These days, the best tablets field is a wide and diverse one. There are options from Apple alongside several Android-based tablets, as well as all things Kindle which offer a slightly different experience than the other two. That’s why it’s important to think hard about the main reasons why you want a new tablet. Buying a tablet for gaming, for instance, is very different from buying one of the best tablets for reading.
Below, we’ve picked out the best tablets for reading, focusing on all the elements that enhance your reading experience. We’ve also considered price range and budget so there’s a wide spectrum of choices below, each focused on making reading even more satisfying. In a world where it feels like you’ll never run out of something great to read, you want to enjoy the most comfortable reading experience possible. Your new tablet for reading is on this list.
The best overall tablet for reading
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024)
- Sharp, high-contrast E Ink screen
- Adjustable warmth
- Slick performance for ease of use
- Dark Mode
- Long battery life
- Water-resistant
- Screen attracts smudges
- Rear gets easily scuffed
Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite is a classic choice for reading on the go for a reason: It's compact, lightweight, and boasts up to 12 weeks of battery life. If you travel a lot or just don't want to charge your tablet every day or two, you can charge it once and forget about it for up to three months of uninterrupted reading.
The 7-inch high contrast e-ink Carta 1300 display is a step up from the 1200 display on the 2024 Kindle, and feels natural to read — like a book. The slightly larger screen is great for reading graphic novels or comic books, while the matte finish means there's less glare than reading on a tablet, and no blue light to strain your eyes or impact your sleep routine, either. An adjustable backlight makes reading in low-light or dark rooms a breeze, without disturbing others. The Paperwhite is water resistant too, so you can take it with you to the beach or pool on your travels.
You get 16GB of storage, which may not sound like a lot, but is actually over 15,000 e-books. The Kindle Paperwhite also supports a wide range of e-book formats, though you'll need to download books from sites other than Amazon to your PC first before transferring them to Kindle, but it's nice to have that option. Plus, there's nothing else to do on your Kindle: no gaming, no apps, and no distractions other than the Amazon store for books and a basic web browser that you'll probably never even use.
If you want distraction-free reading, and just that, the Kindle Paperwhite is hard to beat.
The best budget tablet for reading
Amazon Kindle (2024)
- Matcha color is fantastic
- Super portable
- Brighter display than predecessor
- Faster page turning
- Great battery life
- Very little changes from predecessor
- Increased price
If you're on a budget that doesn't quite stretch to the Kindle Paperwhite, Amazon's base Kindle (2024) is an excellent choice. You still get that e-ink display, with 16GB of onboard storage, though battery life is halved at up to six weeks. That's still pretty impressive compared to most tablets, though, and shouldn't see you reaching for the charger too often.
Smaller and lighter than the Paperwhite, its 6-inch display makes it the ideal compact e-reader for throwing in a bag or packing in your suitcase. It comes in black or Matcha, the latter of which we loved in our review. The adjustable front light makes it easy to read in even dark environments, or can be turned off in daylight. Speaking of nocturnal reading, dark mode puts white text on a black background to make everything easier on your eyes.
Kindle supports a wide range of e-book formats, so you're not limited to buying books from Amazon. Note though that you will need to download books from other sites to your computer then connect your Kindle to upload them.
For $110, this is the best budget tablet for reading that we could find, and you won't be distracted by apps or notifications.
The best premium tablet for reading
Apple iPad Air (2024)
- Thin, light, and portable
- 128GB minimum storage
- Great for gaming, watching videos, and productivity
- Graphic novels look stunning on the Liquid Retina display
- You'll need to charge it more often than a Kindle
- Offers plenty of distractions from reading
If you've got a bit more to spend and would prefer a tablet that does it all, not just for reading, the Apple iPad Air (2024) is the one to get.
With its 11-inch Liquid Retina display, you can admire colorful book covers and graphic novels in all their glory, while nine to 10 hours of battery life should see you through even the most page-turning bestseller before needing a top-up. It's slim and lightweight enough to throw in your bag or case on the go.
You also get tons of storage, with options from 128GB to 1TB, enough for your books, movies, music, photos, and more. The iPad Air's powerful M2 chip ensures it's not just great for reading, but also for gaming, productivity, and streaming, too.
Add Apple's Magic Keyboard (sold separately) and you have yourself the perfect productivity partner for working at home or on the go, with access to all your favorite apps.
The iPad Air supports EPUB, PDF, and plain text e-books, which you can get from Apple Books or a huge range of other sources. You can also download the Kindle app to read Kindle books on your tablet.
The best Android tablet for reading
Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro
- Weeks of battery life
- 128GB of onboard storage
- Color e-ink display is great for graphic novels
- Stylus for note-taking
- Thin and light aluminum build
- E-ink display isn't for media consumption
- No IP rating means it's not ideal for the beach or pool
The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro is a step-up from the base Kindle and Paperwhite in terms of storage, and has a larger 10.3-inch color e-ink display with anti-glare coating that ensures everything from graphic novels and manga to book covers looks stunning, albeit not as vivid as on an Android tablet or iPad.
You get 128GB of storage for all your books — expandable via microSD — which is great as reading and note taking are the only things you'll want to do on the Boox Tab Ultra C Pro. The e-ink display isn't capable of decent video streaming, though there's a basic web browser. The NeoReader app lets you customize text to suit your needs, though to take advantage of this feature you'll need to transfer your DRM-free library to the device storage.
