Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra: An Iterative Update With a Hefty Price Tag

Samsung has quietly announced the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra, an iterative update to its largest Android tablet that offers few meaningful changes over last year's model. According to Engadget, the new tablet is physically indistinguishable from its predecessor, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, and retains the same 14.6-inch AMOLED display, 5.1mm thickness, and 692-gram weight.

The most notable upgrade is support for four-channel spatial audio through the tablet's four-speaker array, up from two-channel spatial audio on the S11 Ultra. Engadget notes that the speaker system on previous Ultra tablets delivers surprisingly wide soundstages, second only to the display in terms of impact.

Internally, Samsung has swapped the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ for the Dimensity 9500, both built on a 3nm process. Samsung claims a 19% CPU performance increase, 17% GPU improvement, and 61% jump in NPU capabilities. A new 3D vapor chamber helps with heat dissipation. However, Engadget points out that these gains are modest compared to the emerging 2nm chips from Apple and Qualcomm, and do not justify the price hike.

Pricing starts at $1,400 for the 256GB model with 12GB RAM, a $200 increase over the S11 Ultra's launch price. Charging speed remains at 45W, and the battery capacity is unchanged at 11,600mAh. Engadget criticizes this stagnation, especially as competitors like Redmagic offer faster charging in their tablets.

The S12 Ultra ships with One UI 9.0, but the S11 Ultra will receive the same update. Both tablets share the same IP68 rating and identical dimensions. Notably, the S12 Ultra does not support remote control via S Pen, a feature that was not brought back from earlier models.

Engadget concludes that the upgrade is only compelling for those still using a Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra or older. For S10 Ultra or S11 Ultra owners, the improvements are minimal and the higher price is hard to justify. Despite the lack of significant changes, Engadget notes that the Tab S12 Ultra remains one of the most well-specced Android tablets available.