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.
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).
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.
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 US$ 1,000, while the Tab S10 Ultra starts at US$ 1,200. Both come in two colorways:
Moonstone Gray and Platinum Silver.
