Galaxy Tab S9 FE vs iPad Air 11" (6th Gen, 2024)
55
out of 100
VS
80
out of 100
Here we compared two tablets: the 10.9-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE (with Exynos 1380) that was released on October 4, 2023, against the Apple iPad Air 11" (6th Gen, 2024), which is powered by Apple M2 (iPad) and came out 8 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 S9 FE
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Higher display refresh rate – 90 Hz
- Delivers 47% higher peak brightness (693 against 472 nits)
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 20W)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad Air 11" (6th Gen, 2024)
- 3.4x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2536K versus 741K)
- Comes with 900 mAh larger battery capacity: 8900 vs 8000 mAh
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 6400 MHz
- Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
- 2.6x faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2619 and 1014 points
- Weighs 62 grams less
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 | 11 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 2304 pixels | 1640 x 2360 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 16:10 | 3:2 |
| PPI | 249 ppi | 264 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% | 81.5% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 | - DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 96.7% | 99.4% |
| PWM | 84400 Hz | Not detected |
| Response time | 27 ms | 52 ms |
| Contrast | 1052:1 | 1265:1 |
Screen space comparison
iPad Air 11" (6th Gen, 2024)
11″ (3:2 ratio) = 55.8 in2
Galaxy Tab S9 FE
10.9″ (16:10 ratio) = 53.4 in2
~4% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 254.3 mm (10.01 inches) | 247.6 mm (9.75 inches) |
| Width | 165.8 mm (6.53 inches) | 178.5 mm (7.03 inches) |
| Thickness | 6.5 mm (0.26 inches) | 6.1 mm (0.24 inches) |
| Weight | 523 g (18.45 oz) | 461 g (16.26 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | No |
| Rear material | Metal | Metal |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Silver, Gray, Green, Purple | Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-button | Yes, in-button |
| Area | 422 cm2 (65.4 inches2) | 442 cm2 (68.5 inches2) |
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (108th and 38th place)
Android Tablet Ranking (#83rd place)
iPad Ranking (#11th place)
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 1380 | Apple M2 (iPad) |
| Max clock | 2400 MHz | 3490 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (4 + 4) | 8 (4 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78 |
- 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Blizzard - 4 cores at 3.49 GHz: Avalanche |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 5 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Mali-G68 MP5 | Apple GPU 10-core |
| GPU shading units | 160 | 1024 |
| GPU clock | 949 MHz | 1398 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~303.7 GFLOPS | ~2863.1 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 3076 | 43394 |
| Single-core score | 1014 | 2619 |
| Multi-core score | 2910 | 10084 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 306773 | 841074 |
| GPU | 92101 | 801119 |
| Memory | 125803 | 371059 |
| UX | 216534 | 523068 |
| Total score | 741211 | 2536320 |
| Samples | [2 tests] | Less than 3 |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 97% | 74% |
| Graphics test | 2 FPS | 16 FPS |
| Graphics score | 295 | 2160 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | - | 28 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 38 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 28 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 17 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 7322 |
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 11 | 741211 |
| 📘 2026-03-27 (DanielDuca12) | AnTuTu 11 | 696034 |
Apple iPad Air 11" (6th Gen, 2024)
No benchmark results yet
Memory
Configuration
| RAM size | 6 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 2133 MHz | 6400 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 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 17.5 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5) |
| ROM | One UI 6.1 | - |
| OS size | 29 GB | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 8000 mAh | 8900 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 30 min) | Yes (50% in 60 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:30 hr | 2:17 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 | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | - | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | No | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | - | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 8 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - | - Bokeh mode |
| Image resolution | 8 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/1.8 |
| Pixel size | - | 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 |
| Sensor | CMOS | CMOS |
| Autofocus | No | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6E (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 | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 3.1 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | No | 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 |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 18 | - |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Mid-range | Flagship |
| Announced | October 2023 | May 2024 |
| Release date | October 2023 | May 2024 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $449 | $599 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE | - Apple iPad Air 11" (7th 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 - Fingerprint |
| Keyboard weight | 345 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 11" (6th Gen, 2024) is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 18