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 genuinely 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