Home > Tablet comparison > Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 vs Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025) – which one to choose?

Galaxy Tab S9 vs iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025)

71 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
VS
82 out of 100
Apple iPad Air 13
Galaxy Tab S9
iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025)

Here we compared two flagship tablets: the 11-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2) that was released on July 26, 2023, against the Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025), which is powered by Apple M3 (iPad) and came out 1 year and 7 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
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each tablet
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 20W)
  • Much smaller footprint: 30% more compact case (65.4 vs 93.5 square inches)
  • Dynamic AMOLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
  • Weighs 118 grams less
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025)
  • Has a 2 inches larger screen size
  • 56% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2764K versus 1771K)
  • Comes with 1940 mAh larger battery capacity: 10340 vs 8400 mAh
  • Shows 21% longer battery life (28:03 vs 23:10 hours)
  • 45% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3044 and 2093 points

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 and Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025) crucial features
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
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
πŸ“± Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
8 / 128 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
66.6
(Good)
Value Index
52.5
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Tablet:
Galaxy Tab S9
vs
iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025)

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED IPS LCD
Size 11 inches 13 inches
Resolution 1600 x 2560 pixels 2048 x 2732 pixels
Aspect ratio 16:10 4:3
PPI 274 ppi 264 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (30-120 Hz) 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 83.2% 86.8%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 98.3% 99.9%
PWM 240 Hz Not detected
Response time 2 ms 36 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity 1214:1
Screen space comparison
iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025)
13β€³ (4:3 ratio) = 81.1 in2
Galaxy Tab S9
11β€³ (16:10 ratio) = 54.4 in2
~49% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 254.3 mm (10.01 inches) 280.6 mm (11.05 inches)
Width 165.8 mm (6.53 inches) 214.9 mm (8.46 inches)
Thickness 5.9 mm (0.23 inches) 6.1 mm (0.24 inches)
Weight 498 g (17.57 oz) 616 g (21.73 oz)
Waterproof IP68 No
Rear material Metal Metal
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Gray, Yellow Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-button
Area 422 cm2 (65.4 inches2) 603 cm2 (93.5 inches2)
Repairability - Average (2.59/5)
Visual size comparison
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (62nd and 30th place)
iPad Ranking (#8th place)

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 and Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025)
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Apple M3 (iPad)
Max clock 3360 MHz 4050 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) 8 (4 + 4)
Architecture - 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715
- 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3		 - 4 cores at 2.75 GHz:
- 4 cores at 4.05 GHz:
L3 cache 8 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Adreno 740 Apple GPU 9-core
GPU shading units 1536 1152
GPU clock 680 MHz 1380 MHz
FLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS ~3179.5 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 and Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 9692 45545
Single-core score 2093 3044
Multi-core score 5838 11749
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 623980 770486
GPU 451553 1024172
Memory 275042 312462
UX 420840 657090
Total score 1771415 2764210
Samples [3 tests] [4 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 97% 70%
Graphics test 9 FPS 20 FPS
Graphics score 1156 2695
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability 94% -
Graphics test 21 FPS 39 FPS
Section 1 24 FPS 52 FPS
Section 2 22 FPS 38 FPS
Section 3 18 FPS 28 FPS
Graphics score 5635 10356
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 89% -
Graphics test 23 FPS -
Graphics score 3917 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-11 (Mohammad Abu Sayeed)AnTuTu1749561
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-30 (Vulpes)CPU Throttle87%
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-30 (Vulpes)AnTuTu1777999
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-03 -> Lello75GeekBench CPU2093 / 5838
πŸ“˜ 2025-10-12 (niko)AnTuTu1771415
Add View all (9)
Apple iPad Air 13" (2th Gen, 2025)
No benchmark results yet
Add

Memory

Configuration
RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory clock 4200 MHz 6400 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 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 18.3 (Can be upgraded to iPadOS 26.5)
ROM One UI 6.1 -
OS size 40 GB 23 GB
OS updates - 5 years

Battery

Capacity 8400 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 40 min) Yes (50% in 70 min)
Full charging time 1:30 hr 2:30 hr
Battery cycles - 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:39 hr 09:17 hr
Watching video 12:06 hr 13:08 hr
Gaming 06:18 hr 07:13 hr
Standby 133 hr 170 hr
General battery life
Add your battery life

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 30FPS 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
Standard lens
Image resolution 13 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.0 f/1.8
Focal length 26 mm -
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 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 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 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
Network
Number of SIM* 1 -
Type of SIM card Nano eSIM
eSIM support* Yes 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 July 2023 March 2025
Release date August 2023 March 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $799
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Fingerprint
Keyboard weight 423 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" (2th Gen, 2025) is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which tablet would you choose?
7 (46.7%)
8 (53.3%)
Total votes: 15

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