Apple iPad (2025) VS Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus

The Apple iPad (2025) is the more compact and significantly lighter of the two, weighing just 481 g versus the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus at 668 g — a nearly 190 g difference that becomes very noticeable during extended one-handed use or long reading sessions. The iPad is also narrower and shorter, making it meaningfully easier to hold, slip into a bag, or use comfortably on the go. The Tab S10 FE Plus, by contrast, has a larger physical footprint, which may appeal to users who prioritize screen real estate over portability.

On thickness, the Tab S10 FE Plus edges ahead at 6 mm compared to the iPad's 7 mm, making it marginally slimmer — though in practice this single-millimeter gap is barely perceptible. A more meaningful design distinction is water resistance: the Tab S10 FE Plus is rated as waterproof, while the iPad offers no water resistance at all. This is a real-world advantage for users who use their tablet near pools, in kitchens, or in unpredictable outdoor conditions. Additionally, the Tab S10 FE Plus ships with a stylus included, adding immediate value for note-takers and creatives without an extra purchase, whereas the iPad ships with no stylus.

Overall, the iPad (2025) holds the edge in portability and everyday ergonomics thanks to its substantially lower weight and smaller form factor. However, the Tab S10 FE Plus counters with a more durable, waterproof build and a bundled stylus — making it the stronger choice for users who need rugged reliability and pen input out of the box. Neither includes a detachable or backlit keyboard, so that category is a tie.

Screen size is where these two tablets diverge most dramatically. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus sports a large 13.1″ panel, while the Apple iPad (2025) comes in at 10.9″ — a substantial difference that makes the Tab S10 FE Plus considerably better suited for media consumption, multitasking with split-screen apps, or creative work that benefits from more canvas space. Despite the larger screen, pixel density is nearly identical at 259 ppi versus the iPad's 264 ppi, meaning sharpness is essentially a wash in everyday use; neither panel will look noticeably crisper to the naked eye.

Where the Tab S10 FE Plus pulls further ahead is in refresh rate and brightness. Its 90Hz panel delivers visibly smoother scrolling and animations compared to the iPad's standard 60Hz, which is a tangible quality-of-life upgrade during web browsing or app navigation. The Tab also outputs 600 nits of typical brightness against the iPad's 500 nits, giving it a modest but real edge in well-lit indoor environments. Both are LCD panels, neither supports HDR10, and neither has an anti-reflection coating — so glare handling is a tie. The Tab S10 FE Plus does benefit from branded damage-resistant glass, adding a layer of durability the iPad lacks.

On balance, the Tab S10 FE Plus holds a clear display advantage: it offers a much larger screen, a smoother refresh rate, higher brightness, and better glass protection — all while maintaining near-identical pixel density. The iPad's display is perfectly competent, but it is outspecced in nearly every meaningful category here.

Raw processing power strongly favors the Apple iPad (2025). Its Apple A16 Bionic chip scores 2321 single-core and 5684 multi-core on Geekbench 6, compared to the Samsung Exynos 1580 in the Tab S10 FE Plus, which posts 1360 single-core and 3893 multi-core. Single-core performance is especially telling for everyday responsiveness — app launches, UI snappiness, and general fluidity — and the iPad leads by a commanding 70% margin there. Both chips are built on a 4 nm process, so the difference comes down to Apple's silicon design advantage rather than manufacturing generation.

The Tab S10 FE Plus counters in memory configuration. It carries 12 GB of RAM at up to 3200 MHz versus the iPad's 6 GB at 6400 MHz — an interesting trade-off where the iPad has half the capacity but double the memory clock speed. In practice, the iPad's faster RAM helps sustain its CPU performance lead, while the Tab's larger RAM pool gives it a theoretical edge for heavy multitasking or keeping more apps active simultaneously. Storage tells the opposite story: the iPad is available with up to 512 GB of internal storage, while the Tab S10 FE Plus tops out at 256 GB internally — though the Tab partially compensates with a microSD expansion slot that the iPad lacks entirely.

On GPU, the Tab S10 FE Plus has more shading units (256 vs. 128) and a slightly newer OpenGL ES 3.2 implementation compared to the iPad's 3.0, suggesting broader raw GPU parallelism — yet the iPad's tightly integrated A16 GPU at 1398 MHz is architecturally more efficient. Overall, the iPad (2025) holds a decisive performance edge in CPU throughput and real-world responsiveness; the Tab S10 FE Plus offers more RAM and expandable storage, but cannot match the iPad's processing horsepower.

Megapixel counts are nearly identical — 12 MP on the iPad versus 13 MP on the Tab S10 FE Plus — so resolution is effectively a tie. The more telling difference is aperture: the iPad's f/1.8 main lens lets in significantly more light than the Tab's f/2.0, which translates to a meaningful advantage in low-light photography where a wider aperture captures more detail with less noise. For video, the iPad pulls further ahead by supporting 4K at 60 fps, compared to the Tab S10 FE Plus which caps out at 4K at 30 fps — a real distinction for users who shoot smooth, high-motion footage.

