Best tablets 2025: The best iPads, Android & Windows tablets to buy

There are so many options when it comes to buying one of the best tablets in 2025 that it can be tricky to know how to get started – so we’ve created this curated guide to the best tablets to help you make the right decision first time.

Whether you're looking for a coffee table tablet, a workhorse with keyboard or stylus accessories, or a slate that can do it all, there's something here for everyone and to fit just about every budget too.

Outside of the typical personal or family use of a tablet, they're also great for students: they're versatile and lightweight, and easy to carry around between lectures and seminars.

When you're not working, you can of course call your family and stream films with the best tablets. If you need something more specific than this list, check out our guides to the best student tablets or the best student iPads.

Or, perhaps you’re looking for a tablet for the kids to play with, one of the fancier higher-end options from Apple or Android makers – whatever it is you’re looking for, we’ve narrowed down your options to the best tablets 2025 has to offer.

T3's Top Picks

The best tablets you can buy today in 2025

The best tablet for most people

Apple continues to outdo itself with its iPad Air series, and the new 2024 model is a brilliant piece of kit: as you'll be able to tell from our Apple iPad Air M2 review, where we said "this is the model that most people should buy" because of the way it balances build quality, asking price, and the performance on offer.

Part of what makes the tablet so appealing is that you can now pick it up in a choice of two sizes – it comes as an 11-inch or a 13-inch slate, and you can add cellular connectivity to Wi-Fi as well. With the storage choices on top of that, you've got a lot of flexibility when it comes to different configurations.

The M2 chip adds a serious amount of oomph for all your tasks, and of course as this is an iPad, the choice of mobile apps is unrivalled. Whether you're checking emails, browsing the web, working in productivity apps, watching movies or anything else, it's a great buy as your next tablet upgrade.

The best affordable iPad

Apple's entry-level iPad is a fantastic value tablet, and the latest version squashes the previously large-ish bezel and ups the available screen size to 10.9-inches. That makes it a fantastic option for those who want to buy an iPad but don't want the fancier features (and extra cost) of the iPad Pro or the iPad Air.

The price has gone up from the model before it, but we think that's fair enough for all the changes it brings with it, inside and out. The A14 chip fitted inside here is plenty powerful for most tablet tasks, and it excels at everything from streaming video to digital sketching (though the Apple Pencil costs extra).

As we said in our iPad 10th-gen (2022) review when it launched: "Finally the entry-level iPad gets a design overhaul that makes it look much more up-to-date. The new Apple model brings a larger screen, some boisterous new colour options, and it's an all-around better product than its predecessor. Many will love it."

The best affordable Android tablet

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ is evidence that you don't have to pay over the odds for a good-quality Android tablet: it cuts out some of the perks of other slates (using an LCD rather than an OLED display, for example), but it gets the cost significantly lower, making it a great value choice if your budget is tight.

As the tablet comes from Samsung, you know it's going to score highly in terms of the build quality and finish, and Samsung has done a decent job of adapting Android for the tablet form factor too. What's more, the tech company offers good coverage in terms of official stylus, case, and keyboard accessories.

As we put it in our Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ review, this is "a great-looking tablet, with a good display and great mid-range performance – including stellar battery life". It's offers decent performance, it's versatile and well-built, and you may well ask yourself why you would need to spend any more on a tablet.

The best tablet for home

Unlike other tablets on this list, Google's flagship comes with a dock included in the box, so you can mount the tablet in your kitchen, bedroom, living room, or wherever you wish. That helps to make it more open, ideal as a home hub-style device, and something that can be picked up by the whole family.

When it is in the hand, removed from that dock, it offers a great battery life and all the current flagship power that Google delivers from its own chipset. The 11-inch screen is ample, with decent resolution, but its refresh rate isn't class-leading and not everyone is going to want a tablet designed for the dock.

There's plenty that this sleek tablet can do when it's not docked as well – and of course it runs all of the Google apps (like Chrome, Gmail, and Google Maps) perfectly. As we say in our Pixel Tablet review: "Google's hardware is on point, its proposition is different, and [the company] can still make a killer tablet".

The best small tablet

The iPad mini is a little powerhouse of a tablet, packing in the incredibly fast Apple A17 Pro processor. It's not quite as capable as the Air or Pro models, but is still a fantastic creativity machine – that's even capable enough to handle video editing – for those who don't want giant screen real-estate.

