iPads are among the most popular products in any year's slate of Black Friday Apple deals, but even with discounts applied, the best iPads are expensive bits of kit.
That said, I’ve been covering Black Friday sales for years now, and I’ve noticed a significant iPad-related sea change this year: refurbished tech products – and in particular, refurbished iPads – are even more discounted than usual.
What does 'refurbished' even mean?
Refurbished tech is gadgetery that's been professionally serviced; experts will make sure it works to a high standard, sometimes conducting tests or replacing parts, though the exact process varies from retailer to retailer. It's not the same as pre-owned tech, which will often be sold without these (or any other) assurances.
I bought my refurbished iPad for one key reason: it was cheaper than buying a brand-new model. I bought it from Apple's own refurb store, so I could trust that it'd be up to a high standard – and it was. If you gave me a new iPad alongside an Apple-refurbished model, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Even the packaging was very similar, subconsciously telling me, "this isn't some cheap leftover, but a fully-functioning tablet."
There are other reasons that people opt to buy refurbished, the primary one being the environmental aspect. There's no denying that we're in an e-waste crisis, with the World Health Organization citing electronic products as one of the fastest-growing solid waste streams. And by keeping a gadget in circulation, you save it from going to landfill and also avoid more rare earth materials being used for the new device you'd be buying instead.
Those are the big-ticket reasons for buying refurbished, but I'm going to list you two more that are just as relevant for some people. Firstly, buying refurbished gives you a way of getting older gadgets that a manufacturer has stopped selling. If you want to get a past-generation iPad, for instance, Apple and major retailers might not have any, but refurbs come to the rescue.
Secondly, and perhaps more anecdotally, I see amazing deals around refurbished gadgets. While 10% off an iPad is often seen as a great discount during Black Friday, I'm used to seeing much bigger reductions on refurbished models (and that's a discount over the already-cheaper price).
Three years of iPad
I've had my refurb for three years now; it was a 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2021), so when I bought it in late 2022, it wasn't from the newest range. I didn't mind it being older, since I'd been happily using one of TechRadar's 2018 models for years with no problems, but the 2022 model was also too recent to have any refurb stock.
Honestly, I've never looked back. Three years on, the battery still lasts as well as it ever did (admittedly, that's not saying much, given how poor iPad battery lives are), which is the main worry I had when buying refurbished. I've never had any issues with it, and I use it almost every day for various tasks (well, apart from abandoning it recently for an ereader).
In fact, it's fared a lot better than the peripherals I bought alongside it, as the new Apple Pencil I picked up at the same time broke a year ago. I've already documented my attempt to find a cheap knock-off iPad stylus, though I've just noticed that Apple and Back Market sell refurbished styli too.
I'm also glad I bought an iPad when I did: newer Pro models are stuffed full of specs I don't need (why do I need an M5 chip on a device I'm using for drawing and typing?), and I can bypass Apple's insistence on useless AI features by simply not updating my iPad.
The new wave of refurb
This isn't the first time I've written about this refurb purchase for TechRadar, having waxed lyrical about it a few years ago to encourage people to follow in my footsteps. But I've noticed changes in the refurb market since then.
When I first started writing about refurbished tech and bought my iPad, you really had to hunt down retailers. Back Market was the only major one I knew about, but it hadn't started promoting itself as insistently as it does now (which was arguably a good thing; I'm plagued by its low-effort YouTube ads).
Apple's own refurbished line is something I only heard about from a friend, and I'd have never thought to buy from the company if it wasn't for that mention. Back then, major retailers didn't stock refurbished gadgets, and it was something of a fringe topic, even for someone writing for a tech website!
Nowadays, it's very easy to go onto your chosen shop's website and find pre-loved devices listed alongside new ones. I was surprised, covering early Black Friday deals this year, by just how many I was finding on refurbished tech. It's not just iPads and smartphones now; I've been very tempted to buy one of the many Black Friday PS5 deals, and you can also find laptops, earbuds, home hubs, and even printers.
And that's a good thing all around: cheaper tech, greener purchasing.
Where to find great refurbished deals
Like I said, I've seen quite a few good refurbished deals so far already, and more will come and go as Black Friday gets closer. They don't always last long; refurbs naturally have lower stock than new models.
So, instead of listing specific deals, I'm going to share a few places you should go to look for refurbished tech. I'll list the perks of buying from their respective refurbished programs, too, which is often important.
- Back Market: 1-year warranty, guarantees, and a quality charter on how it grades tech
- Apple: 1-year guarantee, 90-day AppleCare, and replacement Apple parts
- Amazon: inspected, tested, and 1-year guarantee
- Walmart: inspected, tested, cleaned, and 90-day guarantee
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