Galaxy Tab S9 FE vs iPad 10.2" (9th Gen, 2021)
56
out of 100
VS
60
out of 100
Here we compared two mid-range tablets: the 10.9-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE (with Exynos 1380) that was released on October 4, 2023, against the Apple iPad 10.2" (9th Gen, 2021), which is powered by Apple A13 Bionic and came out 2 years and 1 month before. 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 S9 FE
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Higher display refresh rate – 90 Hz
- Modern USB Type-C port
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Delivers 42% higher peak brightness (697 against 492 nits)
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
- Has 2x more RAM: 6GB versus 3GB
- Ability to record video in 4K resolution
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
- Thinner bezels – 7.9% more screen real estate
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 30W)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad 10.2" (9th Gen, 2021)
- 47% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1087K versus 741K)
- 77% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1792 and 1014 points
- Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
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 | TFT LCD | IPS LCD |
| Size | 10.9 inches | 10.2 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 2304 pixels | 1620 x 2160 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 16:10 | 4:3 |
| PPI | 249 ppi | 265 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 90 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 750 nits | 500 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10 | No |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 81.7% | 73.8% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 | - DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 96.7% | 97.9% |
| PWM | 84400 Hz | 40000 Hz |
| Response time | 27 ms | 27 ms |
| Contrast | 1052:1 | 1014:1 |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy Tab S9 FE
10.9″ (16:10 ratio) = 53.4 in2
iPad 10.2" (9th Gen, 2021)
10.2″ (4:3 ratio) = 49.9 in2
~6% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 254.3 mm (10.01 inches) | 250.6 mm (9.87 inches) |
| Width | 165.8 mm (6.53 inches) | 174.1 mm (6.85 inches) |
| Thickness | 6.5 mm (0.26 inches) | 7.5 mm (0.3 inches) |
| Weight | 523 g (18.45 oz) | 487 g (17.18 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | No |
| Rear material | Metal | Metal |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Silver, Gray, Green, Purple | Silver, Gray |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-button | Yes, in-button |
| Area | 422 cm2 (65.4 inches2) | 436 cm2 (67.6 inches2) |
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (109th and 96th place)
Android Tablet Ranking (#84th place)
iPad Ranking (#25th place)
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 1380 | Apple A13 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2400 MHz | 2650 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (4 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78 |
- 4 cores at 1.6 GHz: Thunder - 2 cores at 2.65 GHz: Lightning |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 7 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Mali-G68 MP5 | Apple GPU 4-core |
| GPU shading units | 160 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 949 MHz | 1230 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~303.7 GFLOPS | ~629.8 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 3076 | - |
| Single-core score | 1014 | 1792 |
| Multi-core score | 2910 | 4214 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 306773 | 272419 |
| GPU | 92101 | 317618 |
| Memory | 125803 | 149125 |
| UX | 216534 | 347946 |
| Total score | 741211 | 1087108 |
| Samples | [2 tests] | [17 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 97% | - |
| Graphics test | 2 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 295 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | - | 85% |
| Graphics test | - | 10 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 12 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 10 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 7 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 2552 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | - | 86% |
| Graphics test | - | 11 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 1961 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 10094 | - |
| Video editing | 6776 | - |
| Photo editing | 25266 | - |
| Data manipulation | 10377 | - |
| Writing score | 14346 | - |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-07-15 -> AzuNoBel | AnTuTu | 741211 |
| 📘 2026-03-27 (DanielDuca12) | AnTuTu | 696034 |
Apple iPad 10.2" (9th Gen, 2021)
No benchmark results yet
Memory
Configuration
| RAM size | 6 GB | 3 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2133 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 64 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 2.2 | NVMe |
| Memory card | MicroSD | No |
| Memory card max size | Up to 1024 GB | - |
Software
| Operating system | Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 14) | iPadOS 15 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5) |
| ROM | One UI 6.1 | - |
| OS size | 29 GB | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 8000 mAh | 8557 mAh |
| Max charge power | 45 W | 30 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | No |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (50% in 30 min) | Yes (24% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:30 hr | 2:45 hr |
| Web browsing | 08:42 hr | - |
| Watching video | 12:33 hr | - |
| Gaming | 05:38 hr | - |
| Standby | 145 hr | - |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 8 megapixels | 8 megapixels |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | No | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 30FPS | No |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 30FPS |
| Slow motion | - | 120 FPS (720p) |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 8 MP |
1) Standard: 8 MP |
| Camera features | - | - |
| Image resolution | 8 MP | 8 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | - | 31 mm |
| Pixel size | - | 1.12 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | - | f/2.4 |
| Sensor | CMOS | - |
| Autofocus | No | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) |
| 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 | 5.3 | 4.2 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | - |
| USB type | USB Type-C | No |
| USB version | 2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | No | No |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS |
| NFC* | No | No |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 18 | - |
| 5G support | Yes | No |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | Yes |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Mid-range | Mid-range |
| Announced | October 2023 | September 2021 |
| Release date | October 2023 | September 2021 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $449 | $329 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE | - Apple iPad 11" (11th Gen, 2025) |
| SAR (body) | 0.59 W/kg | - |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Keyboard weight | 345 g | 293 g |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Yes, 20 W |
Further details
Notes on iPad 10.2" (9th Gen, 2021):
- Supports 1st generation of Apple Pencil.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the camera, performance, gaming, battery life, software, and sound are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPad 10.2" (9th Gen, 2021). But if the display, connectivity, and design are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 60