Best tablet for watching movies 2023 - Our top picks


If you're on the hunt for the best tablet for watching movies, you've come to the right place.

Tablets are a great middle-ground option between laptops and smartphones when it comes to watching films.

The convenience of being able to take a tablet travelling with you coupled with a larger screen makes for the ideal portable entertainment station, and the advantages don't stop there.

Typically, audio quality on a tablet is superior to phones (and in some cases laptops too, particularly if you have one of the latest iPads), and that's great if you're watching movies with a group.

In terms of what to look out for, you're really going for picture quality, audio quality, and screen size.

One somewhat complex feature with tablets is resolution, which doesn't exactly follow the same classifications as monitors and TVs. Put simply, the bigger the number, the better, but thanks to pixel density even FHD tends to look pretty good, as is the case with many of the best budget portable monitors too.

We've selected these tablets based on specs, features, and anything else they have that we think would make them great for watching movies.

Let's dive in.

Best tablet for watching movies

Best high-end tablet for watching movies - iPad Pro

best tablet for movies ipad pro image
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Credit: Apple
Screen Size: 12.9" | Resolution: 2732x2048 | Camera: 12MP Wide Camera 10MP Ultrawide | Battery Life: 10 Hours | Storage: Up to 2TB | Ram: 16GB

Apple has been in the game for a long while, and it's clear they know how to make quality mobile devices. The iPad Pro comes right at the top of the price range, but it certainly has some features that make it worthy.

What's the first spec that comes to mind when you think about films? The screen, and the iPad Pro doesn't slack when it comes to this department, sporting a huge 12.9 inches of Liquid Retina XDR display with 1600 nits of brightness, TrueTone technology and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. That's a lot to fit in one screen, hence why it made it into our list of best tablets for illustrators.

The iPad Pro, of course, comes with Apple's proprietary Thunderbolt ports, which enable transfer speeds of up to 40 gigabits. And 5G capability, so you can always access top-range speeds.

Read More: Best tablet under 100

The iPad Pro runs off the Apple M1 chip which has 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, for a total of 8 cores and a 16-core Neural Engine.

Best All-Round Tablet - Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+

best tablet for movies samsung galaxy tab s8+ image
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Credit: Samsung
Screen Size: 12.4" Resolution: 1600x2560 Camera: 13MP Wide Camera 6MP Ultrawide 12MP Selfie Battery Life: 8000 mAh Storage: 128-512GB Ram: 8GB

Samsung has created a pretty powerful tablet for the android market, that's brilliant for watching films on its 12.4" screen that boasts a resolution of 1600x2560.

A big screen isn't the only benefit that the Galaxy Tab S8+, its sound system is superb with 4 speakers that allow you to listen to high-quality audio, giving you a real cinema experience right inside your home.

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You can store many films on the 512 Gigabytes of storage that are available to you. If you pair that with an 8000 mAh battery, you get a device that is great for binging films on.

Though not particularly useful for watching films, the tablet also comes with the S - Pen, giving this powerful tablet lots of use outside of the world of film.

Best Budget Tablet - Huawei Mediapad T3

best tablet for films Huawei Mediapad T3
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Credit: Huawei
Screen Size: 9.6" Resolution: 800 x 1280 Camera: 5MP Rear Camera 2MP Front Camera Battery Life: 4800 mAh Storage: 16GB Ram: 1GB

Huawei's Mediapad T3 provides an economical entry to the world of watching films on a tablet. Though the Mediapad T3's specs wouldn't make it a great candidate for gaming or illustration, it comes with some features that make it suitable for films, as the name would suggest.

Its battery size of 4800mAh may not seem impressive until you realise that it actually grants a battery life of up to 10 hours, similar to the other devices on the list, this is due to its processor which doesn't use up much power.

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Unlike a lot of tablets in the Mediapad's price range, it comes with dual stereo speakers, so you don't have to be suffering from mono sound even when you're watching films on a budget.

The price point is so good that we even included it on our best tablet under 100 list.

All in all, if you're looking for a cheap device that's specialised in watching media, Huawei seem to have a great option for you.

Best tablet with Alexa - Fire HD 10

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Credit: Amazon
Screen Size: 10.1" Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Camera: 5MP Rear Camera 2MP Front Camera Battery Life: Up to 12 Hours Storage: 32/64GB Ram: 3GB

Amazon's Fire tablet series fits the movie-watching market like a glove.

To begin with, its operating system FireOS optimised for Amazon's prime video streaming service and comes with Alexa, Amazon's proprietary voice recognition assistant.

If the software wasn't enough to sway you, its 1920x1080 HD screen that can last up to 12 hours might change your mind. The Fire 10 also comes with a respectable 3GB of Ram and 32/64GB of storage which can be expanded up to 1TB via microSD.

Read more: Best budget tablet for drawing

As for audio, the Fire 10 has dual-stereo speakers and a 3.5mm jack, so you have two great options for watching films.

This tablet also occupies the lower end of the market, so you can have all these benefits at a more than reasonable price.

Best tablet for screen size - Lenovo Yoga Tab 13

best tablet for film lenovo yoga tab 13
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Credit: Lenovo
Screen Size: 13" Resolution: 2160 x 1350 Camera: 8MP Front Camera Battery Life: Up to 12.6 Hours Storage: 128/256GB Ram: 8GB

Lenovo finishes off this list with a mammoth tablet suitable for more than just watching films. As the name might suggest, the Lenovo Yoga Tab 13 dons a whole 13 inches of screen running in 2K resolution. That's one beastly display.

The screen alone would be enough to put it on this list, but fortunately for us, the Yoga Tab has a lot more, like its 10200mAh battery which gives it a life of up to 12.6 hours, so if you were planning on binge-watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy, you'd have some battery to spare.

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On top of that, 8GB of Ram, 128/256GB of base storage and an octa-core Qualcomm processor put this tablet in the running for one of the best tablets overall, let alone in the realm of film.

One last treat that Lenovo has for you is the Quad-Stereo speakers, so you can get all the depth of sound that you're looking for from your handheld cinema.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which device is best for watching movies?

That all depends on your needs, the market has expanded so much that many devices are now suitable for watching movies. In terms of pure convenience, we think that tablets are one of the best options, especially if you're going to be on the move.

Modern tablets can offer HD graphics on screens the size of a small laptop's, whilst being much lighter and easier to carry. Of course, you're not going to get the same quality as a 4K Tv screen, but then again, you might struggle to take that on a plane.

Can you watch Netflix on a tablet?

You most certainly can, but it's worth checking the compatibility for the device you'd like to buy, because though most tablets are compatible with Netflix, not every tablet is.

Which is better iPad or Tablet?

This question is slightly redundant because an iPad is a type of tablet. iPads tend to be on the higher end of the market, and as such come with great specs and highly optimised software.

If you are looking for something that suits a tighter budget, you might be better off looking at some of the Android tablets on this list, which are still very capable of watching films.

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