iPads have become one of the best ways for music producers to make great quality tunes anywhere, any time, and are now powerful enough to run a huge suite of professional music production apps. From full DAWs – Digital Audio Workstations that have everything you need for music making – to incredibly creative instruments that allow you to transform your ideas into tunes, you can make great music in any genre on an iPad. And if you're in the market for one and looking to save some cash, we've got all the best Black Friday iPad deals right here on this page.
Wat to get straight to the best deals? Right now the best iPad Pro for US residents is $100 off the M2 chip-equipped 6th Gen iPad with 512GB of storage at Amazon. And in the UK, there's £100 of the WiFi and cellular equipped 6th gen iPad Pro with 128GB of storage. This deal is available at Very.co.uk.
With intuitive touch screens and pro connectivity, today's iPads allows you to explore different avenues of music creativity, and can either be the perfect standalone compositional tool, or the hub of a professional music studio. We've rounded up our top choices in our guide to the best iPads for musicians and producers.
Black Friday week is by far the best time of year to pick up an iPad bargain with many discounts available. Here we'll guide you to the perfect iPad for your music productions and our experts have hand-picked the very best deals online right now. We'll be keep this page up-to-date throughout the coming days.
Black Friday iPad deals: Quick links
- Amazon: Discounts on all models
- Best Buy: $50 off select iPads
- B&H Photo: Air M1 savings
- Newegg: Refurbished iPad savings
- Walmart: Discounts on older models
- Amazon: Price cuts on select models
- Argos: Wide selection of discounts
- Box: Ace early deals
- Currys: £50 off the standard iPad
- Very: Early deals on older models
- John Lewis: Two-year guarantee included
US Editor's picks
UK Editor's picks
Which iPad should I buy on Black Friday?
Read below to understand how iPads differ in terms of power, connectivity and size. Once you’ve armed yourself with that knowledge, all you need to do now is choose your model based on which of these is important to you… and of course, your budget. With these considerations in mind, we have three iPad recommendations which will cover your requirements in whichever of these areas is important to you.
Starting price: $799/£899 or $1,099/£1,249 | Screen size: 11 or 12.9-inch | Chip: M2 | Connector: USB-C (supports USB4/Thunderbolt)
As you might expect, this largest and most powerful iPad is expensive. But for music production, the larger iPad Pro 12.9” especially is a joy to use. With music apps, you will find the increase in screen surface area a huge bonus and you won't be lacking power with any app.
Starting price: $599/£669 | Screen size: 10.9-inch | Chip: M1 | Connector: USB-C
The iPad Air delivers a great balance of price versus power versus portability so is probably the most well rounded iPad in the range – it does a bit of everything well! It is also the sleekest and most well designed if looks are important to you.
Starting price: $499/£479 | Screen size: 8.3-inch | Chip: A15 Bionic | Connector: USB-C
The latest iPad mini is easily the most portable and the cheapest of our iPad recommendations. It might not have the grunt of the Pro and Air, but it does feature the best of the previous generation of processors, and all around this is a fantastic entry into the iPad family.
iPad FAQ
What do I need to know about the latest iPads?
The best news for music producers is that the current range of iPads offers both the power you need for sophisticated music creation, and the connections you need to upgrade your music making setup.
With Apple's latest Silicon range of processors now standard in the more powerful iPads, you get the music making might of a laptop computer within a sleek, mobile device. And even the cheapest models in the range can deal with most music production tasks.
The latest iPads will allow you to connect a host of music devices up too. There are different types of ports on the iPad range - Lightning, USB and Thunderbolt - and the latter two especially are the ones to go for when it comes to music production as they will allow you to expand your music making setup.
Then all you need to do is choose your iPad size. They come in many different screen sizes so you'll need to balance out how much portability you need versus the screen real estate you require - a big factor when it comes to using music making apps.
Finally, it's a case of balancing power, connectivity and portability with your budget. You can, of course, spend a fortune on a fully-spec'd, top of the range iPad - as much as a laptop or desktop computer. But we're here to guide you through what you really need to know - you might not need all the bells and whistles for your particular style of music making, so make sure you read our buyer's advice before splashing out on a top range, fully-featured machine.
What makes iPads great for musicians?
iPads have always been a fantastic choice for music making, and an ideal platform to turn your music ideas into reality, especially when you are out and about. But now they rival laptops in terms of portability, power and creativity. The range of apps available for iPad music production is vast: from instruments to fully-featured DAWs from the big guns of music production like Steinberg and Apple.
There's a vast suite of musical instruments to choose from too so you can tailor your iPad studio to your music making wants and needs. Fancy an iPad emulation of a classic synthesizer? There are many to choose from, developed by the likes of Korg, Moog, Arturia, Waldorf and many more. Do you want more traditional instruments? You can get iPad guitar and piano simulators or even turn your iPad into a guitar effects unit to rock out as much as you like!
The latest Pads also feature USB-C or USB4/Thunderbolt connectivity and this opens up a whole world of music peripherals such as MIDI keyboards, audio interfaces and speakers, allowing you to expand your iPad music studio. These ports are also important as they allow you to transfer data to and from your iPad - ideal for recording external audio (singing or guitar). The Thunderbolt standard found on the Pro models allow a faster data transfer, but the ports on most iPads still offer great connectivity to music production peripherals.
Is Black Friday a good time to buy an iPad?
In short, yes! Black Friday should see some great deals on iPads and other music production devices. In the past, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have seen prices slashed across the whole range of iPads, from the older generation standard iPad right up to the iPad Pro.
We've seen prices often reduced by hundreds, making this season the ideal time to buy an iPad. So if you see a good deal on an iPad, grab it while you can as discounts don't stay around for long.
We're rounding up all the best iPad bargains here, from stores like Walmart, Amazon and Best Buy in the US, and Currys, Very, Amazon and Argos in the UK.
Which iPad models should I avoid?
There's only really one iPad model that we don't fully recommend for music production. While the standard iPad 9th generation is the cheapest iPad option and a good buy if you are on a budget, it is underpowered compared to our other iPad recommendations. While it will still run most music production apps, audio processing can put a strain on a processor so it is always best to get the fastest one you can afford. Also, this model uses the older Lightning connector which many music peripherals don't support directly, so you might need to buy an additional adaptor.
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