Black Friday Tablet Deals 2026: Most iPad Discounts Still Sit Above Launch Price - Memeburn
TL;DR
- Amazon sells four of five checked tablets below Apple's or Samsung's current price, but every iPad is still $50 to $101 above its launch price.
- The iPad A16 is $399 at Amazon, $75 more than its early Black Friday 2025 price of $324.
- The iPad Air M4 has been $649 at Amazon since at least mid-August, so it isn't a new Black Friday price.
- The Galaxy Tab S10 FE has no discount at $549.99 at both Amazon and Samsung.
- Memeburn's view: launch price is the real Black Friday benchmark for iPads, and the Galaxy Tab S10 Lite at $329.99 is the only buy-now price on the list.
Amazon already sells four of the five tablets we checked for less than Apple and Samsung charge, yet only one of them, the Galaxy Tab S10 Lite, costs less today than it did on launch day. Apple and Samsung both raised tablet list prices this year, so a “$100 off” sticker in October often just walks back part of an increase rather than delivering a real Black Friday price. Here’s what each tablet costs right now, how that compares with launch and with last year’s sales, and the number each one needs to hit before November 27 is worth waiting for.
Amazon's Choice
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Lite
Amazon's Choice
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE
Amazon's Choice
Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (M5)
Amazon's Choice
Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4)
Amazon's Choice
Apple iPad 11-inch
Black Friday Tablet Deals 2026: The Prices to Beat
We checked five matched configurations on Amazon.com on October 31, 2026, and compared each with the same model’s current price at Apple or Samsung. Every Amazon offer below is sold and shipped by Amazon.com, and none of the listings carried a Black Friday or limited-time deal badge, so treat these as early prices rather than confirmed Black Friday deals. Launch prices come from Apple’s and Samsung’s own announcements, while last year’s prices come from the early Black Friday sales Tom’s Guide tracked in mid-November 2025.
The column that matters most is the last one, because the iPad A16 sold for $324 in the early sales last November, which means today’s $399 is still $75 higher even after Amazon’s discount. According to TechRadar, Apple raised iPad and MacBook prices in mid-2026 as RAM and component costs climbed, lifting the 11-inch iPad Air M4 from $599 to $749. Samsung’s tablets moved the same way, although Samsung hasn’t given a reason: the Galaxy Tab S10 FE launched in the US at $499.99 in April 2025, according to SamMobile, and now lists at $549.99, while the Tab S10 Lite rose from the $349 Samsung confirmed to 9to5Google to $399.99. The same pattern of discounts measured against freshly raised prices shows up in our Black Friday laptop deals guide.
Apple iPad A16 at $399 Beats Apple’s Price but Not Last Year’s
Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (M5)
Overview
- Apple M5 chip delivers extraordinary performance
- iPadOS 26 with Liquid Glass design
- iPad Pro features a landscape 12MP Center Stage camera
The 11-inch iPad with the A16 chip, 128GB of storage and Wi-Fi is $399 at Amazon in Pink, which is $50 less than Apple’s $449 and the cheapest way into a current iPad we found. Because the same model listed at $349 before Apple’s price increase and sold for $324 last November, Amazon’s discount only brings it back to $50 above where it started, so we’d treat $349 as the line at which waiting stops making sense. Amazon’s listing also bundles up to three free months of Apple Arcade, Fitness+ and News+, which is a pleasant extra but not a cash saving.
iPad Air M4 Has Held at $649 on Amazon Since Summer
Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M4)
Overview
- Wi-Fi 7 with Apple N1 gives you fast wireless connections
- M4 chip delivers advanced graphics and incredible performance
- Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil
The 11-inch iPad Air with the M4 chip, 128GB and Wi-Fi costs $649 at Amazon in Blue against Apple’s $749, a $100 (13.35%) gap that looks generous until you notice Amazon was already charging $649 in mid-August, when TechRadar called it the Air’s biggest discount since Apple’s increase. A price that has held for about ten weeks isn’t really an early Black Friday deal so much as the Air M4’s normal Amazon price, and it still sits $50 above the $599 Apple charged when the tablet launched in March 2026. Amazon also shows $599 for shoppers approved for an Amazon Visa card, so that figure only counts if you were going to open the card anyway.
iPad Pro M5 Carries the Biggest Discount on the Biggest Price Increase
Apple iPad 11-inch
Overview
- The 11-inch iPad is now more capable than ever
- The superfast A16 chip delivers a boost in performance
- Wi-Fi 6 gives you fast access to your files
Amazon sells the 11-inch iPad Pro with the M5 chip and 256GB in Silver for $1,099.99, which is $99.01 below Apple’s $1,199 and the largest cash discount among the iPads we checked. The 11-inch iPad Pro M5 listed at $999 before Apple’s increase, though, and Tom’s Guide tracked it at $937 during last year’s early sales, so today’s price is about $163 higher than what shoppers paid a year ago for the same chip and storage. The $1,049.99 Amazon Visa price depends on card approval like the Air’s, and you’ll still need to buy the Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard separately if you want the full laptop-replacement setup.
