This Samsung Galaxy Tab deal decimates the entry-level iPad

The iPad tends to be the go-to tablet for most people, but starting at £369, it’s not exactly the most affordable way to enjoy entertainment and gaming on the big screen – especially when Amazon’s limited-time deals are at play, making the affordable Android competition even more tempting.

More specifically, Amazon is offering a limited-time deal on Samsung’s entry-level Galaxy Tab A9+. While the tablet normally costs £239, it’s now available for just £189 with 64GB of storage in the silver finish. That’s almost half the price of Apple’s £369 ninth-gen iPad, making it a really tempting choice for those on a budget.

In fact, looking at Amazon product tracker Keepa, we can see that this is the cheapest the tablet has been at Amazon since it first appeared, making it a particularly good find.

It’s not to be sniffed at either; the Galaxy Tab A9+ not only has a larger 11-inch screen than the competing 10.2-inch iPad, but at 90Hz, it’s smoother and faster too. It also has slimmer bezels than Apple’s tablet, more akin to the newer iPad 10 than the iPad 9, and it has an updated aluminium chassis that looks nicer than the aged design of the competing iPad. 

There’s also the fact that, while it comes with 64GB of storage by default, you can expand that to a whopping 1TB via microSD. There’s no such option with Apple’s iPad, meaning you’re stuck with the 64GB base storage it comes with. 

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ also boasts the combination of the Snapdragon 695 chipset and 4GB of RAM, which should deliver solid everyday performance, though it may not be quite up to the processing power of the competing A13 Bionic from Apple’s iPad – it is one of the tablet’s biggest strengths, after all. 

Of course, the biggest differentiating factor between the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ and the ninth-gen iPad is software. Where the iPad runs Apple’s iPadOS 17, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ comes with Android out of the box. In fact, Samsung’s tablet recently got the update to the latest version of Android, Android 14, with the company’s OneUI 6.1 on top. 

There are plenty of differences between the two operating systems and you’ve already likely made your mind up about which you prefer, whether that’s the more polished approach to iPadOS or the openness of Android, but it’s worth noting nonetheless. 

With that all in mind, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ is a solid Android alternative to the iPad 9, especially at such a cheap price point. If you’re tempted, you’d better be quick!