Deal | 256 GB Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE with sizeable discount challenges iPad 10th-Gen value

At $449.99, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE ordinarily strikes a very good balance between performance and price, although it is beaten in value by the base model Apple iPad 10th-Genwhich is usually around $100 cheaper - although it, too, is discounted by $50 on Amazon. However, thanks to a 21% discount on Amazon, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE now comes in at just $354.99 on Amazon. The Galaxy Tab S9 FE offers a better screen, better battery life, and 4× as much storage as the iPad that's only $5 cheaper ($55 while the iPad is discounted) and doesn't include a $99 Apple Pencil.

The version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE that's on sale at Amazon is the 10.9-inch tablet with 256 GB of storage, 8 GB of RAM, and Wi-Fi connectivity only. It also comes with Samsung's Wacom-powered S Pen in the box at no extra cost, making it a fantastic deal for digital artists and students that want handwritten notes.

In our review, we praised the Galaxy Tab S9 FE for making the right compromises in order to keep the price down. Instead of Samsung's AMOLED screen, there's a 90 Hz LCD with well over 700 nits of peak brightness and 96.7% coverage of the sRGB color space. Compare that to the Apple iPad 10th-Gen, which maxes out at 489 nits and only has a 60 Hz refresh rate. The Galaxy Tab S9 FE also scored spectacularly in our battery life tests, managing 14 hours and 32 minutes in our web surfing test, compared to the iPad's mere 10 hours and 47 minutes.

What's more, although the iPad 10 is compatible with the Apple Pencil, the Pencil isn't included in the box, and the display isn't fully laminated, whereas the display on the Galaxy Tab S9 FE is. This means there is no air gap between the glass and the pixels on the Galaxy Tab, making sketching and note-taking feel more natural than on the iPad.

Of course, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE isn't without its drawbacks, chief of which is the Exynos 1380 SoCwhich falls short of the Apple A14 Bionic chip in the iPad by a fair margin in benchmarks. That said, this shouldn't matter for anyone but the most hardcore gamers or niche use cases, like video editing and heavy productivity workloads. All things considered, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE serves as a great affordable alternative to the new Galaxy Tab S10 series and more than matches the iPad, especially with quality-of-life features, like the included S Pen and the microSD card expansion.

Check out the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE on Amazon while it is discounted to $354.99.