Samsung just announced its latest line of premium tablets, the Galaxy Tab S9 series, during another Galaxy Unpacked event.
This time, the keynote was held in South Korea, where the new Galaxy Z Flip 5, Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Watch 6 series were also announced. The Tab S9 family comes in three flavors: the regular S9, the S9 Plus and the S9 Ultra. They’re relatively minor upgrades over the Tab S8 series from last year, but there are still some notable changes.
We got a chance to go hands-on with the new tablets ahead of their announcement, so let’s talk about them.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 preorders and release date
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 makes subtle improvements to one of the best Android tablets around, with better durability and rich AMOLED displays across the whole line. For a limited time, you'll get an extra $50 off via the Samsung link below.
All three Galaxy Tab S9 models are up for preorder beginning today, July 26, from Samsung’s website. They’ll officially launch on Friday, Aug. 11, where availability will expand to other retailers. The regular Tab S9 starts at $800, the Tab S9 Plus starts at $1,000 and the Tab S9 Ultra starts at $1,200. There’s also a 5G version of the Tab S9 Plus that starts at $1,150.
Samsung is offering a few promotions for those who preorder a new Tab S9, including $50 off your preorder via this link. If you preorder a Tab S9 Plus or S9 Ultra with 256GB of storage, you’ll automatically get an upgrade to 512GB without paying extra. A similar deal applies to the Tab S9; if you preorder a 128GB model, you’ll get an upgrade to 256GB.
To pair with your Tab S9, Samsung will give you 50% off a Book Keyboard Cover Slim as well as $40 off a pair of Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. Amazon is also running a similar offer on the Book Keyboard Cover Slim.
The tablets are available in either Beige or Graphite.
AMOLED on all the tablets
Samsung has given the entire Galaxy Tab S9 series Dynamic AMOLED 2X screens for the very first time. The Plus and Ultra models have had this technology for a couple of years now, but this marks the first time the baseline Tab S model gets it. This means that you’ll get especially bright and bold colors even if you opt for Samsung’s smallest tablet, and based on our limited eyes-on time, the Tab S9’s vivid screen pops just as nicely as the S8 did for us last year.
The Tab S9 sports an 11-inch display, the S9 Plus has a 12.4-inch display and the S9 Ultra has the largest panel at 14.6 inches. All three offer 120Hz refresh rates that can slow down to 60Hz when you aren’t using them. They also come with Eye Comfort technology to reduce blue light by 70% when you want, and the 16:10 aspect ratios will give you a bit of extra vertical space for your apps.
What’s more, Samsung also includes Vision Booster, which can automatically identify bright lighting conditions and adjust the screen to maintain vividness. It’s a neat trick, but we’ll need more time to test it to decide if it’s any good.
Premium design with better durability and bigger speakers
The Galaxy Tab S9 family still looks plenty premium and competitive with today’s tablet landscape. The S9 Ultra is still very thin at 5.5mm, and each of the smaller models weighs less than 1.3 pounds. The Plus and Ultra models we tested felt comfortably lightweight to pick up; you shouldn’t have to worry about portability whatsoever.
You also won’t have to worry about getting any of the tablets wet. For the first time, the entire Galaxy Tab S lineup has received an IP68 certification, which means you can dunk them in a meter and a half of water for up to 30 minutes and they’ll survive. Samsung also uses its Armor Aluminum for the outer edges to protect them against bumps and drops.
In addition, each tablet has larger speakers for improved sound quality. You’ll still find a quad speaker system on each, while each individual speaker has increased in size by 20%. Samsung is also continuing to include Dolby Atmos support and tuning by AKG.
Faster performance, better thermals and more storage
It’s a new year for the Galaxy Tab S family, which means it gets a new processor. This time around, it’s the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. We’ve seen this chip in other devices throughout the year, including the Galaxy S23 family, so we already know it’s a powerful piece of silicone. (It’s technically the “Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy,” which means it has a few special optimizations to play nicer with Samsung’s hardware, but don’t expect any significant performance boosts over devices with ordinary 8 Gen 2 chips.) The Tab S9 performed snappily whether we were splitting the screen between multiple apps or playing graphically rich games, though we’re eager to see how it stacks up to its rivals in head-to-head tests.
