5G is taking off in a big way, but when most people think about 5G they think about phones, or perhaps mobile broadband devices – not tablets. Yet there’s a growing number of excellent 5G tablets available, and these devices are one of the best ways to make use of a 5G network.
With their big screens they’re ideal for streaming QHD content and playing online games, and with a 5G connection you can do that without a hitch.
Below then we’ve detailed the best 5G tablets currently available. We’ve sorted them into categories, so if you specifically want, say, a big tablet or a budget tablet you can jump straight to that section.
Where there are multiple tablets worth considering we’ve included a runner up too, and if you don’t care about 5G then head to the end of the article, where we’ve included our top 4G tablet pick.
Apple has long been the tablet leader, and that’s true of 5G tablets too, as it offers a wider selection than most companies, including some superb 5G slates. You’ll find our top picks below.
The iPad Pro 11 2021 isn’t quite Apple’s most powerful tablet – that’s the iPad Pro 12.9 2021, which you’ll find further down. But the iPad Pro 11 2021 is a very similar slate with a more palatable price and in a size (11 inches) that’s likely be more widely appealing.
It has an 11-inch 1668 x 2388 screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10 support, so the screen specs are every bit as good as a high-end phones’, and thanks to an M1 chipset this is even more powerful than the top smartphones. In fact, it rivals 2021 MacBook Pros here, especially as it can also come with up to 16GB of RAM.
With support for keyboards and the Apple Pencil it’s also just as good for productivity as a laptop, and it offers around 10 hours of battery life, so you can use it all day.
All that and it’s got a sleek, stylish build, and it’s small and light enough to comfortably carry around with you, while being big enough to carry out most tasks.
The iPad Air 2022 is a mid-range tablet, so it’s a bit more affordable than Apple’s Pro models, yet it has many of the same highlights, including support for Apple’s Magic Keyboard and Pencil.
It even has an incredibly powerful Apple M1 chipset, allowing it to leapfrog the iPhone 13 range in terms of power, and its 10.9-inch 1640 x 2360 screen impresses – though it lacks the 120Hz refresh rate of the Pro.
There are loads of Android tablets to choose from, but if you’re specifically after a 5G one then the number of options dwindles. Handily though there are still some excellent choices, headlined by the following picks.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is even bigger than the largest iPad Pro, coming in at 14.6 inches. That will make it too big for many users, but ideal if you want a massive screen for drawing, watching movies, or other things where bigger is better.
It has an 1848 x 2960 Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support, so its screen ticks all the boxes, and it also has a powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, paired with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage.
So this is a supercharged slate, and it also supports keyboard and stylus accessories – in fact, the latter is even included with the Tab S8 Ultra, which isn’t something Apple does.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is inevitably very expensive, but this is the ultimate 5G Android tablet.
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The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus is a step down in size, price, and specs from the Tab S8 Ultra, but it still has a large 12.4-inch 1752 x 2800 Super AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support.
It also still has a powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and comes with an S Pen stylus as standard, so this is very much a high-end slate, it’s just not quite the best you can get.
There isn’t much in the way of truly budget 5G tablets at the time of writing, but there are some relatively affordable ones, and you’ll find the best of these below.
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The iPad Mini 2021 is one of the cheaper iPads you can buy, but that’s as much because the screen is smaller (at 8.3 inches) as because of any lower end specs.
In fact, the iPad Mini 2021 is a fairly high-end slate, with a powerful A15 Bionic chipset, a crisp 1488 x 2266 screen, and up to 256GB of storage, plus a modern design with slim bezels.
It lacks the 120Hz refresh rate and M1 chipset of Apple’s top slates, but this is still a highly capable device, and it’s ideal not just for buyers on a budget, but also those who want something small and – at just 297g – light.
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The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE is arguably the best budget 5G tablet to run Android. Designed as a mid-range option, this has a large 12.4-inch 1600 x 2560 screen, a mid-range Snapdragon 750G chipset, stereo speakers, and a 10,090mAh battery.
That battery offers superb life, and you also get an S Pen stylus thrown in, which makes this an even better value option than if you just got the tablet on its own.
Small tablets tend to be cheap, and cheap tablets don’t tend to offer 5G. As a result there aren’t many options if you’re looking for a small 5G tablet, but there is at least one great choice.
The iPad Mini 2021 is our top pick if you’re after a compact 5G slate, as its screen is just 8.3 inches, and thanks to small bezels it comes in at a tiny 195.4 x 134.8 x 6.3mm and is just 297g, so it’s slim and light as well.
That makes it an ideal travel companion, but it’s one that won’t let you down, with a sharp screen, high-end power, and full access to the App Store, which is home to the best selection of tablet apps available.
Unless you really don’t want iPadOS on your slate, this is the clear choice for fans of smaller tablets – as well as being a great option for buyers on a budget.
There are a few enormous 5G tablets, and these excel as productivity devices thanks to all that extra space. Our top pick of these is below.
The iPad Pro 12.9 2021 is the most expensive and high-spec iPad you can buy at the time of writing, as well as being among the biggest.
It has a 12.9-inch 2048 x 2732 screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10 support, but it’s not just the size that differs here from the iPad Pro 11 – the 12.9-inch model also uses a mini-LED display, which offers a superior picture.
Elsewhere this tablet is similar to Apple’s smaller Pro, complete with an enormously powerful M1 chipset, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of storage, plus support for the Apple Pencil, the Magic Keyboard, and other accessories. It’s the ultimate iPad, the ultimate tablet for productivity, and the best big 5G tablet you can buy.
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With a 14.6-inch screen the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is just about the biggest tablet you can buy, but overall we’d give an iPad the edge as Android isn’t quite as good an operating system for tablets as iPadOS, and there are fewer high-quality tablet apps on Android too.
Still, that aside this is a sumptuous slate. One that can compete with Apple’s best in just about every hardware spec, including the screen, the power and the battery life.
For the most part we’d recommend buying a 5G tablet if you’re shopping for a slate with mobile connectivity, but there are still some good 4G tablets available and these are sometimes cheaper. Our top pick of these is below.
The iPad 10.2 2021 is the latest entry in Apple’s cheapest iPad line, so unsurprisingly there’s no 5G here, but you do get a reasonably large 10.2-inch screen with a 1620 x 2160 resolution, plus a fairly powerful A13 Bionic chipset, and 10 hours of battery life.
This also supports the Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard, so you don’t have to buy an expensive model to get access to these accessories.
However, the main selling point of the iPad 10.2 2021 is simply its price, as it significantly undercuts most other slates in Apple’s range.
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