iPad iPad 9th generation in 2022?

[Roadster Lewis]

I was hoping that the 10th generation iPad would be a drop-in replacement for the 9th generation, but it seems it has gone upmarket, and way over my planned spend for my son's Christmas present.

Would the 9th generation iPad be a good purchase for Christmas 2022? It is to replace an iPad Air, which my son inherited when a family member upgraded. It will get him on to the latest iPadOS, which should mean an improvement in available apps, but I want to make sure that it will last him a good few years before becoming obsolete.

I'm planning to buy ASAP, whilst it is still available at the "old" price.

 

[Digitalguy]

Il will last, probably even more than it should with its 3GB RAM if you mean in terms of OS updates. My guess is this is the new iPad 2, Apple will be keep selling it for a few more years (even past the iPad 10) just to keep the 329.- price point for people on a budget and schools. Has happened already. I wouldn't worry about software updates, if not for the fact that they'll increase reloads because of the limited RAM (but it's not like the iPad 10 has much more...)

 

[rui no onna]

If that iPad Air is the OG A7/1GB version, then yeah, the 9th gen is a major improvement.

 

[Ferc Kast]

If that iPad Air is the OG A7/1GB version, then yeah, the 9th gen is a major improvement.

The display would take a hit, though, being unlaminated.

Edit: Never mind. I was confusing the Air for the Air 2 that introduced the laminated display.

 

[Roadster Lewis]

Yeah, it is the OG Air, to be fair before that he had my old iPad 2, but needed an upgrade for homeschooling. I did look at Airs in the refurb store, but even an Air 3 is £100 more than I can get a new iPad gen 9 for.

I'm sure the benefits of a laminated screen will be lost on a 6 year old, especially as he won't have experienced one before.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

My daughter had saved £400 for a new iPad and we were holding out for the entry level release. However, the price has gone from £379 to £499 so we bought her a £299 iPad 9th Gen from John Lewis which was £69 cheaper than Apple!! Sorry Apple but if a major retailer can offer the same product that much cheaper, then you’re doing something very wrong this year.

 

[FeliApple]

From an Air 1? It’s a great upgrade in every possible way! Yeah, it will last for a while. I think it would be a great purchase.

 

[sorgo †]

I love my 9th gen. I feel like it could easily last several years to be honest.

 

[sracer]

I was hoping that the 10th generation iPad would be a drop-in replacement for the 9th generation, but it seems it has gone upmarket, and way over my planned spend for my son's Christmas present.

Would the 9th generation iPad be a good purchase for Christmas 2022? It is to replace an iPad Air, which my son inherited when a family member upgraded. It will get him on to the latest iPadOS, which should mean an improvement in available apps, but I want to make sure that it will last him a good few years before becoming obsolete.

I'm planning to buy ASAP, whilst it is still available at the "old" price.

As others have said, the 9th gen will be fine.
I bought the 9th gen for myself earlier this year. I could afford any of the iPads in the lineup, but the 9th gen is amazing tech for the price and can do everything I was able to do on my iPad Pro.

 

[Roadster Lewis]

My daughter had saved £400 for a new iPad and we were holding out for the entry level release. However, the price has gone from £379 to £499 so we bought her a £299 iPad 9th Gen from John Lewis which was £69 cheaper than Apple!! Sorry Apple but if a major retailer can offer the same product that much cheaper, then you’re doing something very wrong this year.

That is the plan for us too - I expect that John Lewis bought their current stock at the "old" price, I guess they will have to put the price up when they buy new stock from Apple.

 

[GMShadow]

Yep, buy away. He'll get years out of it.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Il will last, probably even more than it should with its 3GB RAM if you mean in terms of OS updates. My guess is this is the new iPad 2, Apple will be keep selling it for a few more years (even past the iPad 10) just to keep the 329.- price point for people on a budget and schools. Has happened already. I wouldn't worry about software updates, if not for the fact that they'll increase reloads because of the limited RAM (but it's not like the iPad 10 has much more...)

I think they'll sell it until they're required to stop selling lightning in the EU.

 

[Digitalguy]

I think they'll sell it until they're required to stop selling lightning in the EU.

The deadline is end of 2024 but it's not clear whether devices launched before the deadline cannot be sold anymore from 2025 on, or if you can still sell them until some further date and it's only 2025 devices that need to have USB C...

 

[limesmoothie]

Amazon have 9th Gen Space Grey 64gb with Cellular for £400. New 10th Gen with Cellular £679. Insane pricing.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

That is the plan for us too - I expect that John Lewis bought their current stock at the "old" price, I guess they will have to put the price up when they buy new stock from Apple.

We ended up cancelling the order with John Lewis and ordering from Curry’s as they had a deal that included an Apple Pencil. The iPad was the same price as JL though but worth a look.

 

[Roadster Lewis]

Doh, it arrived from John Lewis this afternoon.

 

[Atomic1977]

Ipad 9 is awesome I just got one this year as well for my birthday.

 

[Roadster Lewis]

I set it up quickly last night. It seems good, will now put it away for Santa to deliver.

 

[Dented]

My kids (10 and 12) both have the 8th gen iPad and I’d still recommend that to anyone, let alone the 9th - really solid devices and more than up to the task. They have keyboard cases too and literally use them for everything, from gaming to homework and everything in between.

 

[Roadster Lewis]

That was kind of the idea, he wanted a switch, but that is only good for gaming, rather than homework.

 

[Dented]

That was kind of the idea, he wanted a switch, but that is only good for gaming, rather than homework.

Admittedly they share a switch between them as well, but it gets FAR less use and tbh is a bit wasted on them, they both do far more gaming on the ipads, Roblox in particular. The only real exception to that is Fortnite which my son was into for a while and of course isn’t available on anything Apple, but he seems to have gone off that now!