What do you actually use a tablet for in 2026 - is there still a case for them

[TheLegendJohn32]

The tablet market has been sliding for years as phone screens got bigger and laptops got lighter. The iPad Pro with M4 is a powerful machine but most people who buy one end up using it for YouTube and email. Android tablets from Samsung and Xiaomi are cheaper and more flexible but rarely replace a laptop for real work. Curious whether anyone has found a genuine daily use case for a tablet in 2026 that justifies the cost over just using a phone and a laptop

[Fan22]

Digital art and note taking with an Apple Pencil is the one use case where the tablet genuinely has no equivalent. For drawing or handwritten notes the iPad is irreplaceable

[BigDog_Fan]

Reading long documents, PDFs and ebooks. A tablet held like a book with a good reading app is genuinely better than any other form factor for that specific use. Not enough to justify the price on its own though

[Dan]

I use my iPad as a second monitor with Sidecar when I am working at a desk. That functionality alone has probably justified the cost over three years of daily use

[SilverSurfer51]

Kids entertainment and education is the one category where tablets are still clearly the right device. The screen size, the app ecosystem and the durability of a good case make it the obvious choice for under-10s

[Danny47]

I bought a tablet convinced I would use it for productivity and I use it for watching things in bed. At least I am honest with myself about what it actually is

[Di46]

The Galaxy Tab S9 FE running DeX mode comes close to a laptop replacement if you have the right peripherals and mostly live in a browser. Not quite there but closer than anything from Apple for that use case