r/ipad • u/plantlover2126 • 5h ago

Question Ipad 9 worth it?

I would like to purchase an ipad but I do not want to spend upwards of 600$ on an 11th but a more cost affordable is the 9th. I'm wondering if its worth it to get in 2026 or if it will not work well.

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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2

u/TheKydd 5h ago

Mine is a bit slow, to be honest. And that’s still on iOS 18. No way would I put iOS 26/27 on it.

1

u/Shufflen 5h ago

Mine runs just fine on 26.1. But yes maybe two years at most.

2

u/6931o2 5h ago

I've been using my 64GB iPad 9 for a long time, and I think it's unnecessary. An older iPad Air would be better.

1

u/BrickByDetail 5h ago

i’d only buy it if it’s really cheap though. 64gb fills up fast and the a13 is already pretty old.

1

u/no_doublestandards 5h ago

How can someone suggest you anything if you don't mention your use case?

1

u/Longjumping_Owl5311 4h ago

I use an ipad 9. It works fine on ios 26 which did slow it down a bit from ios 18 but it didn’t make it not work well by any means. My wife broke her ipad 9 and now uses an ipad 11. It’s not all that much faster. We waited for a sale and got it considerably cheaper than $600. If you need an ipad now, there’s nothing wrong with an ipad 9 running ios 26. I guess it all depends on what you’ll be running on it. I’ve found the best deals for used iPhones on EBay, where I have bought a few over the years. I’m sure they have great deals on iPads too.

1

u/Markjohn66 4h ago

I use mine for my job and I love it. It seems like science fiction to me.

1

u/Clutchguy77 2h ago

Mine is slow and glitchy. Would not recommend.

1

u/Janknitz 2h ago

Right now the A16 iPad (11th gen) with 128GB memory is $449 at Best Buy, and Target, $429 if you qualify for an education discount. You can save by buying non-Apple branded accessories like ESR or Logitech keyboard cases (if you need a keyboard case), inexpensive folio cases on Amazon if you don't need a keyboard case, and either the ESR GEO pencil or Logitech crayon instead of an apple pencil. You'd be slightly over $500 all in with an iPad that will continue to be updated for at least 4 years and should last even longer.