Galaxy Tab S11 vs iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
87
out of 100
VS
85
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship tablets: the 11-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 (with MediaTek Dimensity 9400 Plus) that was released on September 4, 2025, against the Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026), which is powered by Apple M4 (iPad) and came out 6 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Higher display refresh rate β 120 Hz
- Delivers 83% higher peak brightness (940 against 515 nits)
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 2048GB
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 20W)
- Comes with 794 mAh larger battery capacity: 8400 vs 7606 mAh
- Dynamic AMOLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
- 13% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3116K versus 2745K)
- Compatible with the latest Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
- 36% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3717 and 2742 points
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | IPS LCD |
| Size | 11 inches | 11 inches |
| Resolution | 1600 x 2560 pixels | 1640 x 2360 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 16:10 | 3:2 |
| PPI | 274 ppi | 264 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1000 nits | 500 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1600 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | No |
| Screen protection | Tempered glass | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 83.6% | 81.5% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 | - DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.5% | 99.6% |
| PWM | 480 Hz | Not detected |
| Response time | 1 ms | 22 ms |
| Contrast | β Infinity | 1140:1 |
Screen space comparison
iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
11β³ (3:2 ratio) = 55.8 in2
Galaxy Tab S11
11β³ (16:10 ratio) = 54.4 in2
~2% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 253.8 mm (9.99 inches) | 247.6 mm (9.75 inches) |
| Width | 165.3 mm (6.51 inches) | 178.5 mm (7.03 inches) |
| Thickness | 5.5 mm (0.22 inches) | 6.1 mm (0.24 inches) |
| Weight | 469 g (16.54 oz) | 464 g (16.37 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | No |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Metal | Metal |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Silver, Gray | Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-button |
| Area | 420 cm2 (65 inches2) | 442 cm2 (68.5 inches2) |
| Repairability | Average (2.86/5) | Average (2.85/5) |
| Drop resistance | - | Bad (E) Β· 42 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (16th and 22nd place)
Android Tablet Ranking (#12th place)
iPad Ranking (#6th place)
Performance
| Chipset | MediaTek Dimensity 9400 Plus | Apple M4 (iPad) |
| Max clock | 3630 MHz | 4410 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 10 (4 + 6) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A720 - 3 cores at 3.3 GHz: Cortex-X4 - 1 core at 3.73 GHz: Cortex-X925 |
- 6 cores at 2.85 GHz: - 4 cores at 4.41 GHz: |
| L3 cache | 12 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 3 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | MediaTek NPU 890 | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Mali-G925 Immortalis MP12 | 9 core Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | - |
| GPU clock | 1612 MHz | 1470 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~4952.1 GFLOPS | ~3763.2 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 21988 | 52952 |
| Single-core score | 2742 | 3717 |
| Multi-core score | 8933 | 13294 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 871712 | 915032 |
| GPU | 976476 | 1135331 |
| Memory | 335022 | 349968 |
| UX | 562350 | 715682 |
| Total score | 2745560 | 3116013 |
| Samples | Less than 3 | [2 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 73% | - |
| Graphics test | 18 FPS | 23 FPS |
| Graphics score | 2385 | 3099 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | 41 FPS | 46 FPS |
| Section 1 | 47 FPS | 59 FPS |
| Section 2 | 42 FPS | 45 FPS |
| Section 3 | 35 FPS | 34 FPS |
| Graphics score | 10813 | 12127 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 14704 | - |
| Video editing | 7384 | - |
| Photo editing | 41221 | - |
| Data manipulation | 13970 | - |
| Writing score | 27706 | - |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy Tab S11
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-06-11 (Omsin) | AnTuTu | 2745560 |
Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026)
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-08-03 (Astreeek) | AnTuTu | 2940000 |
| π 2026-04-26 (BG-M4-User) | GeekBench GPU | 52952 |
| π 2026-04-26 (BG-M4-User) | GeekBench CPU | 3717 / 13294 |
| π 2026-04-26 (BG-M4-User) | AnTuTu | 3116013 |
Memory
Configuration
| RAM size | 12 GB | 12 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 5333 MHz | - |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | MicroSD | No |
| Memory card max size | Up to 2048 GB | - |
Software
| Operating system | Android 16 | iPadOS 26.3 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5) |
| ROM | One UI 8.5 | - |
| OS size | - | 38 GB |
| OS updates | 0 years | 0 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 8400 mAh | 7606 mAh |
| Max charge power | 45 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | No |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (50% in 40 min) | Yes (50% in 60 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:30 hr | 2:16 hr |
| Battery cycles | 1200 cycles | 1000 cycles |
Main camera
| Matrix | 13 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4128 x 3096 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | LED | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | - | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 13 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - | - Bokeh mode |
| Image resolution | 13 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.4" (β 0.29 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.4 |
| Sensor | CMOS | CMOS |
| Autofocus | No | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.4 | 6.0 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 3.1 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | Yes | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS |
| NFC* | No | No |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | - |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | eSIM |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | 4.0 | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | September 2025 | March 2026 |
| Release date | September 2025 | March 2026 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $799 | $599 |
| SAR (body) | 0.99 W/kg | - |
| Sensors | - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Yes, 20 W |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the display and battery life are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11. But if the camera, performance, gaming, connectivity, and software are more of a priority β go for the Apple iPad Air 11" (8th Gen, 2026).
Cast your vote
Total votes: 53
