While no doubt many bargain hunters of the best Cyber Monday deals looked forward to claiming one of the best iPad deals, it turns out those were few and far between with limited choices. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get a great tablet for an equally great price. If you consider some of the alternative consumer and pro-level handheld tablets available from Amazon and Samsung, you may be able to pick up the exact right tablet to suit your needs. If you still have your heart set on an iPad, have a look at our updated list of the best Cyber Monday iPad deals to see if anything there suits your fancy and is still available. But if you’re not determined to score an Apple product, make sure you check out our roundup of all the best Cyber Monday tablet deals for additional bargains and read on for our top picks.
Amazon Fire 7 — $35, was $50
Why buy
On the consumer end of the spectrum, we have the Amazon Fire 7 tablet, with a 7-inch IPS display that can take you through some seven hours of reading, web browsing, video watching, and music listening. The Fire 7 is ideal for checking email, making video calls, updating shopping lists, and setting reminders via apps like Zoom, Outlook, and OneNote. This model comes with 16GB of internal storage, but you can add up to 512GB with a microSD card. The 1.3 GHz quad-core processor runs the tablet, which has 1GB of RAM and supports 2MP front and rear-facing cameras, supporting 720p video.
Couch dwellers have extensive choices of movies, TV programs, games, apps, eBooks, and songs to stream or download from sources including Prime Video, Netflix, Starz, Disney+, and Showtime. There are over 570,000 apps and games, 475,000 Audible titles, and millions of songs as well. You can operate the Amazon Fire 7 by voice with Amazon Alexa, including an on/off toggle.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite — $250, was $350
Why buy
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, a sleek, minimal device in a cool Oxford Gray, straddles the line between a consumer and pro tablet, meaning that even without ultra high-end specs, you can still get through your slate of work and home tasks easily. On its 10.4- inch screen, with 2000 x 1200 resolution, you can browse the internet and multitask with plenty of juice to spare. The Tab S6 Lite is powered by an Exynos Octa-core processor running Android 10 with 4GB of RAM and 64GB internal storage and microSD slot, while the rechargeable 7040 mAh battery offers hours of use on one charge. A fast-charging USB-C port quickly tops up to full battery when you need to recharge.
Dual speakers with Dolby Atmos technology make conversations, video conferences, and movie watching that much more enjoyable — plus you can use the Smart View feature to send content to your big screen TV. The tablet has many sophisticated features such as face unlock, a kids interface, and the ability to download apps, games, movies, music, and e-books from Google Play. Cloud integration provides a seamless experience across all your Android devices. It also includes 8MP autofocus and 5MP front cameras for photography and chat.
Galaxy Tab S7+ 12.4 — $650, was $1,030
Why buy
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 is a pro-level tablet with advanced specs for both work and leisure. With tablets, the first thing you see is the screen, and this edge-to-edge AMOLED display, with its 120Hz refresh rate, provides vibrant and immersive graphics for movies, games, and business or family calls. The quad speakers with Dolby Atmos surround sound finetune the overall tablet experience. The Tab S7 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus Mobile Platform processor that lets you multitask or play advanced games with no screen or performance lag. The tablet comes packed with 512GB of built-in memory, offering plenty of space to hold photos, videos, games, and apps — though if you need more storage, you can expand it to 1TB with a microSD card. The wide 13MP and ultra-wide 5MP dual cameras let you capture vibrant photos while the 8MP front-facing camera facilitates video chat with friends or colleagues. You can even add your own controller for console-style gaming.
As far as input goes, this unit comes with a redesigned S Pen with lower 9ms latency. Plus you can use the pen for other things besides sketching and writing — such as a remote control for slides, videos, or photographing. The pen is constantly charged and attached to your tablet, and has a comfortable grip. But to get all these benefits, the tablet has to be adequately charged and that’s where its powerful battery comes in. You can work, make calls, stream videos, and play games for hours on a single charge. And when you run out of juice, you can replenish the supply via the fast-charging USB-C port.