Apple iPad Pro 11 (2025) Wi-Fi + Cellular VS Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra

The most immediate design contrast is size and weight. The Apple iPad Pro 11 is a compact, lightweight device at 444 g and 177.5 × 249.7 mm, while the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is substantially larger at 208.5 × 326.3 mm and 695 g — more than 56% heavier. In practice, this gap is significant: the iPad Pro 11 can be held one-handed for extended periods with far less fatigue, making it the more portable and ergonomic choice for commuters or casual users. The Tab S11 Ultra, by contrast, is closer to a laptop-replacement canvas, better suited to desk or lap use than on-the-go handling.

Where the Tab S11 Ultra fights back is in accessories and durability. It ships with a stylus included and carries a waterproof rating — two features the iPad Pro 11 lacks out of the box (no bundled stylus, no water resistance). This means the Tab S11 Ultra is ready for creative or outdoor workflows immediately, without additional purchases or worry about splashes. The iPad Pro 11, however, counters with tilt sensitivity support (absent on the Tab S11 Ultra), which is a meaningful advantage for artists and note-takers who rely on pressure-angle variation for nuanced pen input.

Both tablets are remarkably thin — 5.3 mm vs 5.1 mm — so neither has a meaningful edge in slimness. Overall, the design advantage depends heavily on use case: the iPad Pro 11 wins on portability and handling comfort, while the Tab S11 Ultra wins on out-of-box value and durability for power users who need a larger canvas and water protection.

Both tablets use OLED/AMOLED panels with 120Hz refresh rates, anti-reflection coatings, and identical 1000 nits typical brightness — so the foundational display quality is competitive on both sides. The real split comes down to size versus density. The Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra offers a sweeping 14.6″ screen with a 2960 × 1848 resolution, delivering an expansive canvas ideal for multitasking, video editing, or split-screen workflows. The iPad Pro 11, though smaller at 11″, packs a higher pixel density of 264 ppi versus the Tab S11 Ultra's 239 ppi, meaning individual pixels are less perceptible up close — a tangible advantage when reading fine text or doing detailed illustration work at arm's length.

A more meaningful differentiator lurks in the contrast ratio and HDR support. The iPad Pro 11 claims a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio — double the Tab S11 Ultra's 1,000,000:1 — which translates to deeper blacks and more nuanced shadow detail in dark scenes. Compounding this, only the iPad Pro 11 supports Dolby Vision, the more precisely mastered HDR format favored by streaming platforms like Netflix and Apple TV+. For media consumption, this combination gives the iPad Pro 11 a noticeably richer and more cinema-accurate picture despite its smaller screen.

Choosing between them is a trade-off between scale and precision. The Tab S11 Ultra's sheer screen real estate makes it the productivity and immersion pick for users who want more working space. But the iPad Pro 11 holds a clear edge in display quality per inch — sharper rendering, deeper contrast, and superior HDR fidelity — making it the stronger choice for content creators and media enthusiasts who prioritize image accuracy over canvas size.

On paper, both tablets share the same 3 nm fabrication process and identical 16GB of RAM, but the silicon inside tells very different stories. The Apple M5 in the iPad Pro 11 posts a Geekbench 6 multi-core score of 16,832 — nearly double the 8,969 recorded by the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 Plus in the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra. The single-core gap is just as striking: 4,188 versus 2,874. Single-core performance is especially relevant for everyday responsiveness — app launches, UI animations, and latency-sensitive tasks — while multi-core headroom determines how well a device handles sustained workloads like video exports, 3D rendering, or running multiple demanding apps simultaneously. The iPad Pro 11 leads convincingly on both fronts.

Feeding that performance advantage is a memory subsystem that operates at a fundamentally different tier. The M5 chip supports up to 153 GB/s of memory bandwidth — nearly 80% more than the Tab S11 Ultra's 85.3 GB/s — and can address up to 64GB of unified memory versus 24GB on the Samsung. In practice, higher bandwidth means large assets (think RAW photo libraries, 4K timelines, or complex ML models) move between CPU and GPU far faster, reducing bottlenecks in pro-level workflows. The iPad Pro 11 also offers up to 2TB of internal storage, doubling the Tab S11 Ultra's 1TB ceiling, though the Samsung counters with a microSD slot for flexible, lower-cost storage expansion.

The performance verdict here is clear-cut. The iPad Pro 11 holds a commanding advantage in raw compute power, memory bandwidth, and storage scalability — making it the stronger platform for demanding creative and professional tasks. The Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is no slouch for typical tablet use, but users who push hardware limits will find the M5's headroom in a different league entirely.

