OnePlus Pad 3 VS Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra

Both tablets are large-format slabs aimed at productivity, and their footprints reflect that. The Tab S11 Ultra is notably wider at 326.3 mm versus the OnePlus Pad 3's 289.6 mm, suggesting a larger display, while their heights are nearly identical (~209 mm). Despite this larger frame, Samsung engineers managed to keep the S11 Ultra's volume slightly smaller (346.97 cm³ vs 364.37 cm³) by going meaningfully thinner: 5.1 mm against the Pad 3's 6 mm. That 0.9 mm difference is perceptible in hand — the S11 Ultra will feel noticeably more svelte when slipped into a bag or held flat.

On weight, the advantage flips — but barely. The OnePlus Pad 3 comes in at 675 g versus the S11 Ultra's 695 g. A 20 g gap is real but unlikely to be felt during typical use; neither tablet is what you'd call light for extended one-handed reading. Both ship with a stylus included and neither offers a detachable or backlit keyboard in the box, putting them on equal footing for out-of-box accessory value.

The single most decisive differentiator in this group is water resistance: the Tab S11 Ultra carries a waterproof rating while the OnePlus Pad 3 offers none. For users who work near water, use their tablet outdoors, or simply want peace of mind against spills, this is a meaningful real-world advantage. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra holds a clear design edge — it is thinner, its waterproofing adds genuine durability, and the marginal weight penalty is negligible.

The most fundamental split here is panel technology. The OnePlus Pad 3 uses an LCD IPS panel while the Tab S11 Ultra deploys an OLED/AMOLED display — a difference that cascades through almost every real-world visual metric. OLED produces true blacks by turning off individual pixels entirely, delivering infinite contrast ratios and far more vivid color depth than LCD can match. Combined with a typical brightness of 1000 nits on the S11 Ultra versus 500 nits on the Pad 3, Samsung's screen will perform dramatically better in bright outdoor or sunlit-room conditions where LCD panels tend to wash out.

Where the OnePlus Pad 3 punches back is in sharpness. Its 3392 x 2400 resolution across a 13.2″ screen yields a pixel density of 315 ppi — considerably crisper than the S11 Ultra's 239 ppi at the same viewing distance. That gap is genuinely visible when reading fine text or examining detailed illustrations up close. The Pad 3 also edges out a faster 144 Hz refresh rate against the S11 Ultra's 120 Hz, which translates to slightly smoother scrolling and stylus input response, a meaningful perk for note-takers and artists. HDR support diverges too: the Pad 3 supports Dolby Vision, while the S11 Ultra backs HDR10 and HDR10+ — catering to different streaming ecosystems.

Taken together, the two displays make a genuine trade-off rather than a clear sweep. For media consumption, color-critical work, and outdoor use, the Tab S11 Ultra's OLED panel and superior brightness hold a compelling advantage. For reading-heavy tasks, fine-detail work, and buttery-smooth stylus use, the OnePlus Pad 3's higher pixel density and 144 Hz rate are the stronger draw. Users who prioritize picture quality and brightness should favor Samsung; those who value sharpness and refresh rate will lean toward OnePlus.

Both tablets land on the same 3 nm manufacturing process, but their chosen silicon tells very different stories. The OnePlus Pad 3 runs Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite while the Tab S11 Ultra is powered by MediaTek's Dimensity 9400 Plus — and benchmark results give the Edge to Qualcomm. The Pad 3 posts a Geekbench 6 multi-core score of 10,059 against the S11 Ultra's 8,969, a roughly 12% gap, with single-core results following the same pattern (3,234 vs 2,874). Single-core performance in particular drives everyday responsiveness — app launches, UI transitions, and typing latency — making the Pad 3's lead here practically meaningful, not just synthetic.

The RAM picture is more nuanced. Both devices ship with 16 GB of RAM and share an identical maximum ceiling of 24 GB, but their memory speeds diverge sharply. The S11 Ultra uses RAM clocked at a striking 10,667 MHz versus the Pad 3's 5,300 MHz, though memory bandwidth at the system level ends up nearly identical (~85 GB/s for both). In practice this means the architectural pipelines largely absorb the frequency difference, and neither tablet should bottleneck on memory throughput for typical workloads. The Pad 3 does add ECC memory support, which provides error correction useful for data-integrity-sensitive professional tasks — a feature the S11 Ultra omits. On storage, Samsung counters with a substantial 1 TB base configuration plus an external memory slot, versus the Pad 3's 512 GB and no expansion — a meaningful practical advantage for heavy media libraries.

Rounding out the GPU side, the S11 Ultra's Immortalis G925 carries a higher clock speed (1,300 MHz vs 1,100 MHz), which could translate to smoother frame rates in GPU-bound gaming scenarios, partially offsetting the Snapdragon's CPU lead. Overall, the OnePlus Pad 3 holds the performance edge in raw CPU throughput and adds ECC memory, but the Tab S11 Ultra's superior storage capacity and expandability make it the stronger choice for users whose primary concern is managing large amounts of content.

Tablet cameras rarely lead purchasing decisions, but the spec gap here is worth understanding. On the rear, both tablets share a 13 MP main sensor, identical 4K/30fps video ceiling, and the same suite of manual controls — ISO, white balance, exposure, and focus — making them functionally equivalent for document scanning, video calls, and casual photography. The S11 Ultra adds a secondary 8 MP rear camera, which at zero optical zoom is likely an ultrawide lens useful for capturing wider scenes or whiteboards without stepping back.

