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That's the highest price we've ever seen for the baseline tablet, which was officially discontinued earlier this year in favor of newer models. Over the last couple of years, Apple has shaken things up with its tablet lineup, but we've long held the belief that the 9th-generation iPad is the best value iPad around.
That changed when Apple lopped the price of the 10th-gen iPad down to a more reasonable $349 and killed the entry-level model, but the 2021 iPad remains a very good tablet, especially now that the base 64GB model has dropped to an all-time low of $229 ($100 off) at Amazon and $229.99 at Best Buy. In many ways, from the hardware end, the 9th generation iPad has been carried over from Apple's previous design language. There is still that traditional look with the large bezels, a dedicated home button, and a Lightning port not to say that it still has the 3.5mm audio jack, which will let one use wired headphones. It's still rocking last year's A13 processor, which initially came in the iPhone 11 way back in 2019.
But even then, it was more than capable of handling gaming, movie streaming, web browsing, and general tablet uses.The Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard are missing, but considering the price and age of this device, this isn't a major issue. The base model for 2021 includes a 10.2-inch screen and an A13 Bionic CPU, as well as a new 12MP front camera that supports Apple's Centre Stage function. This entry-level iPad is still compatible with the first-generation Apple Pencil and the company's Smart Keyboard, and despite its age, it is still the only iPad available with a 3.5mm headphone port.
It's on the understanding, though, that if you're concerned about support, Apple's new generation iPad will support iPadOS 18 when it goes live this fall. It won't, however, have support for the upcoming Apple Intelligence features so you will need a new iPad Pro or iPad Air model with an M1 chip or later. I feel you need to make a new calculator app.
