To be clear, we are only talking about the basic iPad here, not the iPad Pro version. This is because tablets like the iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface Pro are meant more as laptop replacements rather than simple tablet devices. And honestly, that is a difficult question to answer. Because it depends entirely on what you want out of a tablet. Even if you are willing to go back a few years – metaphorically speaking – and buy an older generation model, you’ll still be hard-pressed to get a price lower than the Fire tablet. And this is before we consider the iPad Pro, which will cost you at least a thousand bucks, if not more. Now technically, it’s possible to install these natively unsupported apps on a Fire tablet through workarounds. But such methods are tricky and often get broken when a new update rolls out. The Apple iPad, in contrast, features all applications available in the Apple ecosystem. This means you get Google apps like Youtube alongside Adobe and Microsoft’s creativity and productivity apps. Winner: Apple iPad The display is a major factor in choosing a tablet, and another area in which the cost of the device ends up playing an important role. And so while the Fire HD 10 is marketed as a multimedia tablet, it is the more expensive iPad that sports a better display. Winner: Even The increased price tag obviously plays a part in this, since you can only fit so much into a $150 device. Especially when the primary function of that device is to serve as an entertainment tablet, not a photography tool. Winner: Apple iPad The CPU of a tablet is often not a deciding factor for most people, since it’s hard to judge how the numbers translate into actual performance. This holds true when comparing these two tablets since they both boast of a multi-core processor with 2Ghz (or higher) clock speed. That being said, the Apple iPad is outfitted with a more sophisticated processor. Named A14 Bionic, the chip contains specialized hardware for machine learning, giving a huge boost to all the new AI algorithms being rolled out. Winner: Even
The Verdict
At the same time, you must remember that this increased quality comes at a price. The iPad 10.9 is priced at more than twice the cost of the Fire HD 10, and most people won’t find the hefty price tag worth it.
