A bigger Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 is coming, and the iPad Pro should be worried

We already knew that Samsung had a new Galaxy Tab up its sleeve. But clearly the company’s sleeves are bigger than we first thought, because alongside the Galaxy Tab S7, Samsung looks set to release the Tab S7 Plus to go toe-to-toe with the 12.9in iPad Pro.

This isn’t just rumor or speculation, but comes from Samsung itself, which has been busy putting the tablet’s battery through certifications in China, Japan, Vietnam and its home territory of Korea. All of these were captured by Venkatesh Babu on Twitter:

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While it doesn’t say “Galaxy Tab S7 Plus” anywhere, this isn’t just the Tab S7 with a bigger battery than expected – because we already know that’ll have a capacity of 7,760mAh.  

So just how big is a 10,090mAh battery anyway? Well, Apple’s most recent 12.9in iPad Pro (released earlier this year) has a 9,720mAh battery, and Apple claims that’ll provide up to ten hours of Wi-Fi web surfing or video playback. Obviously iOS and Android devices differ in terms of power draw, but a similar stamina sounds pretty likely to me.

So, what do we know about the Tab S7 Plus other than its battery size? Well, according to Pigtou, the source of the mockup at the top of the page, we’re looking at a 12.4in device that’s slightly thinner than the regular Tab S7 at 5.7mm rather than 6.3mm. 

Like the iPad Pro family, that appears to be the only real difference between models: size and battery capacity. Both the Tab S7 and Plus version will feature the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, 120Hz screens and 5G connectivity.

Apple should be worried – it hasn’t had a serious competitor in the large professional tablet space before, and while we know nothing about pricing yet, it seems unlikely that Samsung would go higher, given it lags behind on brand awareness (it’s telling that in non-tech circles ‘iPad’ has become synonymous with ‘tablet’ in the same way that ‘hoover’ was with ‘vacuum cleaners’). Plus, while Apple sells the Apple Pencil as a standalone $129 product, Samsung has bundled its S Pen with recent Galaxy Tabs, and it’d be surprising if it didn’t do the same here.

We don’t have too long to wait for the Tab S7 family to be unveiled. Samsung is planning an Unpacked event on August 5, where we can also expect first looks at the Galaxy Note 20, Galaxy Fold 2 and Galaxy Watch 3. Just 42 days to wait...

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