That smaller panel, at 8.3-inches, delivers a wide-colour gamut and high resolution, plus there's sophisticated Apple Pencil support should you want to draw or sketch. Being so lightweight also makes it the ideal 'throw it in your bag' everyday companion. It’s great for games or entertainment as well.

Head to our iPad Mini review and you'll see we described this compact tablet as "a huge step up from working on your phone" and a powerful device that "remains a great choice" for your next tablet upgrade. If you don't need the larger screen sizes offered by the other iPads, then this fits the bill rather nicely.

The best tablet for work

As we pondered in our OnePlus Pad review: is this Android's answer to Apple's iPad? In some respects, perhaps, as it delivers a more square-format and therefore iPad-like screen. It can certainly match up with Apple's tablet in terms of the performance, though the Android app selection isn't quite as good.

That screen aspect ratio is also a benefit if you're looking to get some work done and not just watch movies all day – add in the official keyboard and stylus accessories, and you've got a very competent productivity device (though you can of course play games, watch videos, and all the rest on it as well).

Our OnePlus Pad review sums it up like this: we would "absolutely recommend" the OnePlus Pad if you're looking for a nice balance between "price, performance, and the screen's quality and potential for productivity". Considering this is the first tablet OnePlus has made, it's an impressive device in just about every area.

The best family tablet

The Amazon Fire Max 11 won't suit everyone who's looking for a tablet – the internal storage tops out at 128GB for example, and there's no support for Google apps on Fire OS – but it does give you plenty of functionality in return for not much money. It's a great family tablet to have lying around the home.

With support for all the major streaming apps, watching and listening to content are two of the best use cases for this Amazon slate. It's also kid-friendly, so you can configure it to keep your children out of harm's way when they're loading up apps and the web (Amazon also does some decent kid-specific Fire tablets too).

Our Amazon Fire Max 11 review calls the tablet "more than just cheap and cheerful", and "a standard bearer for a fully featured tablet at a fraction of the price". It's more powerful than you might think looking at the specs, while you can even pick up an official keyboard accessory for the device if you need one.

The best premium tablet

With the latest pair of iPad Pro slates, Apple really is just showing off at this point: they lead the market in terms of their screens, their build quality, the software and apps on board, the available accessories, the sound and camera quality, and much more besides. If you want the very best tablet, then get an iPad Pro.

Not convinced yet? Our 13-inch iPad Pro (M4, 2024) review describes the larger of the two models as "the king of tablets and a potential laptop replacement", with "blistering performance" thanks to that new M4 chip, and a "gorgeous OLED display" that will make everything from movies to spreadsheets really shine.

All of this comes at a price of course, and there may actually be too much power here for a lot of folks – which is why we still recommend the iPad Air as the best tablet for most people. If you've got the money though, and you know you're going to make full use of everything it has to offer, you can't do better than this.

The best big-screen tablet

As our Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra review will tell you, this is a serious competitor to the high-end iPads – and it comes with a high-end price tag to match. If you want the best Android tablet in the business and don't have any restrictions on your budget, this should definitely be near the top of your list.

The quality of the tablet should actually be no surprise to people who've been tracking the previous slates in this range, because they've been top quality for years now. Add in extras like the S Pen stylus (included) and a keyboard attachment (not included), and the tablet becomes even more useful.

Our review puts it like this: "the display shines and the build impresses – so if you're looking for a large Android tablet at the very top of its game, this is the ultimate tablet choice". If you're wondering what the Samsung equivalent of the iPad Pro is, this is the closest equivalent you're going to find right now.

The best Windows tablet

There's an awful lot to like about the Surface Pro 11 from Microsoft, from the familiar and clever design to the versatility of Windows as you switch between tablet and laptop modes (with the help of the optional keyboard accessory). It really shows off how well tablets can run a full desktop operating system.

Our Microsoft Surface Pro 11 review calls the tablet "a Surface slam dunk", describing it as "the biggest glow-up this family has had for some time" and "a tour de force in the Windows laptop space". It's equally at home letting you sketch designs, type out essays, or sit back and watch some movies.

It is worth noting that the tablet runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor based on the ARM architecture, so there are one or two compatibility issues with some apps – but just about everything should run smoothly thanks to the built-in emulation tools Microsoft has added. It's a fantastic, if pricey, tablet.

What to consider when shopping for a tablet

Not everybody wants or needs a pro-spec tablet, which is why our best tablets guide includes some much more affordable options too. We've looked at all the premium models too, of course, but we're well aware that budgets are quite tight for many of us right now.

