Last week, Apple unveiled the iPad Air 5 tablet, surprising buyers with a powerful upgrade. The mid-range iPad features the same M1 system-on-chip (SoC) as the 2021 iPad Pro and several Macs. Benchmarks revealed Apple didn’t change the M1 SoC in the iPad Air 5, supporting the idea that mid-range Android tablets can’t match its performance. But a recent development shows that the iPad Air 5 is not only a big headache for Google but also for Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Tab S8 tablet.
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The Galaxy Tab S8 series represents the best possible Android alternative to the iPad Pro. But all three versions of the Galaxy Tab S8 suffer from the same app acceleration problem as the Galaxy S22.
What’s the difference between the iPad Air and the iPad Pro?
With the new iPad Air 5, you get a 10.9-inch display, the M1 SoC, 64GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, all for $599. These are the basic specifications of the iPad Air 5 that will satisfy the needs of most tablet users.
The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $799. The $200 price increase gets you double the storage space, a slightly larger and brighter screen with ProMotion support, a second ultraWide camera and LiDAR sensor on the back, and Face ID authentication instead of Touch ID.
The Galaxy Tab S8 tablets are all meant to be rivals to the iPad Pro. The cheapest model starts at $700. You’ll have to pay $200 more for the Plus, then another $200 for the Ultra. You read that right: the S8 tops out at $1,100.
Samsung’s flagship tablets start with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and feature OLED displays. The base model has an 11-inch screen, which means it’s about as big as the iPad Air 5.
All Galaxy Tab S8 models are powered by the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, which is an alternative to the A15 Bionic, not a competitor to the M1. And the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 can’t even outperform the iPhone 13’s chip in benchmarks or real-world tests.
Even without the acceleration issues, the new Snapdragon is not in the same league as the M1.
Samsung’s app acceleration controversy
Samsung has pre-loaded an app on various Android devices that can reduce the performance of thousands of apps. It’s called Game Optimization Service or GOS, and it’s supposed to affect games primarily. Unfortunately, it affects thousands of apps that should not be affected.
GOS reduces performance to prevent the Galaxy S22 and other phones from overheating. This avoids draining the battery, as the processor speed is reduced.
It is also worth noting that GOS reduces the performance of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Exynos 2200. These are the two SoCs that power the Galaxy S22 range.
The Galaxy Tab S8 suffers from the same problem, even though the tablets are much larger than the Galaxy S22 phones. In theory, Samsung could have significantly improved the cooling system of all three tablets. And since they all have much larger batteries, the battery life concerns are not as severe. Still, GOS is very much on.
Having the best performance of the flagship Android tablets is an absolute nightmare, especially when the iPad Air 5 offers the performance of an iPad Pro. And the new iPad Air is $100 cheaper than the more affordable Galaxy Tab S8.
Samsung has released a patch for the Galaxy S22 in some regions, allowing users to bypass the GOS throttling. In addition, Samsung apologized to shareholders this week, which shows the extent of the Galaxy S22 controversy. But it’s not yet clear when the Galaxy Tab S8 fix will be implemented.
Galaxy Tab S8 range excluded from Geekbench 5
The news that Apple didn’t change the M1 performance for the iPad Air 5 must be a devastating blow to Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 ambitions. Especially since the new iPad Air was released at the same time as the news that the Galaxy Tab S8 suffers from the infamous app acceleration issue.
What’s worse is that the Galaxy Tab S8 tablets will suffer the same fate as the Galaxy S22 phones for benchmarks. Android Police reports Geekbench will remove the S8 series from its website for cheating. The blog could verify that the Galaxy Tab S8 tablets throttle the performance of resource-intensive apps, but they don’t throttle benchmark testing apps.
It’s a humiliating start for the Galaxy Tab S8 that shows the iPad Pro is still the best “Pro” tablet choice in town. Or the iPad Air 5, if you’re on a tighter budget.
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