The Tab S10 FE Plus, however, offers a richer manual control set. It supports manual ISO, manual white balance, and manual focus — none of which are available on the iPad — appealing to users who want granular control over their shots. It also features continuous autofocus during video recording, which the iPad lacks; this matters for keeping subjects sharp while filming without user intervention. The iPad counters with slow-motion video and in-camera panorama support, two capabilities the Tab S10 FE Plus does not offer at all.

Neither tablet is a primary camera device, but each suits a different type of user. The iPad (2025) is the stronger choice for casual video creators who want higher frame rates and better low-light stills. The Tab S10 FE Plus is better suited for those who prefer manual photographic control and need reliable continuous autofocus in video. On the most impactful specs — aperture and video frame rate — the iPad holds a narrow but practical edge for general use.

Audio specs are nearly identical across these two tablets, with one minor distinction. Both feature stereo speakers and drop the 3.5 mm headphone jack, meaning wired audio requires an adapter on either device — a shared compromise that is now common across premium tablets. The only differentiator is microphone count: the Tab S10 FE Plus includes 3 microphones versus the iPad's 2, which can improve spatial audio capture, voice clarity in video calls, and noise cancellation in louder environments.

In practice, an extra microphone does not guarantee a dramatically better experience, but it provides more flexibility for beamforming algorithms to isolate voices and suppress background noise — useful for video conferencing or recording on the go. Neither tablet has a radio tuner, so that is a non-factor. Overall, the audio category is very closely matched, with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus holding a slim edge thanks solely to its additional microphone.

Battery capacity gives the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus a clear numerical lead at 10090 mAh versus the iPad's 8500 mAh — a roughly 19% larger cell. That said, raw mAh figures do not tell the full story across different platforms, since a more power-efficient chip can stretch a smaller battery further. What the numbers do reliably indicate is that the Tab carries a meaningfully larger reserve, which is especially relevant given its larger, brighter display drawing more power.

The more decisive gap is charging. The Tab S10 FE Plus supports fast charging, allowing the battery to replenish significantly faster when plugged in — a genuine convenience advantage for users who need to top up quickly between uses. The Apple iPad (2025) does not support fast charging, meaning it will take longer to reach a full charge regardless of the adapter used. Neither tablet offers wireless charging, so that is a shared limitation. Both have non-removable, rechargeable batteries — standard for tablets in this category.

Overall, the Tab S10 FE Plus holds a clear battery advantage: it has a larger capacity and the added practicality of fast charging, while the iPad offers neither. Users who prioritize all-day endurance and quicker top-ups will find the Tab S10 FE Plus the more capable option in this category.

Wireless connectivity gives the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus a tangible hardware edge in two areas. It supports Wi-Fi 6E, which adds access to the less congested 6 GHz band for faster, more stable connections in crowded environments — something the iPad (2025) misses, topping out at Wi-Fi 6. The Tab also includes NFC and supports a physical SIM alongside an eSIM, versus the iPad's eSIM-only setup, giving it more flexibility for contactless use cases and international travel with local SIM cards. Additionally, the Tab functions as a multi-user system, allowing separate profiles for different people — a meaningful advantage for shared household or classroom use that the iPad does not support.

The Apple iPad (2025) pushes back strongly on privacy and software. It offers Mail Privacy Protection, cross-site tracking blocking, and focus modes — none of which are present on the Tab — reflecting iOS's deeper system-level privacy architecture. Critically, the iPad also receives direct OS updates from Apple, meaning it gets new software features and security patches promptly; the Tab S10 FE Plus does not have this designation, meaning updates depend on Samsung's release schedule. On sensors, the iPad includes both a gyroscope and a compass, which the Tab lacks — relevant for AR applications and navigation accuracy.

This category reflects a genuine philosophical split rather than one product simply outspeccing the other. The Tab S10 FE Plus wins on hardware connectivity — Wi-Fi 6E, NFC, dual SIM, and multi-user support — while the iPad leads on privacy controls, sensor suite, and software update reliability. Users who prioritize network flexibility and device sharing will lean toward the Tab; those who value privacy features and timely updates will find the iPad the stronger platform.

This group contains only two data points, and they tell a straightforward story. Both tablets use DDR5 memory, the current standard for high-bandwidth RAM — so that aspect is a complete tie. The only differentiator is multithreading: the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus supports it, while the Apple iPad (2025) does not. Multithreading allows a processor to handle multiple instruction streams simultaneously per core, which can improve throughput in parallelizable workloads like background processing or certain productivity tasks.

In practice, however, this single spec should not be read in isolation. The iPad's A16 Bionic has already demonstrated substantially higher Geekbench scores, suggesting that Apple's chip architecture delivers strong real-world performance through other design efficiencies rather than relying on multithreading. Based strictly on the data in this group, the Tab S10 FE Plus holds a nominal edge on multithreading support, while DDR5 memory is an even draw between the two.