We've also produced guides to the best tablets for kids, many of which are more affordable than you might think – and while we have the cheapest prices for every tablet right on this page, check our guide to the best Amazon Fire tablet deals, best iPad mini deals and best iPad Pro deals if you want to see deals for those specific tablets.

Meanwhile, if all you really want your tablet to do is show you e-books, it's well worth considering one of the best Kindle e-readers on the market. In this best tablets guide we're focusing solely on dedicated tablets. If you fancy a tablet that's also a laptop, check out our guide to the best 2-in-1 laptops.

How to choose the best tablet for you

More than ever before, choosing a tablet is about choosing an ecosystem. If you plump for a Kindle Fire, for example you're electing to join Amazon’s ecosystem, which is based on Google's Android platform but does its own proprietary thing with its own proprietary App Store.

Go for Android and you're betting on Google and its Play Store. Go for an iPad you're embracing Apple and its separate App Store. If you buy a Windows tablet you're going down the Microsoft road – but with access to Android apps on Windows 11 machines.

There are pros and cons of each. Apple and Amazon are the safest for kids, with Apple the most secure. But it really comes down to what you want to do, and what apps you intend to do it with, rather than if you should buy one of the best Android tablets or best Apple iPads.

As far as the hardware goes, screen size is perhaps the most important factor. Right now 7-inches seems too small when smartphones are just a fraction smaller, while anything over 11 inches is trickier to carry around. On-board storage can be paltry too, so look out for expansion options and/or good cloud storage services.

How we test tablets

From the most expensive iPad Pro on the market, to the cheapest budget slate, T3 takes testing tablets very seriously. This is because, far from just one-dimensional devices, today's best tablets are powerful computers that are incredibly versatile, and increasingly people are buying them to use as their primary computing device.

Tablets are also big enablers for creativity, as well as productivity, and for entertainment, which is needed now more than ever. With so many people working and living at home, the last thing they need is their core technology letting them down, which is why we review every tablet by the same strict criteria here at T3.

We start by evaluating the tablet's package in total. So we judge the quality of the slate's build as well as what accessories it comes with out of the box. If a tablet is advertised with a stylus and doesn't come with one in the box then we will tell you about it. Equally, if the tablet feels plasticky and cheap in the hand, we'll reveal this.

Next up, we look at what the tablet delivers in terms of hardware, and that includes both its screen and internal components. The majority of a tablet is its screen, and as they are touchscreen devices it is crucial in our eyes that they are not let down by poor fidelity or unresponsive inputs.

In terms of core components, we'll find out what the tablet's CPU, RAM, storage and battery capacity are on paper, and then we'll look to benchmark the slate and also see how it actually performs in real life. We'll stream video, play games, edit photos, browse the internet, work, be creative and more during our review period.

We'll also take a tablet on the road to see, firstly, how easy it is to carry and transport and, two, to see how strong and long-lasting its battery actually is. If a tablet conks out after just six hours runtime you'll know about it, as too if it delivers all-day battery life.

Finally, we explore the tablet's operating system and software. How intuitive and easy to use these things are is key to how well a tablet scores in this section, as too its breadth of empowering features.

Finally the slate is given a star score out of five, with five stars the best and one star the worst achievable. If a tablet has scored highly, it is then considered for our best tablets buying guide.

Reviewer panel

Mat Gallagher

Matt is T3.com's Editor-in-Chief, and he's been testing iPads and other tablets for years. This gives him an expert grounding to judge which devices should be on this list, and in what orders.

Matthew Bolton

As T3.com's former AV and Smart Home Editor (UK), Matthew tested a range of tablets, with a particular eye on how easy they are to actually use. He's an expert in this space, with many reviews to his name.

Mike Lowe

Mike is T3's Tech Editor, underlining just how much he knows about the world of technology – and tablets are a particular are of expertise. He's tested heaps over the years, including some of the best options on this list.

Andy Sansom

Formerly a staff writer at T3.com, Andy covered a whole host of gadget reviews as part of his duties – including many hours testing out the latest tablets. That means he knows a great tablet buy when he sees it.

Chris Hall

Chris is a regular contributor to the tech pages of T3.com, and draws on more than 15 years of experience writing about gadgets when he puts a tablet through its paces. He's the former Editor-in-Chief of Pocket-lint.

Basil Kronfli

When it comes to tablets, if it's something Basil doesn't know, then it's not worth knowing. He's a writer with a wealth of experience across some of the biggest tech sites on the web, including T3.com.