Apple has announced its new iPad Air and is claiming it to be the most powerful iPad Air in its history. It has the latest chip from Apple and the latest software too. Coming to the Android world, the current most powerful tablet is the Tab S7 Plus from Samsung. It also boosts of powerful and latest Processor from Snapdragon and the latest Android.
So let’s put the most powerful tablets from both the Android and iOS world against each other and see which one fares out to be the better one.
Display
The new iPad Air has a 10.9-inch IPS LED-backlit display with a Resolution of 2360×1640. The Samsung Tab S7 Plus has a 12.4-inch Super AMOLED Display with a resolution of 2800×1752 and 120Hz refresh rate.
The iPad Air supports the 2nd Gen Apple Pencil whereas the Tab S7 Plus supports the latest S Pen with Bluetooth Integration, Accelerometer and gyroscope support. The S-Pen also supports super-low 9ms Latency and is provided in-box with the Tab S7 Plus.
The Apple Pencil on the other hand will be sold separately for Rs 8,500.
With the looks of it, the display on the Samsung definitely looks better with a higher resolution, a higher refresh rate, and even the S-Pen is proving to be a better one with less latency.
Features like note taking, multi-tasking, photos mark-up are supported in both the Tablets with the help of stylus.
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Specifications
The iPad Air is powered by Apple’s most powerful chip, the A14 Bionic with Neural Engine and 64-bit architecture and 5nm structure which has 40% faster CPU performance, 10 times faster machine learning and 30% faster graphic performance in comparison to previous-generation chips. On the other hand, the Tab S7 Plus has the latest and most powerful chip from Snapdragon in the flagship space, the Snapdragon 865+ with 7nm structure.
The iPad Air has 64GB/ 256GB of Storage options. On the other side, the Tab S7 Plus comes in 3 variants with 6GB RAM and 128GB Storage, 8GB RAM and 256GB Storage, 8GB RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.0 storage which is also expandable upto 1TB with a Micro-SD card.
It is claimed that Apple’s A-series chips perform better than Snapdragon’s flagship chips but we will still have to compare both of them in real life to see which one performs better. But in the storage department, the Tab S7 Plus takes the lead with more storage options and expandable memory support.
Battery
The Tab S7 Plus has a 10,090mAh battery with 45W Fast charging but this 45W fast charger is sold separately which is the bad part.
iPad Air has a 28.6Wh battery with 20W fast charging support and the 20W fast charger comes in the box.
Even if the battery is a bigger one on the Tab S7 Plus, the iPad Air comes with the fast charger present in-box and with the new iPad Air 2020, Apple is now switching to Type-C from its lightning port which will help it connect with more products.
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Cameras
The Tab S7 Plus has a dual-camera setup on the rear with a 13MP, f/2.0, 26mm Wide-Angle primary sensor, and a 5MP f/2.2, 12mm ultra-wide-angle secondary sensor. On the front, it has an 8MP f/2.0, 26mm wide-angle camera for selfies.
The iPad Air has a single camera on the back with a 12MP f/1.8 wide angle sensor and a 7MP f/2.0 31mm standard sensor on the front for selfies.
As much as the camera performance depends on real-life samples from both the devices, if we consider the on-paper specs, the Tab S7 Plus looks better.
Speakers, Accessories and other features
The Tab S7 Plus has a 4 speaker setup tuned by AKG and iPad Air comes with 2 stereo speakers. Both the Tabs don’t have the 3.5mm Headphone jack.
The Tab S7 Plus has the under-display optical fingerprint scanner whereas the iPad Air now has moved the Touch ID on the top and is now integrated into the power button.
The iPad Air has support for the Magic Keyboard by Apple in which the design is made in such a way with the help of magnets that the iPad Air is lifted in the Air (no puns intended) while you type. The keyboard also has a trackpad and the iPad also has controller support.
The new iPad Air also comes with 1 year of free Apple TV+ subscription whereas you get 4 months of free YouTube Premium.
The Tab S7 Plus supports the Book Cover Keyboard where you can push the tab back all the way till 165-degree angle. The Book Cover Keyboard has a free stop hinge so you can set it to any angle which suits you.
It gives you a PC-like experience as it also has a trackpad, when you connect it with Samsung Dex, Samsung’s own PC Launcher.
Price
The iPad Air starts at Rs 54,990 for WiFi only model and Rs 66,900 for WiFi + Cellular model. It will be available in 5 colours which are black, silver, rose gold, green and blue.
The Tab S7 Plus is available in 3 colours which are Mystic Black, Silver and Bronze. The price for Tab S7 Plus stands at Rs 79,999 for LTE + WiFi model and 128GB of Storage.
Verdict
Samsung and Apple tablets are on different ecosystem but both of them target the same audience. For the price, the Apple iPad Air looks like a better deal in terms of performance and Apple’s own ecosystem, with guaranteed support for fast software updates. On the other hand, if you pay Rs 25,000 more, you can get better speakers, a better camera, S-Pen included in-box and a better display.