically, or those that like the concept of a pill that may be docked and used as a wise show as properly.
OnePlus Pad
The strong OnePlus Pad is let down by Android as a result of there aren’t many Android apps designed for use on a big show like this mannequin’s 11.6-inch panel. In any other case, the {hardware} is well-designed, its companion stylus is comfy to make use of and it has a superb battery life.
Pill FAQs
What’s the finest model for tablets?
The very best model for tablets is actually the model you are feeling most comfy with. We advocate taking inventory of the devices you have already got — do you reside within the Apple ecosystem already? An iPad is perhaps finest for you then. Do you’ve gotten a Samsung cellphone? In that case, a Galaxy Tab will seemingly be probably the most handy alternative. There is no such thing as a one “finest model” for tablets; you’ll discover good choices made by firms together with Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft and Amazon.
Can a pill change a laptop computer?
It’s doable for a pill to switch a laptop computer, however you’ll want a number of equipment to actually make the expertise as shut as doable to that of a standard pocket book. A keyboard is a should, be it a keyboard case or a Bluetooth accent that you simply maintain with you. Some keyboard instances, like apple’s Magic Keyboard for the iPad, have a built-in trackpad, which might be extra ergonomic than tapping in your pill’s display for enter. Moreover, you possibly can go one step additional and use a wi-fi mouse that connects by way of Bluetooth to your pill. In the event you’re primarily in search of a pill to switch your laptop computer, think about shopping for a 2-in-1 laptop since these techniques sometimes encompass high-powered tablets which are designed to work properly with (and with out) keyboards.
What dimension display do I want?
Determining the perfect display dimension for additionally, you will be associated to the form of work (or play) you propose to do. Bigger screens make it a lot simpler to view two apps aspect by aspect, and large screens additionally ship a extra immersive film viewing expertise — particularly when paired with an OLED show or Liquid Retina show. However on the identical time, the bigger the pill, the much less seemingly you’re going to wish to transfer it round. Which means you’re not solely going to wish to take inventory of your workspace (i.e., you probably have a desk or as an alternative plan to work from a sofa and even your mattress), however you’re additionally going to wish to take into consideration how the system will match into your on a regular basis routine or commute (you probably have one).
Pill equipment
Lastly, you’ll wish to think about any add-ons or equipment you’re planning to make use of, which may vary from removable keyboards to issues like exterior mics or a stylus. The excellent news is that most of the finest tablets these days provide some form of keyboard accent, which permits the system to perform extra like a 2-in-1 as an alternative of merely being a content material consumption system. Some tablets additionally characteristic issues like microSD card slots that assist expandable storage, or elective 4G or 5G connectivity, which could be a actual boon to frequent vacationers. And in the event you’re planning to make use of the pill primarily for work, you would possibly wish to seize a USB hub for connecting all of your favourite peripherals so your gadgets don’t must combat for the charger.
Latest updates
Might 2025: Up to date to make sure our high picks and shopping for recommendation stay correct.
March 2025: Up to date to incorporate the most recent base iPad in our high picks,
February 2025: Up to date to incorporate clarification round our high picks and new shopping for recommendation.
October 2024: We up to date this checklist to incorporate info on the brand new iPad mini 7.
June 2024: We up to date our high picks to incorporate the Microsoft Floor Professional Copilot+ version.
