Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 vs Apple iPad Air: specs comparison

posted by Michael H. / Jun 13, 2014, 1:32 AM

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 vs Apple iPad Air: specs comparison

Samsung has just announced its newest flagship tablets (that don't include S Pen styluses), so we naturally want to see how the new Galaxy Tab S devices stack up to the current competition. This one focuses on the larger display category, and that means it is time for a specs battle between the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and the Apple iPad Air.

The big focus of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 was in the dimensions and the display, with both changes aimed squarely at the iPad Air. Samsung was able to build a tablet that has a larger display with a higher resolution than the iPad Air, while still making the table thinner and (just barely) lighter. Maybe even more impressive is that the Galaxy Tab S doesn't have a footprint all that much bigger than the Air, even though its display is 0.8 inches larger. If you can get past Samsung's usual plastic backing materials, that could make for an impressive tablet.

Unsurprisingly, the other internals of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (SoC, RAM, etc) look far more impressive on paper, but we'll have to wait and see how the device performs in real world conditions, because Samsung's software additions tend to cause performance issues.

For this comparison, we've also added in the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1, which was released back in February and is the most direct predecessor to the new Tab S 10.5.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 vs Apple iPad Air vs Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1

Display

Display size

10.5 inches

9.7 inches

10.1 inches

Resolution

2560 x 1600 pixels

2048 x 1536 pixels

2560 x 1600 pixels

Pixel density

288 ppi

264 ppi

299 ppi

Technology

Super AMOLED

IPS LCD

Super Clear LCD

Screen-to-body ratio

72.88 %

71.65 %

70.97 %

Colors

16 777 216

Camera

Rear

Yes

Main camera

8 megapixels

5 megapixels

8 megapixels

Hardware Features

Autofocus, CMOS image sensor

Autofocus, Back-illuminated sensor (BSI)

Autofocus

Specifications

Aperture size: F2.4; Focal length: 33 mm

Flash

LED

Software Features

Digital image stabilization, Self-timer, Digital zoom, Geo tagging, Exposure compensation, ISO control, Burst mode, HDR, Scenes, Effects

Digital image stabilization, HDR, Face detection, Exposure compensation, Touch to focus, Self-timer, Digital zoom, Geo tagging

Smile detection, Digital zoom, Geo tagging, Exposure compensation, ISO control, White balance presets, HDR, Panorama

Video recording

1920x1080 (Full HD) (30 fps)

1920x1080 (Full HD)

Recording format

MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV

H.264, MOV

Features

Time-lapse video, Digital image stabilization, Video calling

Video calling

Front

2.1 megapixels

1.2 megapixels

2 megapixels

Video capture

1280x720 (HD) (30 fps)

Design

Dimensions

9.74 x 6.98 x 0.26 inches (247.3 x 177.3 x 6.6 mm)

9.45 x 6.67 x 0.30 inches (240 x 169.5 x 7.5 mm)

9.57 x 6.75 x 0.29 inches (243.1 x 171.4 x 7.3 mm)

Weight

16.47 oz (467 g)

16.86 oz (478 g)

16.54 oz (469 g)

Materials

Back: Aluminum

Biometrics

Fingerprint (swipe)

Features

Touch sensitive control keys

Hardware & Performance

System chip

Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5420

Apple A7

Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974

Processor

Octa-core, 1900 MHz, ARM Cortex-A15 and ARM Cortex-A7

Dual-core, 1400 MHz, Cyclone, 64-bit

Quad-core, 2300 MHz, Krait 400

GPU

Mali-T628 MP6

PowerVR G6430

Adreno 330

RAM

3 GB LPDDR3

1 GB LPDDR3

2 GB LPDDR3

Internal storage

32 GB

128 GB

32 GB

Storage expansion

Slot Type

microSDXC, microSDHC, microSD

microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC

OS

Android (6.0 Marshmallow, 5.0 Lollipop, 4.4.2)

iOS (12.x, 11.x, 10.x, 9.x, 8.x, 7.x)

Android (4.4)

Battery

Capacity

7900 mAh

8820 mAh

8220 mAh

Music playback

132.00 hours

147.00 hours

Video playback

12.00 hours

10.00 hours

Cellular

CDMA

800, 1900 MHz

GSM

850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz

UMTS

850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz

LTE (FDD)

Bands 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8

Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26

Data

LTE

LTE, HSPA, UMTS

LTE Cat 4 (150/50 Mbit/s), HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s, HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s, UMTS

Multimedia

Screen mirroring

MHL

TV-out

Wireless screen share, MHL, TV-out

Shopping information

MSRP price

$ 929

Options

13 Comments

1. hateftotti

Posts: 223; Member since: May 03, 2011

Galaxy Tab S 10.5 hands down...

posted on Jun 13, 2014, 1:38 AM 9

2. gigaraga

Posts: 1454; Member since: Mar 29, 2013

Galaxy Tab S 10.5 > Galaxy TabPro 10.1 >>>>>>>> iPad Air.

posted on Jun 13, 2014, 2:10 AM 10

3. FingerMyApple unregistered

ipad air iChoose you :)

posted on Jun 13, 2014, 2:12 AM 4

4. ihavenoname

Posts: 1693; Member since: Aug 18, 2013

iPad Air

posted on Jun 13, 2014, 2:33 AM 2

5. ArtSim98

Posts: 3535; Member since: Dec 21, 2012

None of these please

posted on Jun 13, 2014, 3:11 AM 1

6. amats69

Posts: 1527; Member since: Nov 12, 2012

Ipad air for me!

posted on Jun 13, 2014, 3:12 AM 3

7. pyradark

Posts: 895; Member since: Jun 10, 2012

Z2 tab to wipe everything

posted on Jun 13, 2014, 3:41 AM 1

8. shaheer7

Posts: 22; Member since: Jul 11, 2013

Ipad air is very expensive.. Waiting for note 10.1 with amoled ☺

posted on Jun 13, 2014, 4:51 AM 1

12. ecmedic4

Posts: 520; Member since: May 02, 2013

Actually the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 16GB and the iPad Air 16GB are the same price at $499. In the comparison they put the price of the most expensive iPad Air model, the 128GB version, which the Galaxy Tab 10.5 doesn't come in that capacity, so the comparison shouldn't have used the most expensive iPad Air.

posted on Jun 13, 2014, 4:27 PM 0

9. FazlurKhan

Posts: 19; Member since: Jun 09, 2013

Why would you put 128GB as storage for Ipad? That would just be misleading because that version is crazy expensive. Might as well add multiple 128 gig microsds for the tabs. lol

posted on Jun 13, 2014, 9:13 AM 1

13. ecmedic4

Exactly, the base versions of both the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and iPad Air are both $499, for 16GB. I thought the same thing when i read it, its misleading.