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M5 iPad Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra

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Just before Apple updated the iPad Pro with a next-generation M5 chip, Samsung refreshed its tablet lineup and debuted the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra. We thought we'd pit Apple's latest iPad Pro against Samsung's newest tablet to see how they compare to one another.


While the iPad Pro measures in at 13 inches, the S11 Ultra is much larger at 14.6 inches. They both have OLED displays, but the bigger screen makes an impact. Samsung's screen is bright, colorful, and has excellent contrast, plus you don't have to pay extra for a matte coating to cut down on glare.

The M5 iPad Pro and the S11 Ultra are both 5.1mm, so they're incredibly thin and light. That's especially apparent with the bigger screen.

Apple doesn't let you upgrade iPad Pro storage on your own, but the S11 Ultra has a microSD card slot that accommodates up to 2TB of storage. RAM is up to 16GB, the same as the iPad Pro.

Both tablets have a stylus accessory, but Samsung includes its S Pen in the box while Apple sells the Apple Pencil Pro separately. This year's S Pen has a pencil like feel and a new tip that provides a better writing experience, but the Apple Pencil is still better.

Samsung's tablets have a DeX mode that allows them to connect to a display or a TV for a desktop-like usage experience. DeX transforms the UI and optimizes it for a larger screen so you can do more on your tablet with dual-screen support. You can connect a second display to your iPad, but the experience is nothing like DeX, and you're limited to the iPad multitasking features. Samsung's S11 Ultra is much better at transitioning from a tablet to something more closely resembling a computer.

Samsung devices run Android, which is an immediate dealbreaker for a lot of Apple users. Android has the benefit of deep AI integration that Apple currently can't match, so the S11 Ultra has features like Drawing Assist, Writing Assist, camera-supported Gemini Live, and full Gemini support.

The iPad Pro has no water resistance, but the S11 Ultra offers IP68 protection, which means it can hold up to submersion in water. The iPad Pro wins in sheer performance thanks to the M5 chip. Samsung has a 3nm MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ chip, but the iPad is almost twice as fast in most benchmarking tests.

Apple's App Store is still more robust with a better selection of apps optimized for a tablet-sized screen, and there are many pro-level apps that aren't available on Samsung's platform. Both Apple and Samsung make keyboard cases for their tablets, but Samsung's S11 Ultra keyboard doesn't have a trackpad, which is a major downgrade compared to the iPad Pro's Magic Keyboard.

Would you get a Samsung tablet? Let us know in the comments below.

Article Link: M5 iPad Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/12/03/m5-ipad-pro-vs-samsung-s11-ultra/
Jean Claude said:
For me, personally, that widescreen form factor is just so damn sexy. It's time Apple lose the extremely dated ratio of the current iPad and just go wide already!! Should have made the change years ago. Let's go ahead and shave those bezels down as well....
Click to expand...
Widescreen is great for video, not so great when working in portrait orientation.
 
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rappr said:
Drawing Assist and Writing Assist sound a lot like Image Wand and Writing Tools, which iPadOS already has.
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I’ve used both. Writing assistant on both isn’t the best. But drawing assistant on the Samsung is night and day better than what Apple has. It’s not even close. It’s the difference between blackberry and the first iPhone.
 
rappr said:
Widescreen is great for video, not so great when working in portrait orientation.
Click to expand...
Majority of iPad users still use the device for consuming media. And those that "produce" on it, well, majority are also doing that in landscape, just as their desktops, laptops, etc., are all landscape. "Working in portrait" sounds like an incredibly niche workflow. Let's get the widescreens rolling!!
 
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Jean Claude said:
Majority of iPad users still use the device for consuming media. And those that "produce" on it, well, majority are also doing that in landscape, just as their desktops, laptops, etc., are all landscape. "Working in portrait" sounds like an incredibly niche workflow. Let's get the widescreens rolling!!
Click to expand...
Working on a Pages document or marking up a PDF are both great in portrait orientation.
 
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Yes the iPad has better app's for the "pro's". That said probably 95% of all tablets are primarily consumption devices.