This tablet runs a custom version of Android 12 and is easy to navigate, while Google Play support for third-party apps ensures you can read books from almost anywhere, in almost any file format, including Kindle books from Amazon. The Boox Pen2 Pro Stylus is great for note-taking and the native note-taking app lets you create color-coded highlights or record audio clips.
Battery life lasts for weeks, the premium aluminum body is slim and light, and the price won't hurt your budget as badly as some more fully-featured tablets.
It's worth nothing that the Boox Tab Ultra C Pro doesn't have an IP rating, however, so if you're looking for an e-reader for the poolside or beach, this may not be the one.
The best big screen tablet for reading
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra
- Huge, anti-reflective display
- Solid battery life
- Included S Pen for note taking and annotation
- 256GB minimum storage
- Painfully slow charging
- It's a two-handed device
- A lot more expensive than a Kindle if it's just for reading
The largest tablet on our list — and Samsung's biggest tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra has an expansive 14.6-inch display and weights a hefty 718 grams. It's definitely a two-handed device due to its width, so perhaps not the best choice if you're a bedtime reader.
The anti-reflective coating on the display combined with 930 nits of peak brightness ensures you can read even outside in bright sunlight on holiday, while an IP68 rating makes it the ideal companion for the beach or pool.
You get from 256GB to 1TB of onboard storage, expandable via microSD, for all your books, photos, music, and more, plus a powerful Mediatek Dimensity 9300 Plus processor that can handle multitasking, gaming, and streaming.
Battery life is solid for a tablet of this size, at around 11 hours, though recharging is slow, taking around 2.5 hours to full, which might be an issue if you're waiting to find out how that bestseller ends.
Google Play Books and the Kindle app are both available for access to all the e-books you could ever want, and if you decide to use the Tab S10 Ultra for work, just pair it with the Book Cover Keyboard Slim (or the trackpad variant) and use DeX mode with all your favorite apps.
You can even color in or sketch on your Android tablet with the included S Pen, which also comes in handy for note taking or annotating whatever you're reading. Sketch to Image, a Galaxy AI feature, makes it easy to create AI-generated art, too.
If you're looking for a laptop replacement that does triple duty as a tablet for work, media consumption, and reading, this is well worth the price of entry.
What to consider when buying the best tablet for reading
When choosing a tablet for reading, there's plenty to think about. The size and weight of the tablet is important, particularly if you'll travel with it or spend time reading in bed. There are other factors to consider, too, and we'll outline some of these below.
Which is more important, display size, or overall size?
The bigger the display, the larger your table; there's no getting around that. Most of us don't want to carry around a tablet that’s bordering on laptop size, just so we can read in comfort. For the majority of people, six to eight inches is the sweet spot for reading in comfort. If you read a lot of graphic novels or manga, or if you’re visually impaired, you may want to go bigger but often, there are great accessibility options for enlarging text size anyhow.
Ultimately, portability is a crucial part of the tablet buying process, so if you're choosing a larger tablet, ensure you check it's not also extremely heavy. You really want a way to read that is as easy to throw in your bag as it would be a book. After all, a tablet for reading is much easier to store than carrying multiple books at once.
Is reading better in color?
Deciding whether you want a color display may help you choose between an e-reader and a feature-packed tablet. Both the Kindles on our list have grayscale screens — great for reading, not so great if you spend all your time reading graphic novels. If you're going to spend most of your time reading on your tablet, you may find that e-ink screens are more comfortable on your eyes than the display on an Android or iOS tablet, particularly if you're a nocturnal reader. If you want the best of both worlds, a color e-ink screen, like the one on the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro is ideal.
Think about battery life
Kindles feel invincible. They offer weeks of battery life without skipping a beat. In contrast, traditional tablets often only last between 10 to 12 hours, though they will keep going for longer if you leave them on standby for occasional reading sessions. Only you know what kind of battery life you truly need. If you’re usually reading at home, you can always plug your tablet in to charge up each morning. If you’re traveling, though, you probably don’t want to do that so often. That’s where long battery life is truly useful. Don't forget to check how long the tablet of your choice takes to charge, either. A slow charging device could mean you're left without anything to read at a crucial moment.
What other features do you need?
Most Kindles are designed simply for reading, which means there are no other distractions. If you don't want to game, work, or watch videos on your device, great! Dedicated Android or iOS-based tablets offer more options if you want an all-in-one device that will let you game, stream Netflix shows, or connect to a keyboard for working from home. Thinking about how you use your device is key here. If you already have a tablet with all the bells and whistles, and simply want something to read on, a Kindle or the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro are probably better for your needs.
Don't be tempted by features you don't need and will never use, as you'll find yourself paying a premium for them. Likewise, think about those features that are important to you, such as long battery life, plenty of storage, or perhaps a stylus for note-taking.
How we test
Not only do we love the latest tech, but many of us are self-confessed bookworms with a towering To Be Read list. We know how important it is to find the right tablet for reading everything from recipe books to graphic novels, and we've been through the process of choosing one ourselves, so we utilized this knowledge when choosing the best tablets for reading. We focused on providing a range of options to suit most needs, with devices that offer a good combination of value for money, battery life, storage, and additional features. We also looked for devices to suit all budgets, so no matter how much you have to spend on a new tablet, there should be an option for you in our list.
Why trust us?
The Digital Trends team are proud to be some of the biggest nerds on the planet. We're obsessed with all-things tech and our writers live and breathe tech, even on their days off. We have decades of experience writing about multiple tech brands, from reporting the latest industry news to reviewing hot new products. We always strive to be as objective as we can regarding the quality of every product we test. We're also not afraid to point out a product's shortcomings as we want our readers to get the full picture.
