Galaxy Tab S8+ (Plus) vs iPad Air 13" (3th Gen, 2026)
63
out of 100
VS
89
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship tablets: the 12.4-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ (Plus) (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1) that was released on February 9, 2022, against the Apple iPad Air 13" (3th Gen, 2026), which is powered by Apple M4 (iPad) and came out 4 years and 1 month 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 S8+ (Plus)
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 20W)
- Super AMOLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
- Much smaller footprint: 13% more compact case (81.7 vs 93.5 square inches)
- Weighs 49 grams less
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad Air 13" (3th Gen, 2026)
- 2.8x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3617K versus 1288K)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
- Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
- Delivers 32% higher peak brightness (613 against 466 nits)
- Compatible with the latest Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
- 2.2x faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3738 and 1678 points
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
- Ready for eSIM technology
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 | Super AMOLED | IPS LCD |
| Size | 12.4 inches | 13 inches |
| Resolution | 1752 x 2800 pixels | 2048 x 2732 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 16:10 | 4:3 |
| PPI | 266 ppi | 264 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 600 nits | 600 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | No |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 84.6% | 86.8% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 | - DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 92.1% | 99.8% |
| PWM | 245 Hz | Not detected |
| Response time | 1 ms | 19 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | 1563:1 |
Screen space comparison
iPad Air 13" (3th Gen, 2026)
13″ (4:3 ratio) = 81.1 in2
Galaxy Tab S8+ (Plus)
12.4″ (16:10 ratio) = 69.1 in2
~17% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 285 mm (11.22 inches) | 280.6 mm (11.05 inches) |
| Width | 185 mm (7.28 inches) | 214.9 mm (8.46 inches) |
| Thickness | 5.7 mm (0.22 inches) | 6.1 mm (0.24 inches) |
| Weight | 567 g (20 oz) | 616 g (21.73 oz) |
| Waterproof | No | No |
| Rear material | Metal | Metal |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Silver, Gold, Gray, Pink | Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-button |
| Area | 527 cm2 (81.7 inches2) | 603 cm2 (93.5 inches2) |
| Repairability | - | Average (2.84/5) |
| Drop resistance | - | Bad (E) · 16 drops |
Visual size comparison
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (86th and 11th place)
Android Tablet Ranking (#65th place)
iPad Ranking (#4th place)
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 | Apple M4 (iPad) |
| Max clock | 3000 MHz | 4410 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 10 (4 + 6) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 3 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A710 - 1 core at 3 GHz: Cortex-X2 |
- 6 cores at 2.85 GHz: - 4 cores at 4.41 GHz: |
| L3 cache | 6 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Adreno 730 | 9 core Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 1024 | - |
| GPU clock | 818 MHz | 1470 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1675.3 GFLOPS | ~3763.2 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 8953 | - |
| Single-core score | 1678 | 3738 |
| Multi-core score | 3773 | 13702 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 494123 | 1732068 |
| GPU | 219109 | 945613 |
| Memory | 187196 | 349993 |
| UX | 388048 | 590286 |
| Total score | 1288476 | 3617960 |
| Samples | [48 tests] | Less than 3 |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Graphics test | - | 22 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 3027 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | - | 49 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 59 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 49 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 38 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 12850 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 72% | - |
| Graphics test | 13 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 2221 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 13706 | - |
| Video editing | 7469 | - |
| Photo editing | 29611 | - |
| Data manipulation | 11074 | - |
| Writing score | 12916 | - |
Memory
Configuration
| RAM size | 8 GB | 12 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 3200 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 1024 GB | - |
Software
| Operating system | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 14) | iPadOS 26.3 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5) |
| ROM | One UI 6.1 | - |
| OS size | 31 GB | 26 GB |
| OS updates | - | 0 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 10090 mAh | 10340 mAh |
| Max charge power | 45 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | No |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (50% in 45 min) | Yes (51% in 70 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:35 hr | 2:28 hr |
| Battery cycles | - | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 06:41 hr | - |
| Watching video | 10:27 hr | - |
| Gaming | 06:18 hr | - |
| Standby | 131 hr | - |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 13 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | - | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | LED | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | - | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 13 MP 2) Ultrawide: 6 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode | - Bokeh mode |
| Image resolution | 13 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | - | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Image resolution | 6 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | - |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | - | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.4 |
| Sensor | - | 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) |
| 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 | 5.2 | 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, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS |
| NFC* | No | No |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | - |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | eSIM |
| eSIM support* | No | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 20 | - |
| 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 | February 2022 | March 2026 |
| Release date | April 2022 | March 2026 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $899 | $799 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 | - |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Fingerprint |
| Keyboard weight | 338 g | - |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Yes, 20 W |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPad Air 13" (3th Gen, 2026) is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: < 1