Act fast! Apple's 9th-Gen iPad just crashed to $200 ahead of Black Friday

Black Friday may still be a few weeks away, but if you're on the hunt for the best iPad deals, look no further. The perfect budget tablet for surfing the web and watching videos just crashed to an all-time low price ahead of the big day.

Right now you can get the 10.2-inch iPad on sale for $199 at Amazon. That's a 39% discount and tied for the lowest price we've ever seen for Apple's budget iPad. The last time it was discounted this low was during the recent Prime Day sales event, albeit in a sale exclusive to Prime members. But unlike on Prime Day, this sale is open to everybody, and we don't expect the price to drop much more between now and Black Friday. So jump on this iPad deal while you can.

Apple iPad 10.2-inch (2021) 64GB + WI-FI: was $329 now $199 @ Amazon
Apple's entry-level iPad features an A13 Bionic CPU, 10.2-inch (2,160 x 1,620) LCD, 8MP camera, 12MP front camera and an epic battery life of nearly 12 hours. You also get support for Center Stage, which uses machine learning to adjust the front-facing camera during FaceTime video calls. In our iPad 10.2-inch review, we called it a solid tablet with a great screen, smooth performance, and good battery life for a reasonable price. It's an all-time price low right now.

While the 9th generation iPad isn't the most powerful tablet on the market, it's still more than capable of handling the demands of most tablet users. In his Apple iPad 10.2 (2021) review, my colleague Alex Wawro gave Apple's tablet 4 stars out of 5, calling it "a well-made tablet with a dated design that offers a great screen, smooth performance and good battery life for a reasonable price.”

While it's been pushed off by newer iPad models, it ranked among our best tablet list for years. Specs-wise, you’re getting an iPad with a 10.2-inch Liquid Retina display (2160 x 1620) that still looks sharp and punchy. Its 64GB of storage space isn't a ton, but if you’re purely planning to surf the web or just want to watch the best Netflix movies on it, you’ll get by just fine.

Weighing in at just 1.07 pounds and measuring 9.8 x 6.8 x 0.29 inches, it’s also pretty much the perfect slab to throw in a backpack. In terms of cameras, the Gen 9 iPad has a 12MP ultrawide (f/2.4) front cam and a rear 8MP snapper. It’s also capable of recording videos up to 1080p at 30 fps.

So if you’re looking to snap up one of the best budget tablets around for a steal, definitely consider this deal on the 10.2-inch iPad 2021. Its large screen with a high resolution and respectable A13 chip are more than enough to handle just about every task you throw at it, from playing games to video calls. However, if you're looking for a tablet geared toward more intense video and photo editing, you might be better off with a more powerful tablet, like the latest iPad Pro or iPad Air.

Alyse Stanley is a news editor at Tom’s Guide, overseeing weekend coverage and writing about the latest in tech, gaming, and entertainment. Before Tom’s Guide, Alyse worked as an editor for the Washington Post’s sunsetted video game section, Launcher. She previously led Gizmodo’s weekend news desk and has written game reviews and features for outlets like Polygon, Unwinnable, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun. She’s a big fan of horror movies, cartoons, and roller skating. She's also a puzzle fan and can often be found contributing to the NYT Connections coverage on Tom's Guide