I use my iPad for Kindle books and streaming video content like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu etc. I do have the Google Photos app on it, and the Gmail app and I will occasionally use those. The Samsung tablet would work for me just as well.
 
rappr said:
Working on a Pages document or marking up a PDF are both great in portrait orientation.
Click to expand...
So keep your current pro for that, a lot of the rest of us are ready for a change. BTW, you don't need a pro model to mark up a PDF....
 
I think a notch is basically a dealbreaker for a tablet. A phone is almost always used in vertical, except for specific cases (like watching videos), where there's usually a safe area around it. But tablets are indistinctively used in portrait and landscape. It can be very weird and distracting to have a notch on top of elements in portrait mode, or an even narrower viewport.

Besides obvious advantages of the iPad, like iPadOS, there are some details that are not mentioned, at least in the article... for example, the nano-textured display is fundamentally different from the anti-reflective coating of the S11 ultra.

Also, I would argue that the Samsung tablet is much worse when transitioning from tablet to desktop. Basically, you have a "mode" for desktop, which totally takes you out from the tablet experience, with a completely different UI... it's like having two separate products. Apple hasn't designed a good solution here yet (if it's even possible), but maybe people who praise DeX in theory should ask themselves why it has so little success in practice.
 
Jean Claude said:
So keep your current pro for that, a lot of the rest of us are ready for a change. BTW, you don't need a pro model to mark up a PDF....
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I guess "a lot of the rest of us" is way less than the amount of people currently happy with an iPad Pro, given the success of Apple in this market compared to others. Also, no one "needs" an iPad Pro to mark up a PDF, but I will gladly pay for it, in the same way I pay for a more expensive phone even if I don't "need" it. The iPad is by far my favorite Apple device, it helps me with creativity tasks, so I'm thankful that the iPad Pro exists, and it's not (yet) a touch laptop wannabe.
 
iPads have no water resistance? tell that to every iPad I've used in the pouring Rain at work for years lol.... then again I remember my friend dropping her original iPhone 2g in the dishwasher and not noticing til the cycle completed and it still working fine after lol
 
Jean Claude said:
Majority of iPad users still use the device for consuming media. And those that "produce" on it, well, majority are also doing that in landscape, just as their desktops, laptops, etc., are all landscape. "Working in portrait" sounds like an incredibly niche workflow. Let's get the widescreens rolling!!
Click to expand...

Nobody buys an iPad Pro for content consumption.

The S11 is a non-starter for many reasons. The main one is a processor that gets trounced by the M5 and the other is lazy developers who can’t be bothered to make any high-end Apps for Android tablets.

No Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve, Pixelmator, Procreate and so on.

Hardware is useless without software therefore Android tablets like the S11 Ultra are useless.
 
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Jean Claude said:
So keep your current pro for that, a lot of the rest of us are ready for a change. BTW, you don't need a pro model to mark up a PDF....
Click to expand...
Sure, you can do that on a junky Chromebook. I was just providing reasoning for why landscape oriented tablets don’t work as well for some productively use cases.
 
Ursadorable said:

M5 iPad Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra​


One runs iOS and the other Android.
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Also a quarter pound difference.

iPad Pro 13-inch (M5) weighs 1.28 pounds (579 grams) for the Wi-Fi model and 1.28 pounds (582 grams) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model

Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra weighs either 1.53 pounds (692 grams) or 695 grams, depending on the model.
 
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justanotherdave said:
Nobody buys an iPad Pro for content consumption.
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You're looking at one - but only because at the time the Pro was the only version with the larger screen. You guys harping on this current dated aspect ratio are dinosaurs. Dan himself literally mentions how the form factor is a plus over iPad....
 
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justanotherdave said:
Nobody buys an iPad Pro for content consumption.

The S11 is a non-starter for many reasons. The main one is a processor that gets trounced by the M5 and the other is lazy developers who can’t be bothered to make any high-end Apps for Android tablets.

No Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve, Pixelmator, Procreate and so on.

Hardware is useless without software therefore Android tablets like the S11 Ultra are useless.
Click to expand...
Glad you have it all figured out in your head. The problem is, you're wrong.
 
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