Let me tell you, the latest Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 leaks are really exciting – and that's coming from a die-hard iPad user who thinks the iPad Pro is amazing.
I've found Android tablets very disappointing over the years, but the imminent Android 12L improves the operating system for big-screened devices – and Samsung has a ridiculously powerful new tablet that'll take full advantage of it.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra looks like it'll go toe-to-toe with the 2021 iPad Pro in the battle to be the best tablet in 2022.
Could the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra be the ultimate tablet?
According to PhoneArena, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is going to be massive: it'll have a 14.6-inch AMOLED display delivering 3,000 x 1,800 pixels. That's nearly two inches bigger than the biggest iPad Pro, the iPad Pro 12.9-inch, whose display offers 2,732 x 2,048. It'll be powered by the snappy Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and there's a 11,200mAh battery with 45W fast charging.
The Tab S8 Ultra will come with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, too, and it's expected to have two 12MP cameras in its notch with Auto Framing, which works rather like Apple's Center Stage to keep you in the videoconferencing picture even when you move about.
This is great news for Android tablet fans who want the very best tablet, but it's also good news for me: I think Apple does its best work when it's facing stiff competition, so the better Android tablets become the better future iPads become too.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra pricing is key though, right?
How much is this gigantic new Android tablet going to cost? According to a report by Appuals, the Wi-Fi only variant will start "around around 1040 EUR to 1060 EUR for 8GB+128GB", while a 5G version will start "around 1200 EUR to 1220 EUR".
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How that is going to translate into dollars and pounds is not yet known, but that pricing looks like it is definitely targeting the 12.9-inch iPad Pro demographic.
Apple has such a lock on the pro-tablet market, though, that it's going to need the Tab S8 Ultra to really hit hard in order to destabilise the iPad Pro's dominance. That bigger screen will definitely catch the eye, but with a larger iPad Pro also rumored to be incoming, it's going to need more than that to take the best tablet crown.
Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).
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