The Android tablet market has had its ups and downs, but Samsung remained steadfast in putting out slates on all market tiers, even when the going went tough. Perhaps spurred by the success of the iPad Pro line, Samsung has also started expanding its high-end tablets to incorporate more size options and configurations. Next year, the manufacturer might push the envelope even further with a Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra which will blur the boundary between tablet and laptop.
To some extent, Samsung could be anticipating that Apple also will be introducing a much bigger iPad Pro soon. The present iPad Pro lineup only includes 11-inch and 12.9-inch models, which Samsung rivaled with the Galaxy Tab S7 and Galaxy Tab S7+ last year. Consistent with some rumors, a bigger 14.6-inch tablet could be coming bearing the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra moniker.
It won’t just be larger, though, but potentially more powerful than any tablet Samsung has ever made. Consistent with a Korean forum client post, the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra will use the upcoming Exynos 2200 with AMD graphics. The Galaxy Tab S8 and S8+, in contrast, might only get the Snapdragon 895.
In theory, this can put the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra on an equivalent playing field because of the M1 iPad Pro. The latter is already seen as a hybrid laptop because it shares an equivalent processor as M1 Macs. Whether the Exynos 2200 will perform also because the Apple M1 remains to be seen, though recent benchmarks show that it a minimum of outperforms the Apple A14 Bionic.
Other rumoured specs for the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra include 12GB of RAM and a minimum of 256GB of hopefully expandable storage. An 11,500 mAh battery is additionally expected for the slate, giving it the most important capacity in any Samsung tablet thus far. The Galaxy Tab S8 line could be announced alongside the Galaxy S22 next year.
