Samsung's New Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra vs. iPad Pro

Samsung in July introduced its latest tablet offering, the 14.6-inch Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra. This is Samsung's best and biggest tablet to date, so we thought we'd see how it compares to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.


At 14.6 inches, The Tab S9 Ultra is notably bigger than the ‌iPad Pro‌, and it has an impressive OLED display with deep blacks and rich colors. Apple is using mini-LED for the latest ‌iPad Pro‌ and there are rumors that it will transition to OLED, but Apple hasn't made it there yet.

galaxy tab s9 2
There's an under-display fingerprint sensor that is supplemented by facial recognition (Samsung's facial recognition still can't compare to Face ID), and a horizontal front camera so you can use the front-facing camera in landscape orientation, unlike with the ‌iPad Pro‌. There's no Apple Pencil, but Samsung's tablets use the S-Pen, which is feature rich and comparable to ‌Apple Pencil‌ (plus it's included in the price). Latency is about the same, and there's a convenient charging spot for it at the back of the tablet.

galaxy tab s9 6
The battery lasts for about eight hours and for storage, it supports a microSD card, which is not true of any Apple products. It's IP68 water and dust resistant, which is a higher ingress rating than the iPads.

There are some notable annoyances, such as the $350 keyboard cover that's heavy, can't be used on a lap, and has a jittery, hard-to-use trackpad. The speakers are not as good as the speakers in the ‌iPad Pro‌, and overall, Android on a tablet doesn't have the smoothness or usability of iPadOS on an iPad.

What do you think of the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra? Let us know in the comments below.

Tag: Samsung

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Air Size Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With Rear Camera Bar Allegedly Shown in Leaked Photo

Tuesday January 21, 2025 12:46 pm PST by
A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model. The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an ...
iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full Release Notes for iOS 18.3

Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes. The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
iOS 18

Apple Expected to Release iOS 18.3 Next Week With These New Features

Thursday January 23, 2025 6:41 am PST by
iOS 18.3 should be released to the public next week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones. Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3. Notification Summary Changes Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries Apple Intelligence...
Apple Pay Walmart Feature

Walmart Stands Firm on Why It Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in the U.S.

Thursday January 23, 2025 7:32 am PST by
Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today. A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
truecaller

Truecaller iOS Update Rolls Out Real-Time Caller ID Support

Wednesday January 22, 2025 2:07 am PST by
Popular caller ID app Truecaller is rolling out an update that brings real-time caller ID support to its iOS subscribers. Apple introduced Live Caller ID Lookup in iOS 18, allowing third-party caller ID apps to securely retrieve information about a caller from their servers, hence today's Truecaller update. iPhone users can enable the Live Caller ID Lookup feature by going to Settings ➝ ...
ipad pro 2024

New iPad Pro Reportedly Launching This Year

Tuesday January 21, 2025 6:40 am PST by
Apple plans to release at least one new iPad Pro model this year, according to a supplier-focused report today from Korean website The Elec. It is likely that the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models would be updated simultaneously. After receiving an OLED display last year, the report said the iPad Pro will receive only "minor" changes this year. Overall, the next iPad Pro is expected to...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Launching This Year With These New Features

Wednesday January 22, 2025 6:01 pm PST by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year. In this article, we recap rumored features and changes for the device. The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the...
airtag 4 pack blue

AirTag 2 Launching This Year With These 3 New Features

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory. A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June. The original AirTag was announced...

Top Rated Comments

BlueParadox Avatar
19 months ago

One word: Micro SD
That’s not one word…
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DarthDon Avatar
19 months ago
Android on a tablet... ?
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Octavius8 Avatar
19 months ago
so it is possible!:
OLED in iPad size screen
Touch ID under display
Face ID in both orientations
Camera on both orientations
Air commands with a “pencil”.
What are you waiting Apple????
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Snake111 Avatar
19 months ago
Wow Samsung with a notch.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Unggoy Murderer Avatar
19 months ago
I really like the form factor and additional size of the Ultra, would be great if Apple could do something similar with the iPad Pro. The 2022 model was also surprisingly resistant to bending, another trick for Apple to pick up!

Still couldn't own an Android tablet though.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
anthogag Avatar
19 months ago
I have the 12.9" M2 iPad Pro. After watching your video I have 0 interest in the Samsung tablet.

I don't like the screen aspect ratio for the Samsung. It looks like it's designed to primarily operate with the keyboard like a laptop.

You use the keyboard with your iPad; 98%. You have little experience using the Pencil. Occasionally you grab it to draw some lines.

I don't use a keyboard. I use the Pencil for almost everything. Editing, picking, writing, scrolling, screen shots, using apps,...swipe keyboard is much better using the Pencil to choose letters.

It's quite obvious the Samsung doesn't have Hover. Hover is great on my iPad.

FaceID is much better than finger print.

The most significant complaint I have using the Pencil+iPad is it should be much easier to switch between small and full size keyboard. If I touch the screen with my finger it should open the large keyboard. If I touch the screen with the Pencil the small keyboard opens.

If you need a keyboard and mouse for extended typing on the iPad use continuity.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)