iPad Air And iPad Pro Get Up To $100 Discount And Free AirPods With These Hot Deals

ipad air 4th gen
There are some hot deals brewing for Apple's popular family of tablets. Retailers like Amazon and Best Buy have discounted the iPad Air by $100, and Apple is throwing in an even more compelling offer for students.

The 4th generation iPad Air is priced at just $499.99 compared to its $599.99 retail price. Both Amazon and Best Buy offer the iPad Air at this new low price in its whole rainbow of colors: Green, Rose Gold, Space Gray, Silver, and Sky Blue. It should be noted that the new price is $20 lower than the previous deal one month ago.

ipad air hero
Depending on how you feel about AirPods wireless earbuds, Apple's back-to-school promo might represent an even better deal. The Apple Education Store is offering the iPad Air for $549, but it is also throwing in a free set of AirPods, which have a retail price of $159. So while the cost of the iPad Air is more expensive compared to the Amazon and Best Buy deals, you're arguably getting more bang for your buck.

The design of the 10.9-inch iPad Air is reminiscent of the more expensive iPad Pro family, but it makes do with Touch ID embedded into the power button instead of Face ID. The iPad Air also has a 60Hz display instead of 120Hz and starts with 64GB of internal storage versus 128GB. In addition, the tablet is powered by an A14 Bionic SoC, the same that you'd find in the iPhone 12 family.

ipad pro

The same $100 discount also applies to the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro over at Amazon. The M1-packin' tablet typically costs $1,099 for its base 128GB configuration. But again, the Apple Education Store discount trumps all by offering free AirPods.

While the iPad Air deal from Apple costs $50 more than at Amazon/Best Buy, the Education Store price is the same at $999. Plus, you get the free AirPods to go along with the deal. It seems like a no-brainer to us, but perhaps those with a stash of Amazon gifts cards would prefer to buy from that retailer instead.