Apple iPad 11-inch (2025) Review: The Best Tablet for Most People
Rating: 4 / 5
The 11th generation iPad doesn’t try to impress you. It just shows up, does everything well, and costs $349. In 2025, that’s a harder trick to pull off than it sounds.
Design & Display
The iPad 11 features the same price and design as the iPad 10th generation Laptop Mag — Apple’s flat-edge slab with a clean bezel, Touch ID in the side button, and a USB-C port. It comes in a range of fun colors including Blue, Pink, Yellow, and Silver, and at just over a pound, it’s genuinely easy to hold for extended periods. Nothing has changed here, and honestly, nothing needed to.
The display is the area where the iPad 11 shows its budget origins most clearly. The LCD display is not laminated with the front glass, so it sits slightly below the surface — you immediately perceive this as a lower-quality component if you’ve used any modern smart device in the past five years. GSMArena The 60Hz refresh rate and 500-nit SDR brightness is only sufficient for indoor use, and there’s no XDR brightness support, meaning HDR content won’t pop the way it does on an iPhone. PhoneArena It’s perfectly fine for Netflix in a dark room. It’s not the screen you want for outdoor use or color-critical creative work.
Performance
This is where the iPad 11 surprises. The Apple A16 Bionic consists of a 5-core CPU, 4-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine — the same chip that powered the iPhone 14 Pro series — and remains relatively modern even in 2025. GSMArena Everyday tasks like browsing, streaming, note-taking, and multitasking feel effortless, and gaming holds up well too. Even light editing in LumaFusion or playing Genshin Impact at high settings produces no noticeable warmth — the A16 chip is seriously future-proofing this device for most users. Best Buy
It’s worth noting that the A16 is nowhere near the M-series chips in the iPad Air or Pro. Its CPU multi-core Geekbench score is just slightly more than half that of the M3 Air Creative Bloq — but for anyone not doing video encoding, music production, or running large AI models locally, the gap is largely invisible in daily use.
Battery Life
The iPad 11 delivers impressive battery life, falling just short of the iPad Pro M4’s longevity — and considering the price difference between the two tablets, it’s a genuinely impressive showing. Tom’s Guide Real-world use backs this up: users report getting through a full day of Zoom calls, note-taking, and streaming with battery to spare.
Storage & Value
Most notably, Apple increased the base storage from 64GB to 128GB — double the base storage for the same starting price of $349. Laptop Mag That’s a meaningful upgrade, and it makes the iPad 11 one of the best-value tablets on the market. No Android tablet at this price comes close to the software ecosystem, accessory support, or long-term software updates Apple provides here.
The Catch: No Apple Intelligence
The iPad 11 is the one Apple tablet that doesn’t support any AI features. Tom’s Guide If you’re excited about Apple Intelligence — Siri upgrades, Image Playground, writing tools — you’ll need to step up to the iPad Air or Pro. For most people right now, that’s probably not a dealbreaker, but it’s worth knowing before you buy.
Apple Pencil compatibility also feels a little stuck in the past. It would be nice if Apple had standardized Apple Pencil compatibility across the iPad lineup — advertising the discontinued 1st generation Apple Pencil is an odd look in 2025. Laptop Mag The iPad 11 is compatible with the Apple Pencil USB-C but not the Apple Pencil Pro, which limits your stylus options compared to the Air and Pro.
Who Should Buy It?
The iPad 11 is the perfect tablet for most people, especially those in the Apple ecosystem who aren’t concerned with premium features found on the Air or Pro lineups. With decent performance and good battery life, it’s the no-nonsense tablet for those who just need an extra screen without too much extra fanfare. PhoneArena
If you need Apple Intelligence, a brighter laminated display, or the power to run demanding creative apps, spend the extra $250 and get the iPad Air. But if you’re a student, a casual user, or just want a reliable screen for reading, streaming, and browsing — a tablet with a great display, long battery life, and more than enough performance for everyday tasks is all that’s needed, and the iPad 11 takes those needs and runs with them. Tom’s Guide
