One of Samsung's next big tablets will pack an even bigger battery than its predecessor

The Galaxy Tab S12+ is unlikely to vastly improve the battery life of the existing Tab S10 Plus, but any upgrade will be welcomed.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Plus
The Galaxy Tab S10+ is expected to receive a sequel with a larger battery this year. | Image by PhoneArena
What comes after the Galaxy Tab S11 and Tab S11 Ultra? Apparently, not a Galaxy Tab S12 duo composed of "vanilla" and state-of-the-art Ultra models, but a Tab S12+ variant and a Tab S12 Ultra.

That shouldn't come as a total surprise to those of you familiar with the 2024-released Galaxy Tab S10+ and Tab S10 Ultra, but it's still... a little weird. On the bright side, it appears that the Galaxy Tab S12+ will improve on its predecessor in a way that said predecessor did not enhance the Galaxy Tab S9 Plus, and although we're clearly not dealing with the biggest possible upgrade, that's something certainly worth celebrating and getting (moderately) excited about.

Who's ready for epic battery life?


Okay, I admit that "epic" might be a bit of an exaggeration, but if the Galaxy Tab S12 Plus packs a battery with a rated capacity of 10,392mAh (as the almost always reliable folks at SamMobile claim), that's likely to result in an advertised cell size of around 10,600mAh.


How big is that number? It's clearly pretty big, but it only tops the 10,090mAh typicall cell capacity of the Tab S10+ and Tab S9+ by four or five percent. It's natural to expect the real-world battery endurance figures between charges to increase by four or five percent as well, but depending on a bunch of different factors, the actual jump on that front might be larger... or smaller.

A key factor will obviously be the processor under the hood of the Tab S12 Plus, which doesn't seem very hard to guess based on recent history. Seeing as how the Tab S10+ uses a MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ SoC and the Tab S11 and Tab S11 Ultra share a newer and faster Dimensity 9400 Plus, the Tab S12+ and the Tab S12 Ultra are extremely likely to embrace either the September 2025-unveiled Dimensity 9500 or an as-yet-unannounced Dimensity 9500 Plus.

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Do you think you'll buy the Galaxy Tab S12+ or Tab S12 Ultra?
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Of course, speed junkies in love with ultra-high-end Samsung tablets are probably rooting for a switch to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, but for the time being, that seems unlikely to happen. On the bright side, even if the Tab S12+ ends up playing it safe with a non-Plus Dimensity 9500 processor, the energy efficiency should be top-notch and the resulting battery endurance times in real-life use difficult to beat by the best tablets from competing brands like Apple or Lenovo.

What else do we know about the Galaxy Tab S12 family? 


Unfortunately, not much. Actually, to be completely honest, we know nothing (Jon Snow). If I were to venture a guess, I'd definitely predict a September 2026 release for the Galaxy Tab S12+ and Tab S12 Ultra, and with the way prices are "evolving" in the tech industry, I wouldn't be surprised if the smaller of the two future high-end Android slates started at $1,100 or even $1,200.


That's obviously going to be very hard to swallow, especially if the Tab S12 Plus opts for a Dimensity 9500 SoC instead of a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, but an undoubtedly spectacular 12.4-inch or so AMOLED screen, built-in S Pen, and presumably gorgeous design could convince many of you hardcore Android tablet fans to splash out.

Should you be excited?


Cautiously. And realistically. Knowing Samsung, a radical redesign is unlikely (and I'm not entirely sure if it's necessary to begin with), but also knowing the world's second most successful tablet vendor, the Galaxy Tab S12+ (and Tab S12 Ultra) will provide pretty much unrivaled overall performance, long-term software support, build quality, screen quality, and audio power... for non-Apple fans. 

So, yes, if you understand what you're getting into (and especially if you've owned a premium Samsung tablet before), you should definitely be (reasonably) excited. Just remember you still have a pretty lengthy wait ahead, and consider the possibility of "settling" for a Galaxy Tab S11, Tab S11 Ultra, or even a Galaxy Tab S10+ right now.
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