iPad Air Faces Stiff Competition From Sony, Samsung
The iPad Air burst onto the tablet market as the lightest device of its kind available. Since its release it has been one of the fastest selling gadgets Apple has ever produced. Despite the popularity of the device, there are a couple of weaknesses competitors are starting to notice and point out to consumers.
The first weak spot companies like Samsung have taken aim at is the computing power of the newest iPad. The Cupertino company certainly hasn’t come out with a slouch of a tablet, as it has been shown to be plenty fast. There are Android tablets proven to be faster. A recent side by side speed test against the Galaxy Note 10.1 proved the Android machine just a wee bit quicker on the draw.
Despite the Galaxy Note finishing first in the field, the iPad Air actually looked pretty impressive as it finished in second, ahead of tablets like the Google Nexus 7, the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 and in-house competition in the iPad Mini Retina display.
Where competitors believe they might really be able to make some headway in their battle against Apple is with the thinness of the Air. A new commercial showing off Samsung’s Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 demonstrates that while Apple’s new tablet might be thinner than a pencil, The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 is thinner still.
By poking fun at the Cupertino’s marketing campaign while beating them at their own game when it comes to the device’s housing and weight, Samsung is hitting the firm where it hurts the most. Showing off everything the Android tablet can do that its competition can’t is just icing on the lightweight cake.
Sony is taking on the newest iOS king of the hill by attempting to show it too can come out with a super-light and super-thin tablet that also packs plenty of computing power. The International Business Times reports the Sony Xperia Z2 could be the tablet that takes down the Air.
The fact that the Z2 is thinner and lighter is just part of what makes the device so formidable. Tipped for launch during MWC 2014, the tablet has a housing that is just 6.4 mm thick, compared to 7.5 mm for Apple’s thinnest tablet. Sony’s new device also boasts a 10.1-inch full HD 1920 x 1200 pixels WUXGA display, as well as a 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor.
The cameras and battery are also supposed to be top of the line and all these specifications put together could mean some truly stiff competition in 2014 for the iPad Air.
