Amazon is cutting $50 off Apple’s 11-inch iPad for the 128GB Wi‑Fi model, which drops to $299 from its list price of $349. That’s a 14% discount on Apple’s latest entry-level iPad — now powered by the A16 Bionic chip and boasting more base storage — and it’s available just in time for anyone in school who wants to experiment with creating content or is still hanging on to an aging device.
What this $50 discount on the 11-inch iPad gets you
It’s a meaningful refresh for the base iPad this generation. Apple shifted the front camera to the landscape edge for less awkward video calls, left Touch ID in the top button for quick unlocking and pressed on with transitioning to USB‑C so that your cables and hubs might just work without adapters. The 11-inch Liquid Retina display lets you take full advantage of split-screen multitasking, note-taking and drawing with Apple Pencil, and discover all the detail in your favorite images.
- What this $50 discount on the 11-inch iPad gets you
- The Speed Bump That Keeps You Safe From Day to Day
- How It Compares Across Apple’s Current iPad Lineup
- Why This $299 Sale Price Hits the iPad Value Sweet Spot
- What to Know Before Buying This Discounted 11-Inch iPad
- Bottom Line: Is This $299 11-Inch iPad Deal Worth Buying?
Storage is the most practical upgrade. Apple killed off the cramped 64GB tier and made 128GB standard for entry. For a lot of buyers, that means fewer compromises — space for class notes, offline Netflix downloads, high‑resolution photos and plenty of apps without regular purging.
The Speed Bump That Keeps You Safe From Day to Day
Automakers can choose to spit out the anchors that hold the web of tubes down by enabling or disabling genes’ actions — just as Apple’s A16 Bionic processor will be a step up from the prior generation’s A14. Added to that self‑imposed boost, Apple’s own guidance is in the order of up to 30% — for CPU‑related tasks at least — while independent benchmarking databases suggest 20–30% in multi‑core workloads, and armed‑with‑the‑latest‑games graphics oomph. Translation: smoother Apple Arcade gaming, snappier photo edits within apps like Pixelmator, and less friction when multitasking apps in Stage Manager.
Battery life is still an asset. Apple’s 10‑hour claim remains a good barometer in mixed use — web, video, note‑taking — and real‑world testing from reviewers tends to clock in around that neighborhood. That’s a full day away from an outlet if you are a commuter or student.
How It Compares Across Apple’s Current iPad Lineup
The price of $299 for the deal puts a good amount of daylight between this model and the 11‑inch iPad Air with M2, which starts a few hundred higher before accessories. The Air gets you a laminated display, more refresh snappiness with Pencil hover support, and greater headroom for pro‑grade apps — but for everyday stuff, the A16 iPad feels fluid and current.
Compared with the prior base iPad, the new model’s additional storage is probably a more significant quality‑of‑life improvement than raw speed. Most users feel the pinch of running out of space long, long before they hit CPU capacity. In terms of accessories, it offers the Apple Pencil (USB‑C) instead of the magnetic Pencil Pro, which could still be a darn good match for handwriting, annotation and light sketching at a lower cost of entry.
Why This $299 Sale Price Hits the iPad Value Sweet Spot
Shoppers in the market for a tablet tend to see some of the deepest cuts around major retail holidays, and this iPad has dropped dangerously low. Still, $299 is one of the stronger current‑gen base model non‑holiday offers. For parents shopping for kids heading to school, homes already filled with aging 9.7‑ or 10.2‑inch gizmos, and travelers seeking a dependable streaming and reading device, the value proposition is simple.
And the broader market background is also supportive. IDC estimates that Apple still accounts for over a third of global tablet shipments, and indeed, there’s a long software support tail contributing to the optimization of apps. Being able to buy into the ecosystem from a sub‑$300 starting point and get an upgrade in terms of a modern chip, let alone double the starter storage and typically better battery life than you’d see on an SE, is pretty much unheard of outside limited‑time promos.
What to Know Before Buying This Discounted 11-Inch iPad
At this level, you’re getting a sharp 11‑inch LCD at 60Hz instead of the smoother, higher‑refresh panels on swankier iPads and no Face ID. If you will be editing full video projects or running big creative suites every day, an iPad Air or Pro gives you some more headroom. If browsing, email, docs and drawing with Apple Pencil (USB‑C) — along with a lot of streaming — is your workload, this configuration strikes a savvy feature‑to‑price balance.
Pricing on Amazon can fluctuate, and availability also changes by color. And if you need extra storage for 4K video or a large game library, watch for periodic discounts on the 256GB version that may end up tracking close to a dollar per gigabyte.
Bottom Line: Is This $299 11-Inch iPad Deal Worth Buying?
The 11‑inch iPad with A16 and 128GB, at $299, strikes a sweet spot: fast enough for years of iPadOS updates; roomy enough for living in reality; and priced low enough to come in below many midrange Android tablets. If you’ve been holding out for a good deal on Apple’s most affordable iPad, this $50 discount is the one to take advantage of — just know that discounts like these don’t always last at Amazon.
