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Best Labor Day tablet deals: Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab

Watching video on M4 iPad Pro.
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

While Labor Day has officially passed, there are still a lot of excellent Labor Day sales on tablets that you can take advantage of, even today. In fact, we’re seeing excellent tablet deals across the board, whether you’re looking for something more budget-oriented like the entry-level Lenovo and Samsung tablets or the higher-end Apple deals that include some of the best iPads on the market. Whatever it is, we’ve gone out and scoured all the best retailers to collect some of the best tablet deals we could find at various price ranges and listed them all down below.

Best Labor Day tablet deals to shop right now

Lenovo Tab M9 — $100, was $140

The Lenovo Tab M9 tablet on a white background.
Lenovo

A lot of tablets can be quite expensive, but if you don’t need anything fancy and just want to watch content online, the Lenovo Tab M9 is a solid choice. It has a 9-inch screen with a 1340 x 800 resolution, slightly more than 720p, and is perfectly fine for this size of tablet. It runs a MediaTek Helio G80 processor, which is a budget chip, but should be enough to handle the basics, and while the 3GB of RAM isn’t a ton, it’s more than enough to give you a generally smooth experience. As for storage, you only get 32GBs, although you’ll be happy to know that you can expand that with a MicroSD, so it’s absolutely not a deal breaker.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ — $180, was $220

The front and back of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+.
Samsung

If you’re willing to spend a little extra, you can get a much bigger screen in the form of the Tab A9+. It has an 11-inch screen running a 1920 x 1200 resolution, so it’s great for watching content online, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 can provide you with a bit better performance since it’s a stronger processor from two generations ago. You also do get a much better 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage, which doesn’t necessarily mean you have to take advantage of the MicroSD expansion slot, although you probably sould.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite — $210, was $330

Someone using an S Pen to draw on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 2024.
Samsung

For an inexpensive tablet, check out the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite. It has a large 10.4-inch screen and includes an S pen stylus so you can easily use it to sketch out designs or write notes. It has support for Dolby Atmos surround sound so it’s a good bet for streaming shows while you’re relaxing on your commute, and there’s up to 14 hours battery life when streaming. 64GB of storage is pretty good for this price, and the slim metal design means it’s easy to toss into your bag or hold for extended periods of time.

Apple iPad 10th generation — $299, was $349

Call of Duty: Mobile on the iPad (2022).
Joe Maring / Digital Trends

The Apple iPad 10th generation is easy to love, with an attractive 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, powerful A14 Bionic chip, and 64GB of storage. Its display has support for True Tone, meaning it adjusts the display to the color temperature of the room you’re in. Battery life of about 10 hours is perfectly respectable, and its strong performance is good for gaming as well as browsing online. It also has a 12MP front camera and 12MP back camera, so it’s great for taking some snaps while on the move.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE — $346, was $450

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE.
Samsung

While we haven’t reviewed the standard Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE, we have checked out the Plus variety and been impressed. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE offers a lot of the similar potential. It has an attractive 10.9-inch screen, which is great for watching movies, and it promises up to 18 hours of battery life. Its Exynos processor ensures that multitasking can be done speedily. There are plenty of Android games to check out too. Sleek and with a S pen included, it’s a good option for sketching out designs or writing notes, while the whole thing is lightweight yet surprisingly robust.

Apple iPad mini — $380, was $499

The iPad Mini stands on a floor with other Apple devices in the background.
Adam Doud/Digital Trends / Digital Trends

Our Apple iPad mini review explains that the tablet is best viewed as a mini powerhouse. It’s also my tablet of choice any time I don’t want to grab my laptop or phone. It may not be the biggest tablet, but its 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display looks great with True Tone support as well as P3 wide color. It’s powered by a speedy A15 Bionic chip which I’ve found is great for switching between apps and also gaming through my Apple Arcade subscription. For quick video calls, it also has a 12MP Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage support. USB-C means it recharges fast too.

Apple iPad Pro 13-inch M4 — $1,195, was $1,299

Apple Pencil Pro and M4 iPad Pro.
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

A premium tablet in every sense of the word, the latest Apple iPad Pro 13-inch M4 is something special and the “best tablet” our reviewer has ever used. It’s incredibly powerful thanks to its M4 chip, which you’d usually see in the latest MacBook laptops. It means up to a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. Alongside that is its gorgeous 13-inch Ultra Retina XDR display which provides extreme brightness and contrast, along with exceptional color accuracy, ProMotion, P3 wide color, and True Tone support. This is the ultimate tablet for anyone who wants a laptop replacement with the portability that comes from a tablet.

What tablet brands have sales during Labor Day?

During Labor Day sales, we tend to see pretty much all brands catered for. One name that shines through a lot of the time is Apple. Retailers love to discount the best iPads such as the iPad Air and iPad Pro, but also older models to help clear stock. Due to Apple generally being pretty good at supporting older models, there’s nothing to lose by taking a step back as it means you tend to save more while still enjoying an iPad with great features and extensive software support.

There are also often many of the best Android tablets on sale too with names like Samsung and Lenovo prominent in the field along with budget-friendly Amazon Fire tablets at a higher discount than usual.

Overall, you’ll see many of the best tablets featured in the Labor Day tablet sales. The big names to spot are Apple, Samsung, and Lenovo, but you may also see a few OnePlus models in the sale as the brand becomes an increasingly popular name in the tablet world. For the most part, you’ll only see quality within these Labor Day tablet sales, especially if you focus on those names.

When do Labor Day tablet sales start?

Labor Day sales officially happened yesterday. Labor Day itself is on September 2, but we’re likely to see a few more deals in the next few days as well. Retailers started their sales early, combining their back-to-school sales with early Labor Day deals. That means we saw a lot of sales in the weekend leading up to yesterday, and we might actually end up seeing a couple of good deals today and tomorrow as well.

Timing is everything, of course. Many of the deals we’ve posted above are unlikely to be bettered, even if retailers try and get rid of stock with steep discounts. It’s a good idea to keep an eye on what unfolds to experience the full complement of what’s out there, but don’t be afraid to buy now if you see something you love and at a price you’re willing to pay. Stock could change rapidly and you might miss out on a sweet deal by constantly holding on for what comes next.

Should you shop Labor Day tablet deals or wait until Black Friday?

When reaching the latter part of the year, it can be tough to know whether to buy now or wait until the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. It’s well known that the Black Friday sales are the best sales of the year, even beating the generally fairly respectable Prime Day sales of earlier in the summer. So what do you do? In an ideal world, it can be a smart idea to hold out until Black Friday. Prices tend to be at their lowest during this time period and once in a while, there are some spectacularly cheap deals happening.

However, are you able to wait that long? For instance, if you regularly use a tablet and your old one has just died, can you cope with weeks without your precious tablet by your side? We don’t blame you if you can’t. Because of that, it can be a smarter move to buy during the Labor Day sales instead. For one thing, sometimes, you’ll see a Black Friday deal that only reduces the price by a fairly incremental amount. It still ends up being the best price of the year but saving a few bucks while waiting months probably won’t seem good value to you.

Also, finances can be further stretched during the holiday season compared to September so it can make more sense to buy now so you can spread out the cost and feel more comfortable about making the purchase.

Topics
Albert Bassili
Deals Writer
Albert’s been a tech and gaming writer for over a decade, writing for websites such as CNET, PopSci, and How-To-Geek, and…
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