Apple has been upholding the tablet gold standard since its release of the first iPad back in 2010. Now, years later, and the Cupertino-headquartered company is facing some serious competition in the tablet market, especially with Samsung rolling out its latest Galaxy Tab S line. 

Perhaps this is the first time Samsung has packed in everything it is known for into its tablet line-up, from the ultra high-resolution Super AMOLED displays to powerful octa-core processors and even top-end graphics chips.

However, Apple is still the reigning champion in the tablet world and its iPad Air is somewhat difficult to top. Although the Apple tablet is loved by fans and critics alike, Samsung has some of its own impressive offerings. Below is a brief comparison of the specs and features between the two devices.

Apple iPad Air

The iPad Air is the Hercules among tablets, having an ultra-thin design, wonderfully user-friendly interface, and a spectacular display. In fact, no other tablet in the 10-inch category presently comes close to it. Precisely speaking, the iPad Air has a 9.7-inch display with Retina-class resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels and 264 PPI.

Powered by A7 processor, the iPad Air is among the fastest tablets available. Its 64-bit A7 system is able to deal with bigger chunks of data compared to the 32-bit processors. Its power management is also one of the best.

The iPad Air has a 5-megapixel iSight camera, which can record HD videos at 1080p. However, one cannot expect iPad cameras to be similar to their iPhone counterparts. On the front, the device has an HD FaceTime camera, while the battery is rated for 10 hours of usage.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5

Recently, Samsung has announced two variants of it latest Galaxy Tab S series and both these sizes target current iPads. However, in the usual Samsung approach, both Galaxy Tab S devices have larger displays.

Samsung's 10.5-inch tablet is equipped with a WQXGA (2560×1600, 16:10) Super AMOLED display, which has a slightly larger resolution compared to the iPad Air. Even in terms of pixel density, Samsung has beaten the iPad Air. The Korean company's latest devices have a pixel density of 288 PPI. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.5 Wi-Fi weighs 465g and its LTE version weighs 467g. The iPad Air is also about the same weight at 469g. At 6.6 mm, Samsung's tablet is also thinner compared to the iPad Air, which is 7.5 mm thick.