To help further boost performance and efficiency, Samsung has improved the thermals of the Tab S9 family with a new heat mitigation system. Using a new two-way heat dissipation method, the tablets remain cooler and run faster for longer periods of time. This will inevitably come in handy during marathon gaming sessions.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is backed by up to 12GB of RAM in the Galaxy Tab S9 and S9 Plus, and up to 16GB in the S9 Ultra. You also get a ton of storage on these tablets. Internally, the S9 can be equipped with 256GB, the S9 Plus with 512GB and the S9 Ultra with 1TB. If that’s not enough, Samsung throws in microSD card slots in each, with support for an extra 1TB if you need it.
The batteries are also pretty beefy. The Tab S9 has an 8,400mAh cell, the S9 Plus has a 10,090mAh cell and the S9 Ultra comes with an 11,200mAh cell. We’ll have to get our hands on them to see how long the batteries last, so stay tuned.
The S Pen gets an upgrade
Samsung is introducing an upgraded S Pen for the Tab S9 family. The stylus has also gotten an IP68 certification for water and dust resistance, and it has more charging surface area so it’ll juice up no matter how you set it back in its charging cradle.
On the Tab S9, the S Pen can now draw over web browsers, search bars and app stores. If you’re an artist and use your S Pen for artsy things, you’ll want to check out the S Pen Creator Edition. It has a nicer texture than the standard S Pen for better grip and comfortability, and it has a wider tilt angle for more versatility when creating. You also get the option of two different pen tips: a hard tip for “natural drawing experiences” or a soft tip for a “paperlike writing experience.”
Of course, the tablets are also still compatible with Samsung’s Book Cover Keyboard for typing and multitasking on the go.
Improved software with tight Samsung ecosystem integration
The Galaxy Tab S9 series runs on Android 13 with Samsung’s One UI layered on top, complete with all the multitasking features you could ask for. Samsung is still shipping its DeX experience as well for a proper desktop UI when you want to get work done.
Some of the Tab S9’s supported apps are getting upgraded: GoodNotes is gaining a new journaling experience and shared-editing feature for notes; LumaFusion, a video editing app, now integrates with Samsung’s Quick Share to quickly move photos and videos from your Galaxy S smartphone and import them into your project; Clip Studio Paint has received a new tablet interface that’ll make it easier for artists to sketch out their ideas; and ArcSite will look a lot nicer on the S9’s big canvas for creating 2D CAD blueprints.
Of course, Samsung is keeping the Galaxy Tab S9 closely integrated with the rest of its ecosystem. When signed into the same Samsung account as your PC or smartphone, you can copy and paste things between your tablet and other devices, quickly project your tablet’s screen to your PC’s and more.
Samsung says it’s promising up to four major software upgrades for the Galaxy Tab S9 line and five years’ worth of security updates. That’s in line with other premium tablets and most flagship smartphones.
5G included — but only on one tablet
If you want a tablet with 5G, Samsung is happy to sell you one. You just have to be OK with it being a Galaxy Tab S9 Plus, since that’s the only one with an option for it at checkout.
You’ll also have to pay a premium for it. The standard S9 Plus starts at $1,000, while the 5G-equipped model starts at $1,150. You’ll get both a physical SIM slot and an eSIM slot so you can use whatever kind of SIM card you want.
The takeaway
It looks like Samsung has yet another set of reliable, well-performing, high-end tablets on its hands. They’re very similar to the Galaxy Tab S8 series, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with that given they wound up being some of the best Android tablets on the market last year.
Will the Tab S9 repeat some of that success? We’ll have to wait to find out. Stay tuned for our full reviews coming soon.