The front camera story is where the divergence is more impactful for a productivity-oriented device. The OnePlus Pad 3 offers a single 8 MP front shooter, while the Tab S11 Ultra doubles up with dual 12 MP front cameras. Higher-resolution front sensors directly improve video call clarity and detail — a meaningful consideration for professionals using their tablet as a primary conferencing device. The S11 Ultra also supports slow-motion video recording, a capability absent on the Pad 3, adding modest creative flexibility for the rare user who wants it on a tablet.

Across shared features — HDR mode, touch autofocus, continuous autofocus during recording, and a video light — the two are identical, and neither offers optical image stabilization or optical zoom, which limits both in action or distance shooting. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra holds a clear camera edge, driven by its dual front cameras and slow-motion support, advantages that matter most to video callers and content creators. For users who rarely use their tablet's camera beyond scanning and occasional snaps, the difference will go largely unnoticed.

Audio is one of the most level playing fields between these two tablets — with one quiet but notable exception. Both omit a 3.5 mm headphone jack, meaning wired listening requires a USB-C adapter, and neither supports LDAC or any aptX Low Latency/Adaptive/Lossless codec. Both also feature stereo speakers, putting them on equal footing for built-in playback.

The single differentiator is the OnePlus Pad 3's support for aptX HD, a Bluetooth codec that enables 24-bit audio transmission at higher bitrates than standard SBC or AAC. For users with aptX HD-compatible wireless headphones, this means Bluetooth audio that more closely approaches lossless quality — preserving more detail and dynamic range than the S11 Ultra can deliver over Bluetooth. The S11 Ultra supports none of the aptX family of codecs, leaving it reliant on SBC or AAC for wireless audio.

In practice, most casual listeners won't notice the codec difference, especially on a tablet used primarily for media and productivity. But for audiophiles or users with premium wireless headphones, the OnePlus Pad 3 holds a modest but clear audio edge in Bluetooth fidelity. On everything else — speaker configuration and wired connectivity — the two tablets are indistinguishable from these specs alone.

Battery capacity is close between these two large-format tablets, but the OnePlus Pad 3 holds a tangible lead with its 12,140 mAh cell against the Tab S11 Ultra's 11,600 mAh — a difference of 540 mAh, or roughly 4.6%. For devices of this size and power draw, that margin translates to a moderate but real buffer of additional screen-on time over a full day of use, particularly under sustained workloads like video playback or document editing.

Beyond raw capacity, the two tablets are structurally identical in this category: both support fast charging, neither offers wireless charging, and both use sealed non-removable batteries. The absence of wireless charging on devices at this price tier is worth noting — users will be tethered to a cable for every charge cycle. Fast charging support on both at least keeps top-up times reasonable, though the specific wattage is not provided in the specs.

With no differentiators in charging features, the OnePlus Pad 3 takes a narrow battery edge purely on capacity. It is not a dramatic gap, and real-world longevity will depend heavily on display brightness and workload — factors outside this spec group — but on paper the Pad 3 enters each charge cycle with a slightly larger reserve.

The single biggest connectivity divide in this group is mobility. The Tab S11 Ultra includes a cellular module with 5G support and GPS, while the OnePlus Pad 3 has neither — it is a Wi-Fi-only device with no standalone location hardware. For users who travel, commute, or need their tablet to function independently of a hotspot, this is a foundational difference. The S11 Ultra can connect to a mobile data network and navigate on its own; the Pad 3 cannot. The S11 Ultra also adds Galileo satellite navigation support, further strengthening its positioning capabilities.

On pure Wi-Fi throughput, the Pad 3 actually pulls ahead, with a rated download speed of 10,000 Mbits/s versus the S11 Ultra's 7,300 Mbits/s — both running Wi-Fi 7, but with the Pad 3 extracting more headroom from the standard. The S11 Ultra counters with Wi-Fi 6E support, adding access to the less congested 6 GHz band — useful in dense environments like offices or apartments — though both ultimately top out at Wi-Fi 7. Security and authentication also differ: the S11 Ultra includes a fingerprint scanner for biometric unlock, while the Pad 3 relies on other methods entirely.

Across software features — split-screen, picture-in-picture, dark mode, privacy controls, on-device ML, and multi-user support — the two tablets are virtually identical, reflecting mature feature parity at the OS level. The Tab S11 Ultra holds a clear and broad connectivity advantage in this group: cellular independence, GPS, Galileo, a fingerprint scanner, and Wi-Fi 6E collectively make it the more versatile and mobile-ready device. The Pad 3's higher Wi-Fi ceiling is a modest consolation for users who remain desk- or home-bound.

This group contains just two data points, and both are identical across the OnePlus Pad 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra. Both run DDR5 memory and both support multithreading — meaning their processors can handle multiple instruction threads simultaneously, which benefits parallel workloads like background app processing, content rendering, and on-device AI tasks.

DDR5 is the current-generation memory standard, offering higher bandwidth and improved power efficiency over DDR4, and its presence in both tablets confirms that neither is compromising on memory architecture. Multithreading support is equally universal at this tier and expected given both devices use modern 8-thread processors noted in the Performance group.

These specs result in a complete tie. There is no differentiator to analyze here — both tablets are on equal footing across every data point provided in this group, and neither holds any advantage over the other.