Pixel Tablet vs. iPad (10th Generation): Has Google Got It Right?

Has Google finally created a genuine competitor to the iPad? Here's how the Pixel Tablet compares to Apple's best.

Tablets in the Android space have been few and far between in recent years, with Samsung being the only manufacturer that makes devices that could compete with the iPad.

But, a teaser of the Pixel Tablet in 2022 and Google's insistence on trying to create its ecosystem of Pixel devices had us curious. And at I/O 2023, Google revealed the Pixel Tablet—which starts at $499—in all its glory. Has the company finally made a rival to the $449 iPad (10th Generation)? Let's take a look.

The Pixel Tablet offers an aluminum frame covered with a nano-ceramic coating, which Google says helps replicate the look and feel of porcelain. And it's available in three different finishes—Porcelain (beige), Hazel (olive), and Rose (a salmon-like shade).

On the back, you'll see pogo pins, which serve as the point of connection for the tablet with its charging speaker dock—included with all retail models. Flip around to the front, and you'll see a display surrounded by a striking white bezel—only the Hazel color comes with a black bezel—with the front-facing camera set in landscape orientation.

Coming to the iPad, the tablet adopts the square-edged aluminum chassis design, which we have seen become the norm since the iPad Pro redesign in 2018. It's available in four solid colors—Silver, Blue, Pink, and Yellow. As for the front, Apple uses a black bezel, which helps make the display look more seamless. And in a first for iPad, the front camera is placed in landscape orientation.

The iPad also features a pogo-pin connector—called the Smart Connector—on its left edge, not the back panel.

But not all is different in these tablets, as they share a few design aspects, like power buttons with embedded fingerprint sensors and USB-C ports for interfacing with storage devices, chargers, and other external accessories.

Regarding the displays, both tablets feature LCD panels that are very similar in size, with the Pixel only marginally bigger. They also have the same refresh rate and brightness levels. In a head-to-head comparison, there's little difference that you'll notice, but the availability of True Tone on the iPad can improve the user experience for those sensitive to blue light.

As for stylus support, both tablets are compatible with the accessory. The Pixel Tablet supports all USI 2.0 stylus pens, while the iPad supports the 1st-generation Apple Pencil (although some argue you don't need a stylus for your iPad).

The Tensor G2 handles performance on the Pixel Tablet; it's the same processor found in the Google Pixel 7 series devices and is also a top feature in the Google Pixel Fold. It's packaged with 8 GB of RAM, and you can choose from two storage variants—128 GB and 256 GB.

As for the iPad, the tablet comes with the A14 Bionic processor, first seen on the iPhone 12, which launched in 2020. And supporting the operating system is 4 GB of RAM along with 64 GB or 256 GB of internal storage.

While the storage is low on the base iPad, the amount of RAM on the two devices isn't comparable due to the differences between iOS and Android.

If you're hoping to get a tablet that will last you for more hours in a day, it looks like the Pixel Tablet will fare better than the iPad. Despite its smaller battery, Google claims the tablet can stream video for 12 hours in a single sitting, whereas the iPad can only manage 10 hours, according to Apple.

In addition, the Pixel Tablet promotes being placed on a dock, as it aims to double as a smart home hub, which means it's likely you'll have the device charged and ready to go more often than the iPad.

For those wondering, Google includes the Charging Speaker Dock in the retail packaging, and it serves as a place to mount your Pixel Tablet and charge it. Apple ships a 20W adapter in its retail packaging to keep the tablet powered.

At launch, the Pixel Tablet will ship with Android 13. It'll be a version of the operating system that comes with additions that make Android on tablets more useful.

But from the looks of it, with this iteration of the Pixel Tablet, Google seems to have less of a focus on productivity and more on offering a multimedia device that can be shared by the family. The lack of an official keyboard accessory at launch also seems indicative of this mindset.

So, if you're looking for a more robust experience with tools built for productivity, we believe the iPad will serve as the better option. It already has a developed ecosystem of apps, and its ability to interact with other Apple devices, plus the availability of a plethora of third-party accessories, makes it a very attractive offering.

If you've been on the hunt for a device to share among the members of your family, the Pixel Tablet seems to be a great option. Its use of the Tensor G2 will mean the tablet can handle games played by kids, whereas its ability to transition into a hub for your smart home or a multimedia device makes it great for adults.

But if you're looking for a tool that can help you efficiently multitask, the iPad is a device you can't go wrong with choosing for your activities. The number of years the iPad has spent reaching this point is something Google will have to tackle in the coming years, not with this first-generation product.

As a Staff Writer at MUO, Aryan's work focuses on writing concise yet informative articles covering smartphones, wearables, gaming consoles, and more.He aims to capture and deliver the often-missed minute details to help you understand devices better. Enabling this is his experience using some of the latest hardware from the likes of Apple, Google, and Samsung since 2019.