Apple iPad too pricey? This Android alternative could save you some cash

The Icon X12 tablet offers an iPad Pro-rivalling 12.6-inch scale, plus sold-separately accessories including a stylus and detachable Bluetooth keyboard. It’s less powerful, but far more affordable — if you can wait until 2025 and are happy with Android over Apple's system.

The heyday of the best tablets clamouring to knock Apple off the top spot has calmed down somewhat — many Android tablet-makers have scaled back and reset expectations, given the success of the best iPads on the market right now. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for competition.

Due out next year, the Acer Iconia X12 is a 12.6-inch tablet — therefore an iPad Pro-rivalling scale — also offers a suite of sold-separately accessories to offer an adjacent alternative to one of the best laptops . Add a stylus pen for Apple Pencil-rivalling control, and a Bluetooth keyboard for easy typing, and Acer’s Android alternative sounds like an alluring purchase.

Key to its appeal is the price point — as the title of this very piece alludes to — with a confirmed $349 asking price expected for its January 2025 on-sale date. That’s likely to be a £349 like-for-like price, but pricing specifics and wider availability are yet to be confirmed.

No, the Acer Iconia range isn’t going to offer Apple-rivalling power, nor will it deliver Apple Intelligence features — which are expected to be further elaborated upon at the next Apple Special Event , which you can watch on 9 September — but the MediaTek Helio G99 processor on board the X12 is going to be light on battery, so great for longevity.

To further support that, the Acer Iconia X12 harnesses a 10,000mAh battery within — making it around double that of the best phones available right now — but which should last for a significant period of time per charge. Acer quotes ‘fast-charging’, too, although there are no specifics provided as to how speedy that offering will be.

There’s plenty of scope to spec out the Acer tablet fairly nicely, too, with up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, but really it’s that price point which is going to see this Android tablet sail along. And, at just 6.7mm thick, it’ll be like housing one of the best Android phones in your bag — except, of course, at a much larger 12.6-inch scale.