Whether you're looking for a kid-friendly tablet or a compact laptop replacement, there are plenty of excellent options out there. If you're not exactly sure which tablet you should buy, we've got one simple question to help narrow down your search: Are you an Apple person? We tested the entire iPad lineup, and though iPads are our preferred tablets in 2026, we also love some of the best tablets from Samsung, OnePlus, and Microsoft. So, whatever your preferences, we've got a tablet to recommend.
What's new in this guide?
With ever evolving technology, this guide is never done. We're continuing to test new tablets for inclusion in this guide. At the end of 2025, we added the Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3 and the Samsung Galaxy S11 Ultra to this guide.
As of March 2026, we've updated this guide to include the iPad Air with M4 chip, replacing the previous Air model. We also added the iPad Pro (M5) as the best iPad for professionals, as well as the OnePlus Pad Go 2 as the best budget Android tablet.
We have more tablets in the testing pipeline and will be updating this guide with any standouts.