The closest Apple rival to Google’s new Pixel Tablet, in terms of price, is the iPad Air (2022). Here’s how the two sub-£700 tablets compare.
The iPad Air seems like the forgotten model in Apple’s tablet range now, with the biggest refreshes coming to the iPad, iPad Mini, and iPad Pro more recently. However, looking at the price, it stands directly opposed to the new Google Pixel Tablet.
The iPad Air was an intriguing device upon its larger update in 2020, becoming a cut-price iPad Pro as opposed to a boosted iPad. Now though, the iPad itself offers a similar experience to the luxury Pro model, leaving it a tad lost.
By contrast, the Pixel Tablet, as the sole entry in Google’s tablet line-up, has a clear purpose. The new Google Pixel Tablet is the company’s vision for a new hybrid device, with Android and smart home capabilities at its forefront. Here’s how the different visions compare.
Google’s Pixel Tablet comes with a speaker stand
Diving straight into that Google vision, the most eye-catching feature of the Pixel Tablet is its accompanying speaker stand. The stand acts as a speaker, charger and will see your tablet revert to a smart home-friendly interface, in the same vein as the Nest Hub.
It’s a neat idea that anyone already in the Google Home ecosystem should find appealing, or as the extra feature that may intrigue enough to reel some in. Apple currently doesn’t offer anything like this, with a HomePod/iPad hybrid rival rumoured but yet to take shape.
The iPad Air is powered by the M1 chip
Many were stunned when it was revealed that the latest version of the iPad Air would don the excellent Apple M1 chip, a chip that already felt like overkill in the higher-end iPad Pro.
As such, the iPad Air is ready for almost anything you can throw at it in iPadOS, from multimedia to creative work and productivity, particularly with the keyboard accessories on offer.
Being powered by the M1 also means that the iPad Air will be able to take advantage of the just announced iPadOS version of Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro – further enhancing its capabilities as an experience that goes far beyond your typical tablet.
By comparison, the limits of Android are well-documented and we’ll have to see in our testing just how well the Google Tensor G2 performs.
The Pixel Tablet is slightly cheaper
It’s not a gaping chasm of a price difference but £599 for the Pixel Tablet and a starting price of £669 for the iPad Air sees Google’s new device win out on cost. The Google Pixel Tablet also comes with that speaker stand bundled in.
iPad Air is expected to have the upper hand on performance when these chips are put head-to-head but Google does offer better value in the storage department. The base Pixel Tablet comes with 128GB storage, with a 256GB option also available, but there’s no word on pricing yet for the latter. The entry iPad Air sports 64GB and goes up £180 to reach 256GB.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.