Apple unveiled its new tablets yesterday. The company had been due to unveil new iPads for some time now and it refreshed the entire lineup, with the latest iPad Pro being particularly noteworthy, as it represents the best of Apple's tablets.
Much has been made about the thin profile of the new iPad Pro. The 13-inch iPad Pro, a direct competitor to the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, measures just 5.1mm thin, compared to the Tab S9 Ultra's 5.5mm. There's also the new OLED screen and a new chipset. Despite these improvements, last year's Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra still boasts some features that the new iPad Pro wishes it had.
Nano-SIM and eSIM support
These tablets have cellular network compatibility, enabling users to use mobile data on 5G and legacy networks. Both of these devices have eSIM support. Users can easily configure eSIMs on compatible networks and start using mobile data. It's a particularly useful feature for those who travel, as they can have data service ready to go the moment they land in another country.
Apple has only opted to offer eSIM support on the new iPad Pro. The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra offers both nano-SIM and eSIM support. While considerably widespread, eSIM networks aren't available globally, so it's quite possible that users may find themselves somewhere they must use a physical SIM to access mobile data on their tablet. The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra provides them with this flexibility, otherwise it's just eSIM or no data at all.
IP68 Water and Dust Resistance
Samsung fulfilled our long-standing demand of making its tablets water and dust resistant with the Galaxy Tab S9 series. Previous flagship models from the company didn't have this capability and we had felt that it would go a long way in making the Galaxy tablets stand out from the competition, particularly the iPad.
So even through the new iPad Pro boasts improvements in many aspects, it loses out on this crucial durability element. It doesn't have the same IP68 water and dust resistance rating as the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, it doesn't have one at all, so while you can easily chill by the pool with your latest Samsung tablet, you'd be far more concerned about an accidental drop with the iPad Pro.
MicroSD card Slot
A lot of Samsung fans aren't too happy with the company's decision to remove the microSD card from flagship phones, but it hasn't made that decision for its flagship tablets yet. The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra features a microSD card slot, allowing for external expansion of the storage.
Apple has never been a fan of microSD expansion so it's not surprising to see that its flagship tablet doesn't have this capability. Since both of these tablets are meant for power users, ideally as a permanent fixture in their workflow, external memory expansion is a very useful feature as it makes it very easy to add more storage that's also easily swappable.
Display size
At 13-inches, the new iPad Pro has one of the largest displays yet on an Apple tablet. Yes, there are merits to the Tandem OLED technology that the company has created for this device with the help of Samsung, but it's still not as astonishingly large as the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra.
Samsung's flagship tablet has a massive 14.6-inch display. It also has a larger screen-to-body ratio of 90.7% compared to the iPad Pro's 86.9%. Bigger is always better when it comes to display size, and with Samsung's exceptional OLED panel quality, the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra provides an exceptionally immersive viewing experience for gaming and entertainment.
Price
The 256GB iPad Pro starts at $1,299, a full $100 expensive than the 256GB Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, that starts at $1,199. It's an objectively great deal to buy this tablet, as you get a product that's superior to the iPad Pro in many aspects and is undoubtedly the best Android tablet on the market.
Samsung routinely offers promotional pricing on the tablet so you can end up saving even more. You can buy the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra from Samsung for $1,049 right now. The price has been reduced for a limited time, likely due to the iPad Pro's launch, so if there was ever a time to pick one up, it is now.
