Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra vs Apple iPad Air 13-inch (M3, 2025) Specs Comparison

Availability

Officially announced
Jul 26, 2023	Mar 04, 2025
Prices (MSRP)
$1200	8GB/128GB - $950 8GB/256GB - $1080 8GB/512GB - $1329 8GB/1024GB - $1579

Design

Dimensions
12.85 x 8.21 x 0.22 inches 326.4 x 208.6 x 5.5 mm	11.05 x 8.46 x 0.24 inches 280.6 x 214.9 x 6.1 mm
Weight
25.82 oz / 732.0 g	21.76 oz / 617.0 g
Materials
	Back: Aluminum Frame: Aluminum
Biometrics
Optical in-screen fingerprint	Fingerprint (touch)
Colors
Beige, Graphite	Space Gray, Starlight, Purple, Blue

Display

Size
14.6-inch, 90.77% screen-to-body	13.0-inch, 86.76% screen-to-body
Type
Dynamic AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR	IPS LCD, 60Hz, 600 nits
Resolution
2960x1848px, 16:10 ratio, 239 PPI	2732x2048px, 4:3 ratio, 263 PPI
Protection
Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Features
HDR support, Scratch-resistant glass, Ambient light sensor

PhoneArena Display Test

Bright Max (20% APL)
Untested	Untested
Bright Min
1.6 (Good)	Untested

Learn more on our PhoneArena Display Test Results page.

Hardware

System chip
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SM8550-AC (4 nm)	Apple M3
Processor
Octa-core 1x3.36GHz Cortex-X3 2x2.8GH​z Cortex-A715 2x2.8​GHz Cortex-A710 3x2.0​GHz Cortex-A510	Octa-core
GPU
Adreno 740	Apple GPU 9-core
Memory
12GB/256GB	8GB/128GB 8GB/256GB 8GB/512GB 8GB/1024GB
Storage expansion
microSDXC up to 1024 GB	not expandable
OS
Android (13)	iPadOS (18.x)

PhoneArena Performance Test

GeekBench 6 Single
2071	Untested
GeekBench 6 Multi
5531	Untested
3D Mark High
3905	Untested
3D Mark Low
2997	Untested

Learn more on our PhoneArena Performance Test Results page.

Battery

Type
11200 mAh	9705 mAh
Charge speed
Wired: 45.0W

PhoneArena Battery Tests

Battery Life Estimate

5h 0min

Browsing

9h 54min

Video

7h 22min

Gaming

9h 10min

Battery Life Estimate

Untested

Browsing

Untested

Video

Untested

Gaming

Untested

Learn more on our PhoneArena Battery Test Results page

Camera

Rear
Dual camera	Single camera
Main camera
13 MP	12 MP Aperture size: F1.8 Sensor size: 1/3" Pixel size: 1.22 μm
Second camera
8 MP (Ultra-wide)
Flash
LED
Video recording
Yes	4K UHD (60 fps)
Front
12 MP (Dual-Camera)	12 MP Video capture: 1080p (60 fps)

Connectivity & Features

Bluetooth
5.3	5.3
WLAN
Wi-Fi 6,Wi-Fi 6E Wi-Fi Direct 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac, ax	Wi-Fi 6,Wi-Fi 6E Wi-Fi Direct 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac, ax
USB
Type-C	Type-C, USB 3.1
Sensors
Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Ambient light sensor	Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass, Barometer, Ambient light sensor
Location
	GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
Other
	Tethering, Computer sync, OTA sync

Multimedia

Headphones
No 3.5mm jack	No 3.5mm jack
Speakers
Multiple speakers	Multiple speakers
Features
Dolby Atmos, Album art cover, Background playback	Album art cover, Background playback
Screen mirroring
Wireless screen share

Cellular

5G Bands
5G Ready	5G Ready
Data Speed
LTE-A, HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s	LTE-A, HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s
SIM type
Nano SIM	eSIM

Alternative variants

Wi-Fi Only

With 256GB internal storage

Memory	256GB
Prices (MSRP)	€1080

With 512GB internal storage

Memory	512GB
Prices (MSRP)	€1329

With 1TB internal storage

Memory	1024GB
Prices (MSRP)	€1579

Discover more

Full Specs Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra Specs PA Review Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra Review

Full Specs Apple iPad Air 13-inch (M3, 2025) Specs PA Review Apple iPad Air 13-inch (M3, 2025) Review