Galaxy Tab S10 Lite Is the Only Tablet Here Below Its Launch Price
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Lite
Overview
- All of your fun content pops on the 10.9" screen
- Galaxy Tab S10 Lite boasts an Exynos 1380 processor that lets you stream
- The power of AI is just a tap away with the AI Hot Key
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S10 Lite with 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage and Wi-Fi costs $329.99 at Amazon in Gray, which is $70 under Samsung’s $399.99 and about $19 below the $349 it launched at in September 2025. That makes it the only tablet in this roundup where Amazon’s price beats the original launch price, and since Samsung includes the S Pen in the box, you can take handwritten notes without buying a stylus. It’s a mid-range tablet with a 10.9-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) and Samsung’s Exynos 1380 chip, so it suits notes, streaming and schoolwork better than demanding games or heavy multitasking.
Galaxy Tab S10 FE Has No Discount Yet
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE
Overview
- Make the grades using Math Solver
- Tidy up your handwritten notes with Handwriting Assist
- Get big Galaxy power for fast-paced gaming
The Galaxy Tab S10 FE with 128GB and Wi-Fi costs $549.99 at both Amazon and Samsung, and Amazon’s listing shows no reference-price reduction at all, so there’s no store advantage and no early saving to chase. Because Samsung launched the Tab S10 FE at $499.99, today’s price is $50 above where it started, and the $220 gap to the Tab S10 Lite at Amazon is a lot to pay for a step up within Samsung’s mid-range. We’d leave the Tab S10 FE alone until it returns to at least its $499.99 launch price.
New iPad mini A20 Pro or the Older A17 Pro Model?
Apple’s new iPad mini with the A20 Pro chip and an 8.5-inch OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display starts at $699 for Wi-Fi, with preorders from October 28 and availability on November 6, according to Apple. A tablet that only reaches stores three weeks before Black Friday is unlikely to get a deep cut in time, so the realistic choice this year is between paying $699 for the new model and buying the older A17 Pro version, which Amazon’s own comparison panel showed at $545 during our check, a $154 difference. We didn’t verify that $545 offer as a main listing, and it’s a previous-generation tablet with an 8.3-inch LCD, so check the chip name before you buy. If you’re weighing a mini against a foldable phone instead, our look at whether the iPhone Duo can replace an iPad mini runs the screen-size math.
An iPad Deal Only Counts Once It Crosses Launch Price
Memeburn’s reading of these prices is that this year’s Black Friday benchmark for an iPad isn’t Apple’s list price but the price each model launched at, which is $349 for the iPad A16, $599 for the iPad Air M4 and $999 for the 11-inch iPad Pro M5. Since Amazon already sells all three $50 to $101 below Apple’s current prices, a Black Friday cut that stops above launch price only undoes part of Apple’s mid-2026 increase, and because the Air M4 has sat at $649 since summer, its first genuinely new price would need to start with a 5.
Our advice, if you need a tablet before the holidays and aren’t tied to iPadOS, is that the Galaxy Tab S10 Lite at $329.99 is the one buy-now price in this list, because it’s the only tablet already under its launch price and it comes with a stylus. That changes if Amazon pushes the iPad A16 to $349 or lower, since at that point you’d be paying launch price for a much faster chip and Apple’s app library, which is a better deal than any Samsung tablet here.
When Black Friday Tablet Deals Start and How to Check Them
Black Friday falls on November 27, 2026, with Cyber Monday on November 30, and as our Black Friday phone deals guide found, retailers began cutting prices as early as Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days on October 6 and 7. Before you buy any of these tablets, check that the listing is sold and shipped by Amazon.com rather than a third-party seller, that the chip and storage match the model you want, since Amazon often places older iPad generations next to new ones, and whether the price shown depends on Prime membership or an Amazon Visa approval. Amazon’s Fire tablets aren’t on this page yet because we couldn’t confirm a new-condition listing during our check, and they’ll join it once we can.
FAQs
When do Black Friday tablet deals start in 2026?
Black Friday falls on November 27, 2026, and Cyber Monday on November 30, but Amazon already lists discounts on iPads and Galaxy Tab tablets. None of the five tablets Memeburn checked on October 31 carried a Black Friday badge, so current prices are early discounts rather than official Black Friday deals.
Is $399 a good price for the iPad A16?
$399 is $50 below Apple’s current $449 price for the 128GB Wi-Fi iPad A16, but it’s $50 above the $349 the tablet listed at before Apple’s 2026 price increase and $75 above the $324 early Black Friday price tracked in November 2025.
Why are iPads more expensive in 2026?
Apple raised iPad and MacBook prices in mid-2026, and TechRadar attributes the increase to rising RAM and component costs. The 11-inch iPad Air M4, for example, went from a $599 launch price to $749.
Which tablet is cheapest compared with its launch price?
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Lite with 128GB is $329.99 at Amazon as of October 31, 2026, about $19 below its $349 launch price, and it includes an S Pen in the box. Every iPad Memeburn checked still costs more on Amazon than it did at launch.