M5 iPad Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra

[tobybrut]

As an owner of an S9 Ultra and S11 Ultra, there are two things that make it inferior to the iPad Pro, which I also have. The Ultras are too big and heavy. They are completely useless without a case, and as a warning the S11 Ultra’s case is a lot worse than the S9 Ultra’s case with an inferior design. Samsung’s keyboards are terrible, having low sensitivity, which causes a lot of missed typed characters. I’m constantly having to correct typing errors that never occur on a Magic Keyboard.

The second is screen brightness. You just cannot beat 1000 nits sustained SDR and 1600 nits HDR on the iPad Pros. The S11 Ultra’s screen is only slightly higher than 400 nits for SDR and less than 1000 nits for HDR content,

The one advantage the S11 Ultra has, of course, is that it can show more stuff on screen due to a larger screen. But that comes with a loss of real portability. It’s a pain to lug around due to its size and weight. There is such a thing as too big of a tablet.

Android apps are also inferior with very little optimized for tablets. People seem to push DeX but to me, it’s a way to get around unoptimized apps to make phone apps look less ugly. I leave it off finding the regular multitasking to be better.

 

[rappr]

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....

Based on the couple episodes of the Mac rumors podcast I listened to, Dan only cares about new and different, not about what might be functionally better.

 

[tobybrut]

Nobody buys an iPad Pro for content consumption.

Sure they do. I bought an iPad Pro over an Air for precisely one reason: that fantastic tandem OLED screen. That screen is why the Pro is so expensive but is also the main attraction for getting one. No one really cares about M5 versus M3.

Just like people buy overpowered machines for the sole purpose of playing games, what better use of a tandem OLED screen is there than for content consumption?

 

[justanotherdave]

Glad you have it all figured out in your head. The problem is, you're wrong.

Nope. My daughter works as an animator/digital artist. I’ll take her opinion of what people use over someone on the Internet who can’t back up their claims with facts and just says “you’re wrong”.

Android tablets are junk. Google has been trying to get developers to optimize for tablets forever and has gone through multiple “initiatives” to entice developers. They’ve failed every time.

But please, list off all the high-end Apps available for Android that anyone doing anything creative might do. So we can compare them to the iPad versions.

 

[justanotherdave]

Sure they do. I bought an iPad Pro over an Air for precisely one reason: that fantastic tandem OLED screen. That screen is why the Pro is so expensive but is also the main attraction for getting one. No one really cares about M5 versus M3.

Just like people buy overpowered machines for the sole purpose of playing games, what better use of a tandem OLED screen is there than for content consumption?

Artists and content creators care. You’re not going to enjoy rendering or similar stuff on an Android tablet.

Then again, there’s no real software to compete with the iPad Pro so I guess you don’t really know what you’re missing. Maybe that’s why people claim there’s no difference. A Toyota Camry can get groceries just as fast as a Ferrari. So if all you do is get groceries then you could claim nobody cares about the performance.

 

[CheesePuff]

Only the 1 TB+ iPad Pro models have 16 GB RAM, the lower storage ones have 12 GB

 

[jchap]

While the Apple Pencil may have a better feel compared to the S Pen, and the Apple Pencil may offer a better experience for people wanting to use their tablet for digital drawing and painting, the iPads still lag far, far behind in terms of handwriting support. Android totally outshines them there.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I still use the Tab S8 Ultra and love it.

 

[jon9091]

Nobody buys an iPad Pro for content consumption.

I did. So, that would make you wrong.

 

[verdi1987]

I love that he has Detroiters on the displays.

 

[rappr]

While the Apple Pencil may have a better feel compared to the S Pen, and the Apple Pencil may offer a better experience for people wanting to use their tablet for digital drawing and painting, the iPads still lag far, far behind in terms of handwriting support. Android totally outshines them there.

How so?

 

[LedRush]

13 inches is way too big. 14.6 is insane.

 

[Naraxus]

Yeah I'm never going to support the thieves at Samsung. Apple or nothing.

 

[oceptis]

I did. So, that would make you wrong.

To most people, you’re nobody. I think that makes him unintentionally correct. There are quite a few people here that identify as nobody so you’re in good company. 😉

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Nope. My daughter works as an animator/digital artist. I’ll take her opinion of what people use over someone on the Internet who can’t back up their claims with facts and just says “you’re wrong”.

Android tablets are junk. Google has been trying to get developers to optimize for tablets forever and has gone through multiple “initiatives” to entice developers. They’ve failed every time.

But please, list off all the high-end Apps available for Android that anyone doing anything creative might do. So we can compare them to the iPad versions.

Take your tunnel-vision glasses off. Most tablet consumers are not animator/digital artists. Your views may work for your daughter but it certainly doesn't apply to everyone.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Yeah I'm never going to support the thieves at Samsung. Apple or nothing.

That's rich, calling Samsung a thief considering Apple's prices for upgrades equate to highway robbery.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Artists and content creators care. You’re not going to enjoy rendering or similar stuff on an Android tablet.