Tablet cameras are rarely a primary purchase driver, but the differences here are worth understanding. The iPad Pro 11 shoots 4K video at up to 60 fps, while the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra caps out at 4K/30 fps — a meaningful distinction for anyone capturing smooth motion footage or planning to use slow-motion crops from 4K material. The iPad Pro 11 also offers 2x optical zoom, whereas the Tab S11 Ultra lists 0x optical zoom, meaning any zoom on Samsung's side is purely digital and results in quality degradation. For document scanning, whiteboard capture, or distant subject framing, the iPad Pro 11's optical zoom is a practical everyday advantage.

The Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra takes a dual-lens approach on both the rear (13 MP + 8 MP) and front (12 MP + 12 MP), giving it more versatility in focal coverage despite the lack of optical zoom. It also includes a video light — a continuous LED useful for close-up video calls or macro filming in dim conditions — which the iPad Pro 11 omits. The iPad Pro 11 counters with a notably more capable flash setup: 4 LEDs with a dual-tone configuration versus a single LED on the Tab S11 Ultra, producing more balanced and natural-looking flash photography. It also supports in-camera panoramas and burst/serial shot mode, neither of which are available on the Samsung.

Neither tablet is designed to replace a dedicated camera, but the iPad Pro 11 holds a clearer overall edge in this category — superior video frame rates, optical zoom, a stronger flash system, and more shooting modes tip the balance in its favor. The Tab S11 Ultra's video light and dual-lens layout offer niche utility, but they don't offset the broader capability gap.

The audio specs for these two tablets are identical across every available data point: both feature stereo speakers, neither includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, and neither has a built-in radio. The absence of a headphone jack on both devices means wired audio requires a USB-C adapter or a Bluetooth connection — a trade-off that has become standard practice across premium tablets. The presence of stereo speakers on both ensures a reasonably immersive soundstage for media consumption, particularly in landscape orientation.

Based strictly on the provided specifications, this category is a complete tie. There is no differentiating data point that gives either the iPad Pro 11 or the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra an advantage here, and drawing any further conclusions would require going beyond the supplied specs.

Battery capacity is where the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra asserts a straightforward advantage. Its 11,600 mAh cell is roughly 42% larger than the 8,160 mAh battery in the iPad Pro 11 — a gap that, all else being equal, translates directly into more time between charges. For users who rely on their tablet during long travel days, extended meetings, or away from a power source, that extra capacity is a tangible benefit. It's worth noting, however, that the Tab S11 Ultra also drives a significantly larger and more power-hungry screen, so real-world longevity may not scale proportionally with the raw mAh difference.

Both tablets support fast charging and share the same structural limitations: no wireless charging and no removable battery. The parity on those fronts means neither device offers a convenience edge for top-up scenarios — users on both sides are tethered to a cable when recharging.

On battery specs alone, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra holds the edge by virtue of its substantially larger capacity. Whether that translates into meaningfully longer screen-on time in practice depends on usage patterns and the demands of the larger display, but from a raw specification standpoint, the 11,600 mAh vs 8,160 mAh gap favors the Samsung.

Wireless connectivity is closely matched — both tablets support Wi-Fi 7 and 5G with a SIM + eSIM configuration — but the wired and short-range story diverges significantly. The iPad Pro 11 features USB 4, delivering up to 40 Gbps transfer speeds and broad support for high-bandwidth peripherals and external displays, compared to the USB 3.2 on the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra. For users who regularly transfer large files or connect external storage and docks, this is a practical, everyday difference. The iPad Pro 11 also ships with Bluetooth 6 versus the Tab S11 Ultra's Bluetooth 5.4, offering a more future-proof wireless audio and accessory connection.

Authentication and software flexibility split in opposite directions. The iPad Pro 11 relies on 3D facial recognition for biometric unlock, while the Tab S11 Ultra uses a fingerprint scanner — the latter being more practical in mask-wearing scenarios or when the tablet is lying flat. The Tab S11 Ultra also supports multi-user mode, making it more suitable for shared household or classroom environments, and its open-source Android base enables deeper customization including dynamic theming. The iPad Pro 11 counters with direct OS updates (the Tab S11 Ultra does not), meaning faster access to security patches and new features without waiting on manufacturer or carrier rollout.

On the privacy front, the iPad Pro 11 carries a broader set of protections — including Mail Privacy Protection and cross-site tracking blocking — that the Tab S11 Ultra lacks. It also includes a barometer and infrared sensor absent on the Samsung. Taken together, the iPad Pro 11 edges ahead on connectivity standards, privacy architecture, and sensor coverage, while the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra holds its own for users who prioritize biometric flexibility, multi-user support, and OS-level customization.

The only data point available in this group is the DDR memory version, and both the Apple iPad Pro 11 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra are identical here, each using DDR5 memory. This confirms that both devices are built on a current-generation memory standard, which supports the high bandwidth and low-latency requirements of modern mobile workloads. Beyond that shared specification, the provided data offers no further differentiating information in this category.

This group is a complete tie — there is no basis within the supplied specs to award either product an advantage here.