Two tablets above $1,000, both with premium displays, both marketed at creative professionals and power users. The Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra is Samsung's best — 14.6", Dynamic AMOLED 2X, S Pen included, Samsung DeX for desktop mode. The iPad Pro 13" M4 has Apple's tandem OLED, the M4 chip, and the deepest creative software ecosystem in tablets. This is the real premium Android vs premium iPad battle.

Specs Comparison

Display: Size vs Quality

The Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra has a 14.6" Dynamic AMOLED 2X display at 2960×1848 (240 ppi), 120Hz adaptive, and 930 nits typical brightness with up to 1750 nits peak. It's a large, beautiful display with excellent color accuracy (100% DCI-P3 coverage per Samsung) and HDR10+ support. The sheer size is stunning — 14.6" is closer to a small laptop screen than a conventional tablet.

The iPad Pro 13" M4 uses Apple's tandem OLED — two stacked OLED panels achieving 1000 nits sustained and 1600 nits peak HDR. Display size is 13" at 2752×2064 (264 ppi). The pixel density advantage goes to iPad (264 vs 240 ppi), and the tandem OLED's sustained 1000 nits is higher than the Tab S10 Ultra's sustained brightness.

Samsung wins on screen size by 1.6 inches — meaningful for split-screen productivity and media. Apple wins on peak brightness and pixel density. Both are among the finest displays on any tablet, and neither will disappoint.

Performance: M4 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

Apple's M4 chip posts Geekbench 6 multi-core scores around 15,000. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (with 12GB RAM in the Tab S10 Ultra) scores around 6,800 multi-core. Single-core: M4 ~3,800 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 ~2,200. The M4 is roughly double the CPU performance of the best Android chip available.

That gap matters in sustained workloads — the M4 sustains performance without thermal throttling better. In a 30-minute video export or running a local LLM, the iPad Pro finishes faster. For browsing, streaming, and email, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is entirely adequate and the gap is invisible.

GPU performance follows a similar pattern: Apple's 10-core GPU outperforms Snapdragon's Adreno 750. For gaming, the iPad Pro runs titles at higher settings with more consistent frame rates. Samsung partially offsets this with 12GB RAM (vs iPad Pro's 8GB at the base tier) which benefits heavy multitasking on Android.

S Pen vs Apple Pencil Pro

The Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra includes the S Pen in the box — no extra cost. Apple Pencil Pro costs $129 separately, and the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro is $349. Accessory costs are a significant factor when comparing total system price.

S Pen has 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt detection, and 2.8ms latency (Samsung's claim). Apple Pencil Pro has similar specs: 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt, and <9ms latency. Both deliver professional-grade drawing accuracy. The Pencil Pro adds barrel roll and squeeze gestures; S Pen adds the Air Actions remote feature for gesture shortcuts at a distance.

For professional illustration, both styluses are world-class. Procreate on iPad is the gold standard app for digital illustration; Samsung's equivalent is Concepts and third-party apps, with Samsung Notes for handwriting. The app ecosystem — not the hardware — is where iPad pulls ahead for art professionals.

Software: iPadOS vs Android with DeX

Samsung DeX transforms the Tab S10 Ultra into a desktop-mode Android environment — windowed apps, a taskbar, keyboard-and-mouse input — that's more genuinely desktop-like than anything iPadOS offers. For Android power users who want their tablet to behave like a PC, DeX is compelling and has no iPad equivalent.

iPadOS has superior tablet-optimized apps. The creative suite — Procreate, LumaFusion, Darkroom, Notability — runs better and with more features on iPad than any Android equivalents. Professional-grade software on iPad is deeper and more mature.

Software longevity: Samsung promises 7 years of OS updates for the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra (through Android 21, approximately 2031). Apple historically supports iPad Pro models for 6+ years. Both have strong update commitments at this price tier.

Price and Accessories Total Cost

Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra starts at $1,099 (256GB) with S Pen included. A Bluetooth keyboard case (Samsung Book Cover Keyboard) adds $179. Total: ~$1,278 for a fully equipped setup.

iPad Pro 13" M4 starts at $1,299 (256GB). Adding Pencil Pro ($129) and Magic Keyboard ($349) brings the total to $1,777. That's a $499 premium over the equivalent Samsung setup.

The accessory cost gap is real and meaningful. If the iPad's software ecosystem doesn't justify $499 more in your use case, the Samsung makes strong financial sense. For creative professionals who rely on Procreate or Final Cut, the software ecosystem closes that gap.

Best For

• Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra Android loyalists, Samsung DeX power users, and anyone who wants a larger display with S Pen included
• Apple iPad Pro 13" M4 Creative professionals who rely on Procreate, LumaFusion, or other iPadOS-exclusive apps

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