Samsung's new Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S12+ are now officially on sale nationwide in the US. At $1,399.99 for the Ultra and $1,199.99 for the Plus, you are now looking at the most formidable premium Android tablet contenders you can get for iPad Pro money.
Available in the U.S. starting today
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 series is now officially on sale at Samsung.com, Samsung Experience Stores and retailers nationwide. Following the launch announcement on September 30th, these tablets are confirmed to sport a 14.6-inch screen on the Ultra, while the S12+ has a 12.6-inch. Both share a Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz screen with up to 1,600 nits of peak brightness.
Samsung promises up to 23 hours and 21 hours of video playback battery life for the Ultra and the Plus respectively as well as the ability to go from zero to 100% battery in about 95 minutes when using an official 45W charger, which is not included in the box and therefore requires a separate purchase. Both tablets have also been rated IP68 for water and dust resistance and include an S Pen in the box.
Which big-screen tablet would you rather spend your money on?
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As far as accessories and apps, Samsung is offering 30% off the Pro Keyboard or Book Cover Keyboard Slim for a limited time. App perks worth about $445 are also available in the form of trials and subscription discounts, including a 6-month trial of Google AI Pro, and trials for Photoshop, Notability and LumaFusion.
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The Galaxy Tab S12 series with the Book Cover Keyboard Slim, now 30% off for a limited time. | Image by Samsung
Is the extra $100 worth the upgrade over the Tab S11 Ultra or the iPad Pro?
Following its launch in September 2025 at $1,199.99, the Tab S11 Ultra went up in price by $100 in April of this year. At $1,399.99, that puts the Tab S12 Ultra at $100 above the current pricing of the S11 Ultra and at $200 above what the launch price was last year. I can only assume this is due to RAM-ageddon getting very real.
That said, Samsung does claim notable improvements with this year's edition of this tablet, including a 19% faster CPU, a 17% faster GPU, and a 61% faster NPU for on-device AI processing. However, in our review of the Tab S12 Ultra, our verdict was that this is basically last year's tablet at next year's price. The main factors that made us arrive at this conclusion were the fact that the design is unchanged and day-to-day use is mostly the same, even though the benchmark scores are clearly higher.
When you compare that to the M5 iPad Pro, the 11-inch model starts at $1,199 and the 13-inch at $1,499 with no Apple Pencil included. The Tab S12 Ultra does have a bigger screen and it does ship with a stylus, which is an advantage over the iPad Pro.
Who should upgrade?
If you own a Tab S9 Ultra or an older tablet, upgrading to the newest model makes sense due to the speed gains that add up over a few generations. However, if you have anything newer than that, you can definitely put off upgrading for now. Note that the Tab S9 Ultra already had an IP68 rating, so that's technically not a new feature.
Another scenario where I see this tablet shine is for those who are looking to use a tablet as a laptop replacement. The keyboard would elevate this tablet to a more pro status and, as our review put it, a rather decent laptop that runs Android.
A decent tablet
Ultimately, the Tab S12 Ultra is a pretty decent tablet with a nicely sized screen and an S Pen included in the box, which is something Apple isn't offering with any of their tablets. However, I find that a $100 price increase for a tablet that only offers a minor spec bump is a hard pill to swallow for anyone in the market right now for an Android tablet.
Johanna Romero is a Senior News Writer at PhoneArena, covering mobile technology news across Android, iOS, wearables, and the Google ecosystem she knows best. Drawing on 15 years in IT and tech support from 2007 to 2022, she brings a user-friendly eye for the practical features and lesser-known tricks readers care about. Google named her an official #TeamPixel member in 2022, and she also reviews the latest devices on her YouTube channel, JoJo the Techie.
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