Top 5 Best Tablet Processors for 2025

Best Tablet Processors

Hi there. Let me humbly welcome you to the year, 2025. Today I’ve decided to do things a little differently this time around. With it being the first month of 2025, I’ve decided let’s do an overview of the best tablet processors that help make our mobile devices great. So if you’ve been curious about why the tablets feel so smooth as you navigate between menus, with awesome graphics, or you’re looking for the best tablet in the market right now, you’ve most certainly come to the right place. Without wasting any more time, here are the top 5 best tablet processors. 

Apple A14 Bionic

The first of the five is the A14 Bionic processor from Apple, which made its debut as the power source for the 2020 iPad Air and the 2020 iPhone 12 series smartphones. The first 5nm processor was said to perform up to 50% faster than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip. 

The 6-core processor, with the 4-core graphics processor, provided this significant performance improvement, increasing performance by 40% and 30%, respectively. A stated 80% improvement in machine learning speed was made possible by the A14 Bionic’s improved neural engine, which included 16 cores instead of the eight that Apple had introduced with the A12 Bionic.

With the release of the A14 Bionic in 2022, Apple upgraded the base iPad with a new 10.9-inch screen and the processing capabilities of the A14 Bionic.

The 10th-generation Apple iPad outperformed the Android tablets in performance alone thanks to the upgraded processor, which reportedly provided three times the performance of the seventh-generation iPad. And the A14 Bionic’s top-performing tablet was the fourth-generation iPad Air.

Overall, the Apple A14 Bionic chip ran a lot of Apple’s mobile devices, even the infamous Apple iPhone 12 series smartphones. Although it’s a dated processor, it’s still one of the best performers for iPads and iPhones of its era.

Here are the tablets powered by the Apple A14 Bionic processor:

Be sure to check out the Apple iPhone 12 series smartphones as well, powered by the Apple A14 Bionic

• iPhone 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 12 Pro
• iPhone 12
• iPhone 12 Mini

Apple A15 Bionic

Next is the A15 Bionic processor from Apple. With its 6-core processor and 5-core graphics processor, this chip made its debut in 2021 with Apple’s sixth-generation iPad mini and iPhone 13 series smartphones. 

Given that the CPU and GPU are still among the top five quickest, despite being three years old, Apple’s A15 Bionic was said to be 50% faster than Qualcomm’s processor in performance.

However, the A15 Bionic was also a significant improvement for people who were already part of the Apple ecosystem. According to the firm, the new iPad mini, with the A15 Bionic processor, had a significant boost in CPU and graphics performance, respectively, than the previous iPad Mini.

When paired with the machine learning enhancements from Apple’s 16-core Neural Engine, which was unveiled with the A14 Bionic, the new iPad mini could process machine learning tasks twice as quickly. Although the A15 Bionic didn’t significantly outperform the A14 Bionic with raw performance, it’s still one of the best. 

Here are the tablet powered by the A15 Bionic:

Be sure to check out the Apple iPhone 13 series powered by the A15 Bionic:

• iPhone 13
• iPhone 13 Pro
• iPhone 13 Pro Max
• iPhone 14 
• iPhone 14 Plus

Apple M1

For the majority of their existence, Apple’s iPad Pros and smartphones essentially shared processors, included in improved model versions. When Apple unveiled the 3rd generation 11-inch iPad Pro and the 5th generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro in 2021, everything changed. These, which featured Apple’s M1 processor, which had made its debut in laptops like the Apple M1 MacBook Air a year earlier, reduced the performance difference between Apple’s premium tablets and laptops.

It should come as no surprise that this new processor provided significant performance improvements used in the previous generation of iPad Pros since the M1 was essentially an 8-core desktop and laptop processor.

With additions like a 16-core Neural Engine, an image signal processor (ISP), and high-speed RAM, Apple promised 50% greater processing performance and 40% quicker graphics performance.

The final product was a tablet that, in theory, could have taken the place of most laptops, but recent evaluations of the iPad Pro suggested that iPadOS prevented it from doing so.

Overall, when it comes to performance, the iPad Pros were undisputed. Despite their restrictive operating system, the M1 chip still excels even now. 

