Amazon’s newest and best pill shares some key similarities to Apple’s high-end iPads, however the satan is within the particulars.
Amazon’s new Alexa Tablets, square-one reimaginings of the corporate’s reasonably priced pill lineup, owe loads to the iPad. And the way might they not? Apple’s household of tablets has turn out to be synonymous with the shape issue globally, so why would not Amazon take inspiration from their slim, all-aluminum designs and high-quality screens? Nowhere is that inspiration extra obvious, although, than within the Alexa Pill 12 Professional, probably the most premium of Amazon’s new choices and a transparent competitor to the iPad Professional.
The Alexa Pill 12 Professional encompasses a 12-inch, high-refresh fee LCD display, assist for keyboard and stylus equipment that make it a possible productiveness instrument and the Play Retailer, a correct place to get premium apps after Hearth Tablets have been saddled with the restricted choice within the Amazon Appstore for years.
The 13-inch iPad Professional trades Android for iPadOS and provides in a laptop-quality M-series processor, however in any other case does all the identical issues. Regardless of these similarities, Amazon’s cheaper value would not essentially imply you are getting the identical expertise for a steal. Here is how Amazon’s new Alexa Pill 12 Professional compares.
Amazon and Apple’s pill shows go toe-to-toe
If there’s one characteristic that is actually meant to be the focus of the Alexa Pill 12 Professional, it is the show. That is intentional, in keeping with Amazon’s Panos Panay. In briefings with Engadget and different retailers, he mentioned that the pill’s display was designated because the “one factor” the corporate would not compromise on. For the Alexa Pill 12 Professional, which means it has a 12-inch LCD touchscreen with a 2,800 x 1,840 decision (280ppi), 500 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh fee.
Kudos to Amazon, as a result of by at the least one metric, that is a step up from the show Apple used on the 13-inch iPad Professional. Each firms provide totally different side ratios and show sizes so the comparability is not good, however the OLED display on the 13-inch iPad Professional technically delivers fewer pixels per inch at 264ppi than the Alexa Pill, even when it presents an identical 120Hz refresh fee and a better 2,752 x 2,064 decision.
Apple does have Amazon beat relating to show expertise: the iPad maker makes use of a tandem OLED panel that provides increased distinction and a a lot increased brightness of 1,000 nits on the iPad Professional, double what the Alexa Pill 12 Professional presents.
Which display finally appears to be like higher might come right down to style, however the varied glass therapies the businesses provide might change that math. On the $550 Alexa Pill 12 Professional, that is Amazon’s new “Nanomatte” end, a glass etching the corporate co-developed with Corning that reduces glare and offers the pill extra of a paper-like look whenever you’re utilizing the Kindle app. On the $2,199 1TB 13-inch iPad Professional, that is Apple’s nano-texture glass, the identical matte end it presents on its high-end shows. The iPad Professional’s nano-texture glass is just obtainable on the costlier 1TB and 2TB fashions whether or not you purchase an 11-inch or 13-inch iPad, so should you’re taken with a matte show, the Alexa Pill 12 Professional can provide it to you for a a lot lower cost.
The Alexa Pill 12 Professional is not fairly bringing laptop-class efficiency
What the Alexa Pill 12 Professional would not actually provide is efficiency or energy that is equal to a standard laptop. The MediaTek Dimensity 8400 chip Amazon makes use of for the pill was initially launched in 2024 and primarily supposed for smartphones. It is greater than able to the net searching, video streaming and light-weight productiveness duties Amazon imagines folks will use Alexa Tablets for, nevertheless it’s not a laptop computer SOC just like the M5 chip within the iPad Professional.
In comparison with Apple’s tablets, the Alexa Pill 12 Professional additionally has much less reminiscence to play with: the 128GB mannequin solely has 8GB of RAM and the 256GB mannequin has 16GB of RAM. Apple’s iPad Professionals ship with 12GB at least and 16GB on 1TB and 2TB fashions. Mixed, these specs give the iPad extra processing energy for inventive duties like modifying and rendering video, and probably quicker AI efficiency, too.
Android can also be a possible limitation. Whereas operating the working system means Alexa Tablets can obtain and run much more apps than they ever might with Hearth OS and the Amazon Appstore, there are nonetheless fewer bespoke pill apps on the Play Retailer than there are on Apple’s App Retailer. That state of affairs will proceed to enhance over time, but when your means to make the Alexa Pill 12 Professional your go-to laptop hinges on a selected, area of interest app, the percentages are higher that it has a pill model on the App Retailer.
In case you’re particularly taken with profiting from the companies you get as an Amazon Prime subscriber, although, the Alexa Pill 12 Professional can do issues an iPad cannot, each when it comes to recommending content material to learn and watch, and integrating with its AI assistant Alexa+. The brand new Alexa Pill presents a software program tab within the high left nook of the house display that frequently recommends new issues to strive throughout Amazon’s companies and a Kindle mode that mechanically turns off notifications and shifts the colour of the pill’s display whenever you open a ebook. Alexa+ may also be simply accessed with a swipe up from the underside proper nook of the display. When it comes to performance, Siri AI is far nearer to Alexa+ than it was pre-iPadOS 27, however Amazon’s AI assistant nonetheless connects to a a lot bigger ecosystem of good dwelling merchandise, which makes it a greater choice if you have already got a Ring doorbell or digicam.
Amazon’s pricing is likely to be its finest characteristic total
Setting apart the distinctive benefits of the iPad Professional and the Alexa Pill 12 Professional, Amazon nonetheless manages to undercut Apple relating to value. Its new pill begins at $500 for a shiny display or $550 for a matte end. An 11-inch iPad Professional, in the meantime, begins at $1,199 or $1,499 should you get a 13-inch iPad Professional. And you may’t even get a matte show for both measurement until you are keen to pay at the least $1,799 for the 11-inch mannequin or $2,099 for the 13-inch mannequin.
Add equipment like a stylus and keyboard and the value distinction turns into much more excessive. Apple will promote you a 13-inch iPad Professional for $1,499, an Apple Pencil Professional for $129 and a Magic Keyboard for $349, for a grand complete of $1,977. Amazon is promoting a bundle with the Alexa Pill 12 Professional, Alexa Pill Professional Keyboard and Alexa Pill Professional Pen for $650. If value is the principle impediment between you and residing the massive pill life-style of your goals, Amazon is making that impediment simpler to beat.
