The newcomer to the Air family, the 2022 iPad Air, is also a very strong contender as the best iPad for drawing, boasting incredibly Pro-like features. Luckily, you can purchase the 11-inch iPad Pro (opens in new tab) for a slightly smaller alternative. One small thing to consider is the size – the 12.9-inch offering is the largest in the iPad range and can feel pretty bulky if you're not used to it. Its compatibility with the Apple Pencil 2 means you get one of the best styluses available right now, while the display's refresh rate of 120Hz ensures excellent responsiveness.

In our full iPad Pro 12.9-inch (M2, 2022) review, we praised the drawing experience on this top-end iPad Pro.

The tablet world doesn't have much to rival it at the moment. The Liquid Retina XDR display offers superb fidelity, and you need to get the 12.9-inch version over the 11-inch version to get the best version of this display, with ProMotion, True Tone, P3 wide colour and a mini-LED backlight.

Equipped with Apple's superfast M2 processor, it offers enough processing speed to match even the best MacBooks. The iPad Pro 12.9-inch (M2, 2022) is simply the best iPad for drawing you can buy right now. For now, read on to discover the best iPad for drawing. Our useful guide to iPad generations will give you a handy primer on the differences between the increasingly varied models that have come out over the years, and our guide to the best drawing apps for iPad will help you hit the ground running once you've got your tablet. For a broader range of tablets, you can take a look at our guides to the best drawing tablets and the best tablets with a stylus for drawing. We've weighed up the strengths and weaknesses of each one when drawing up our list, and factored in cost as well to cover a range of budgets. The iPads on this list have been tested and rated by our team of expert reviewers. There are two Apple Pencils available, and which one you need will depend on which iPad you buy – take a look at our Apple Pencil vs Apple Pencil 2 to get our expert breakdown on all the differences. Apple's shiny M1 and M2 chips paired with the high-definition Retina displays and exceptional Apple Pencil styluses all combine to make iPads into powerful drawing tools.

Sketch pad pro