The next generation of premium Android tablets from Samsung is here and it is one member short. We knew it was coming, but the vanilla 11” slate has been dropped, leaving behind only the 12.4” Plus and 14.6” Ultra models.
For the first time ever, the Tab S slates are powered by a MediaTek chipset, the Dimensity 9300+. This chip is fabbed on a 3rd gen 4nm process by TSMC and features one Cortex-X4 at 3.4GHz, three more X4 cores at 2.85GHz and four Cortex-A720 at 2.0GHz. The GPU is an ARM Immortalis-G720 and there is a MediaTek 790 NPU.
Hardware details aside, Samsung says that compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 inside the Tab S9 generation, the new CPU is 18% faster, the new GPU is 28% faster and the new NPU brings a 14% increase in performance.
The base memory configuration is still 12/256GB for both models with a card slot to add more storage if needed. There is a version with 512GB built-in storage if you need the speed over what microSDs are capable of (this still has 12GB of RAM). The Ultra model is the only one to offer an option with 16GB of RAM and 1TB storage.
The dimensions of both models are almost exactly the same as their Tab S9 predecessors, the only exception is that both are 0.1mm thinner. Also, both are around 15g lighter, while maintaining the IP68 dust and water resistance rating. The slates are made out of enhanced Armor Aluminum.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra
Let’s look at them in a bit more detail. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra has a 14.6” OLED display with 2,960 x 1,848px resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. Notched on top are two cameras: 12MP wide and 12MP ultra wide. This slate has an 11,200mAh battery (same as the Tab S9 Ultra) with the Samsung standard 45W charging.
Interestingly, despite using the same chipset, the two tablets have different connectivity options. Both have Wi-Fi and 5G models. However, the Tab S10 Ultra has sub-6GHz 5G and Wi-Fi 7 (be).
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+
The 5G version of the smaller Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ somehow gets both sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G, but is limited to Wi-Fi 6E (ax). The mmWave will only be available in some regions, depending on the local carriers.
Anyway, the plus model has a 12.4” OLED display with 2,800 x 1,752px resolution. And since there’s only one camera on the front (12MP wide), it’s built into the bezel, so no notches here. Both slates have an anti-reflection coating.
The Tab S10+ has a battery that’s only a bit smaller at 10,090mAh (the same as the Tab S9+) with the usual 45W charging.
Both tablets are launching with Android 14.
The software includes the now familiar Galaxy AI features, but there are new ways to invoke them. The S Pen (which comes bundled with the tablets) can invoke the Air Command with AI for easy access to the Galaxy AI Assistant. Alternatively, if you are using a keyboard cover, there is a dedicated Galaxy AI Key (similar to the Galaxy Book laptops). You get Circle to Search, Sketch to Image and Note Assist – that last one organizes your notes, transcribes and summarizes speech recordings and can even translate PDFs. Handwriting transcription is available, but you can use Handwriting Help to keep the handwritten look but tidy things up a bit and make them more readable.
The Tab S10 slates can also serve as your Galaxy Home AI device. They can create 3D Map Views of your home, making it easy and intuitive to find just the SmartThings device that you want to control.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ and Tab S10 Ultra can be pre-ordered starting today and will be on sale from October 3. The Tab S10+ starts at $1,000, while the Tab S10 Ultra starts at $1,200. Both come in two colorways: Moonstone Gray and Platinum Silver.