Record lows across nearly every category of slate device
Once a year, the marketplace pauses its relentless forward motion and briefly reverses — clearing the old to make room for the new. Amazon Prime Day 2024's final hours offered that rare window where patience met reward, as tablets from every tier of the market reached prices that may not return until the next great clearance. For those who had been waiting, the closing of this sale was less a deadline than a reckoning with the cost of hesitation.
- The clock is running out — Prime Day ends at 11:59 p.m. on July 17, and the deepest tablet discounts in months vanish with it.
- Amazon's own Fire tablets are leading the charge, with the Fire HD 10 hitting an all-time low of $74.99 and Kids Edition devices slashed by more than half.
- Apple is quietly clearing older iPad inventory ahead of new releases, pushing the iPad Air 5 to $399.99 — a $200 cut that puts a premium device within budget reach.
- Samsung's Galaxy Tab lineup, from the budget A9 Plus at $142.49 to the flagship S9 Plus at $899.99, is seeing its most significant discounts since launch.
- The deals are gated behind Prime membership, but a 30-day free trial means even newcomers can enter the window before it closes.
Amazon Prime Day was in its final hours, and the tablet market had rarely looked this generous. Across budget, mid-range, and premium categories, genuine discounts were on offer — not the illusory kind, but record lows that reflected retailers' urgency to move inventory before the next product cycle.
Amazon's own hardware saw the sharpest cuts. The Fire HD 10 reached an all-time low of $74.99, a straightforward proposition for anyone already living inside Amazon's ecosystem. The Fire Max 11 dropped to $159.99 — a 36 percent reduction bringing an 11-inch display and 14-hour battery into affordable range. Families found value too, with Kids Edition tablets falling well below their usual prices.
Apple's older iPads were clearing out ahead of anticipated new releases. The 2021 iPad 10.2 held at $249, while the newer iPad 10.9 came in at $299.99 — undercutting Apple's own adjusted price. The iPad Air 5 at $399.99 represented a $200 discount on a genuinely capable machine.
Samsung's Android slate lineup was discounted across the board, from the budget Galaxy Tab A9 Plus at $142.49 to the Snapdragon-powered S9 and S9 Plus for more demanding users. Amazon's Kindle Scribe, the company's note-taking e-reader, also hit a new low at $234.99.
UK shoppers saw parallel reductions, with the Fire Max 11 at £139.99, the iPad Air M1 at £479, and the Kindle Scribe at £209.99. All deals required Prime membership, though a 30-day free trial was available — enough time to shop and reconsider. For anyone who had been waiting, the final hours of Prime Day were precisely the convergence they had been holding out for.
Amazon Prime Day was winding down, and the tablet deals were still flowing. If you'd been waiting for the right moment to buy, the final hours of the sale offered something rare: genuine discounts across nearly every category of slate device, from budget Fire tablets to premium iPads to Samsung's high-end machines.
The most aggressive cuts came on Amazon's own hardware. The Fire HD 10 had dropped to $74.99, its lowest price ever, making it a straightforward choice for anyone who lived inside Amazon's ecosystem—Prime Video, Kindle books, Alexa integration. The larger Fire Max 11 was down to $159.99, a 36 percent reduction that brought a vivid 11-inch display, 14-hour battery life, and optional stylus support into genuinely affordable territory. For families, Amazon's Kids Edition tablets were seeing steep discounts too: the Fire 7 Kids was $54.99 (matching its December low), while the Fire HD 8 Kids had fallen to $69.99, more than half off its original $149.99 price tag.
Apple's older iPad models were clearing out at historic lows as the company prepared newer releases. The iPad 10.2 from 2021 sat at $249, a price that had held steady for months but still represented genuine value for anyone needing a straightforward device for browsing, streaming, or light work. The newer iPad 10.9 from 2022 was $299.99 at Amazon, undercutting Apple's own recently adjusted starting price. The iPad mini from 2021 had fallen to $379.99, and the iPad Air 5 was $399.99—a $200 cut that made a genuinely capable machine accessible to budget-conscious buyers.
Samsung's Android tablets were discounted across the board. The Galaxy Tab A9 Plus, a straightforward 10.9-inch device with quad speakers and Dolby Atmos support, was $142.49, the deepest discount since its launch. Higher up the line, the Galaxy Tab S9 and S9 Plus—both equipped with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processors and Dynamic AMOLED displays—were seeing meaningful reductions, with the standard S9 at $674.99 and the larger S9 Plus at $899.99.
Amazon's Kindle line had also come down in price. The Kindle Scribe, the company's largest e-reader with stylus support for note-taking and annotation, hit a new low of $234.99. The standard Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite were both on sale, though the Paperwhite's discount was modest—the company seemed less aggressive with its e-reader pricing than with tablets.
In the UK market, the pattern held. The Fire Max 11 was £139.99, the iPad Air with M1 processor was £479, and the Kindle Scribe had fallen to £209.99. The Honor Pad 8, a 12.1-inch budget device, was £159.99, positioned as a solid choice for video watching and light work, though reviewers noted it would struggle with gaming and heavy multitasking.
The deals required Amazon Prime membership, though the company offered a 30-day free trial for new members—enough time to shop Prime Day and cancel before any charges hit. The sale itself was set to end at 11:59 p.m. on July 17, meaning the window for these prices was genuinely closing. For anyone who'd been holding out, waiting for the right moment to upgrade, the final hours of Prime Day offered a rare convergence: older models being cleared at record lows, newer devices getting their first serious discounts, and across-the-board reductions that suggested retailers were serious about moving inventory before the next product cycle began.
Notable Quotes
Outside of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Prime Day offers the most compelling tablet deals of the year— TechRadar editorial guidance
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does Prime Day matter so much for tablet buying? Isn't there always a sale somewhere?
Prime Day is different because it's the one moment when Amazon aggressively discounts its own devices—Fire tablets especially—and other retailers panic and match. You get genuine record lows, not just "on sale" pricing. Outside of Black Friday, this is the only time you'll see these kinds of cuts.
So if I'm looking at an older iPad model, Prime Day is the moment?
Exactly. Retailers use Prime Day to clear out last-generation stock before new models arrive. That iPad 10.2 at $249 had been stable for months, but it's still a real deal because it's not coming down further. Once the new generation ships, the old one disappears.
What about someone who doesn't care about Apple? Are the Android options actually good at these prices?
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A9 Plus at $142.49 is a solid everyday tablet—responsive display, decent speakers. It won't blow you away, but it does what you need. The higher-end S9 models are genuinely powerful machines getting real discounts. The question is whether you want to pay for that power.
And the Fire tablets—are they actually worth buying, or are they just cheap?
They're worth it if you use Amazon's services. If you're in Prime Video, Kindle, Alexa—they integrate seamlessly. But if you want the broader Android ecosystem, they're limiting. The price reflects that trade-off.
What about the Kindle Scribe? That seems like an odd device.
It's Amazon trying to bridge e-readers and tablets. You get the battery life and readability of a Kindle with the ability to annotate and take notes. At $234.99, it's genuinely useful if you read a lot and want to mark up documents. But it's not a general-purpose tablet.
So the real question is: will these prices come back?
Some will, during Black Friday. But the record lows? Those are rare. If you see a device at its lowest-ever price during Prime Day, that's the moment to decide.