Here are two tablets or iPads powered by the Apple M1 chip:

Apple M2

In 2022, Apple introduced the new iPad Pro, powered by the Apple M2 processor, despite holding an unchallenged dominance. With two significant improvements to try to persuade owners of M1 iPad Pros to upgrade, there were no changes to the size options, as they were similar to the previous generation, measuring 11 and 12.9 inches, and had essentially the same features.

Midway through 2022, the Apple M2 processor made its appearance with a far more powerful 10-core graphics processor and an improved 8-core CPU, replacing the M1’s seven or eight-core GPUs. The outcome was a remarkable 35% increase in graphics rendering and up to 15% higher CPU performance.

The M2-powered iPad Pros are now even more capable of machine learning tasks than they were previously, which also enabled the M2’s Neural Engine to execute 40% more operations than the M1.

The inclusion of Apple Pencil Hover was the largest improvement on the M2 iPad Pro, even with the improved performance. The Hover, which allowed the tablet to detect and recognize the stylus from up to 12 millimetres away from the screen, was a favourite feature among iPad users.

This feature allowed for both practical behaviours like brush and eraser previews in drawing apps and aesthetically pleasing UX details like app icons and text fields enlarging before you touch them.

With it being another great processor, the Apple M2 is the second on the list. Bringing overall faster performance and creativity options for artists, the M2-iPad Pro tablets are the most reliable.

Here are three tablets powered by the Apple M2 chip:

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

Our runner-up in the Android tablet processor side is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. Despite not being the most recent release of Qualcomm’s flagship CPU, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 proudly leads the Android tablet market thanks to Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S9 tablets.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1’s widely reported heat problems prevented it from outperforming the Snapdragon 888 it replaced, therefore Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 processors didn’t get off to the best start.

Fortunately, Qualcomm resolved the issue with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 before launching the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in 2022. Although Qualcomm’s primary focus was on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2’s AI capabilities, the chip also promised significant performance and efficiency gains. The company claimed a 40% higher CPU power efficiency and 25% better GPU performance.

Upon testing, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processing results were significantly better than those of its predecessor, particularly in the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9.  Speaking of the Tab S9, it was ranked as the best tablet for students and rivals the iPad Pro thanks to its features. 

Being the runner-up, it’s good to see that Android tablet users can appreciate powerful tablets that rival the iPads from Apple. Despite the tablets being priced less, the performance remains impressive even if it closely matches that of the most powerful processor.    

Here are tablets that are including the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2:

Apple M4

Despite the introduction of the Apple M3 chip towards the end of 2023, Apple maintained its dominance of the market for a few years with the Apple M2.

The iPad Pro M2’s performance advantage over Android competitors was so great that Apple could have continued producing it without any problems for the next few years. Yet in mid-2024, Apple released the new iPad Pro with the newer Apple M4 processors, a significant upgrade over the previous iPad Pro. 

A new Ultra Retina XDR display, a new thin body, and the power of Apple’s newest and finest CPU were all features of the iPad Pro, which was entirely enlarged to 11 and 13 inches.

With its 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, the Apple M4 boasts a claimed 1.5x processing performance boost over the M2 iPad Pro while consuming half the power thanks to new hardware capabilities and ML accelerators.

Since the most basic iPad Pros only have a nine-core CPU, Apple restricts the M4’s full capabilities to a premium upgrade. Additionally, the iPadOS software continues to be a hindrance. 

Overall, the Apple M4 chip takes the number 1 spot on the list, making it the fastest tablet processor of this year. Optimizing the amazing Apple iPad Pro, it’s evident the tablet is smoother and faster than ever before.  

Here’s the tablet with the M4 processor:

• Be sure to check out the review of the Apple iPad Pro (M4)

To end off

And there you have it, our top 5 best tablet processors. I hope this post will help you find your ideal tablet for 2025, and beyond. If you have any comments or queries, and you want to express yourself, please use the comments section here below. Well, that’s a wrap from me. Continue to explore this here platform. Who knows, you may end up finding more than you know. Take care until next time 😀