Then again, there’s no real software to compete with the iPad Pro so I guess you don’t really know what you’re missing. Maybe that’s why people claim there’s no difference. A Toyota Camry can get groceries just as fast as a Ferrari. So if all you do is get groceries then you could claim nobody cares about the performance.

You really might want to reconsider your overreaching blanket opinions when you say "nobody". Nobody mean absolutely no one, and by the comments here, you're wrong. There is certainly a niche industry where an iPad Pro would be superior, but in the real world, people use tablet for dozens of things...content consumption being one of them, and in your daughters case, digital art. Open your eyes...

 

[Naraxus]

That's rich, calling Samsung a thief considering Apple's prices for upgrades equate to highway robbery.

Nice try but equating charging "higher prices" for their products vs a company who has a history of repeatedly stealing er copying is laughable. Nobody is holding a gun at people, forcing them to buy Apple products.

 

[tobybrut]

Artists and content creators care. You’re not going to enjoy rendering or similar stuff on an Android tablet.

Then again, there’s no real software to compete with the iPad Pro so I guess you don’t really know what you’re missing. Maybe that’s why people claim there’s no difference. A Toyota Camry can get groceries just as fast as a Ferrari. So if all you do is get groceries then you could claim nobody cares about the performance.

I absolutely agree there are uses beyond content consumption. My point is that people buy iPad Pros for all sorts of reasons and that content consumption without peer is one of those reasons. The M3 is already very powerful. The M5 is just gravy on top of that, overkill in many cases. Video editors and artists definitely benefit from that beautiful screen, but so do content consumption lovers who watch a lot of videos and movies.

I’m someone who has an S9 Ultra, an S11 Ultra, and an M5 iPad Pro. I’m typing this on my iPad Pro, which I use for 90% of my computing needs, despite having other tablets, a desktop, and laptop computer. My S9 Ultra is on a shelf while I occasionally use the S11 Ultra.

I bought the S11 thinking the screen was going to be a massive upgrade over the S9 with Samsung claiming it was such a much better screen. It wasn’t, so I actually regret getting that S11 Ultra, especially given the keyboard downgrade. In reality, the screens on the two devices were about the same, but significantly inferior in brightness to the iPad Pro’s tandem OLED. It’s not even close.

 

[usmaak]

The Fire HD is a much better deal.

If you can get past the 1280x800 resolution.

 

[jchap]

How so?

If you've used handwriting (the so-called "Scribble" functionality) on iPad with the Apple Pencil to write for a fair amount of time, you might know what I'm talking about. Handwriting recognition is often quite inaccurate and glitchy on iPadOS devices. Editing the already-recognized text is painstaking and much more troublesome than it should be. It's something that's best experienced firsthand. Apple just hasn't put the effort into this that they should, and it shows. More often than not, I find that in the middle of handwriting, I have to switch to the software keyboard just to correct the many mistakes in recognition that Scribble makes.

On the other hand, I've found that I can just fly along when handwriting using Android tablets featuring the Google handwriting recognition mode. Maybe other people are having a better time of it with their iPads, like those who don't use the feature seriously, but it has been a miserable experience for me, and Apple has barely improved it over time.

To be fair, I haven't revisited it thoroughly under iPadOS 26 yet, so YMMV.

 

[rappr]

If you've used handwriting (the so-called "Scribble" functionality) on iPad with the Apple Pencil to write for a fair amount of time, you might know what I'm talking about. Handwriting recognition is often quite inaccurate and glitchy on iPadOS devices. Editing the already-recognized text is painstaking and much more troublesome than it should be. It's something that's best experienced firsthand. Apple just hasn't put the effort into this that they should, and it shows. More often than not, I find that in the middle of handwriting, I have to switch to the software keyboard just to correct the many mistakes in recognition that Scribble makes.

On the other hand, I've found that I can just fly along when handwriting using Android tablets featuring the Google handwriting recognition mode. Maybe other people are having a better time of it with their iPads, like those who don't use the feature seriously, but it has been a miserable experience for me, and Apple has barely improved it over time.

To be fair, I haven't revisited it thoroughly under iPadOS 26 yet, so YMMV.

Thanks for the info. I use scribble sometimes and have definitely run into issues with editing. I have a Pixel Tablet in a drawer but haven’t tried it with a stylus.

 

[Octavius8]

DEX provides the right experience you expect. Apple greed and lack of vision sentenced iPad OS to be a just consume device with strong useless CPU for 99% of users.
My iPad Pro from 2018 still feels super quick, nut Apple decided it is obsolete. A new iPad does basically the same, but I need to pay to get the same OS, plus horrible liquid UI and super buggy sw.
I wish the Chinese could bring their UI expertise to America.

 

[Octavius8]

My iPad pen is super expensive and super useless. In 5 years nobody will want and iPad for being to expensive and zero innovation.

 

[zogzog]

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 do not remember appointing you as the representative for the “rest of us,” and would appreciate it if you stop acting like one. I am using a plain iPad to read email, touch up spreadsheets, do light web searches, etc., almost all of it in landscape orientation. and would be extremely put out if iPad goes any longer and narrower.