We may earn a commission if you make a purchase from the links on this page.
Up Next:
Samsung just announced the Galaxy Tab S8 series, and it consists of three tablets in total. These are the Galaxy Tab S8, The Galaxy Tab S8 Plus, and the high-end Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra. All of the tablets feature Snapdragon’s newest 8 Gen 1 chip, a microSD card slot, and S-Pen support.
While one of them is premium and looks like a real competitor to the iPad Pro series, the others target the less expensive territory of the iPad Air. Is the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra a true iPad Pro rival? Is the notch actually useful or simply unpleasant? Let's find out.
Pre-order the Galaxy Tab S8 series now and get a free keyboard cover
The most premium Galaxy Tab S8 is also the biggest one. It measures 208.6 x 326.4 mm. It is also the slimmest, with a thickness of just 5.5mm. However, it isn’t very light. The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra weighs 726g.
In terms of design, the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra has a high-end build, with a Tough Armour Aluminum frame (which could explain its weight), a metal back, and the slimmest bezels ever on a Samsung tablet. Unfortunately, while it looks very pretty, it only comes in one color option - Graphite.
To make the bezels of its Ultra tablet the slimmest ever, Samsung had to take drastic measures. As you might have guessed by now, the notch on this tablet is real, and all the leaks were true. Samsung tries to hide it in the official images of the tablet with dark wallpapers, but if you take a closer look, you will see the notch’s shape and size.
But you should keep in mind that iPhones also have notches, and we’ve gotten used to them, so the same will probably happen with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra as well.
The top side of the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra can house an S-Pen via magnets. Official book and keyboard cover will also be available for the premium tablet. Both of these accessories have dedicated spaces for the S-Pen. They come only in Black, with what looks to be a soft-touch matte finish.
As mentioned earlier, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra has a microSD card slot. With it, you can expand the storage of the tablet by up to 1TB. The tablet also has four stereo speakers tuned by AKG with Dolby Atmos surround sound. Samsung’s Ultra tablet uses an in-display fingerprint scanner.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra specs and features
The Galaxy Tab S8 family
As you can imagine, being the biggest tablet from the Galaxy Tab S8 series also means it has the biggest display. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra features an impressive-looking 14.6-inch AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 2960 x 1848. This makes for a pixel density of 240ppi.
You might be wondering what’s the big notch of the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra housing? Well, it houses a dual-camera system consisting of a 12MP regular selfie shooter and a 12MP ultra-wide sensor. Samsung says the latter is mostly meant for video calls and new video call features.
On the back, you will find another dual-camera system. This time it contains a 13MP main shooter and a 6MP ultra-wide camera. The tablet can record a video in 4K 30fps.
Performance-wise, the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra counts on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. This flagship chip can be equipped with three storage options: 8GB of RAM/128GB of storage, 12GB of RAM/256GB of storage, and the range-topping 16GB of RAM/512GB of storage version. This tablet runs Android 12 out of the box with Samsung’s newest One UI on top, which has plenty of new features and tricks to take advantage of the large screen.
The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is pretty well connected. It supports 5G (on cellular versions) and Wi-Fi 6E. It also has Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra in its Book Cover Keyboard
As for the battery, it is 11,200mAh. That’s pretty big even for a tablet, and according to Samsung, it should be good for about 15 hours of video playback. The battery of the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra might be big, but it isn’t slow to charge. The tablet supports 45W fast-wired charging which is capable of topping up the battery in about 80 minutes.
Unfortunately, the fast charger doesn’t come in the box and is sold separately. What you do get in the box is an S-Pen and a USB-C charging cable. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra will also have 15W reverse charging via USB-C. The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is already available to pre-order at Samsung.com with a starting price of $1,099.99. If you order now you will get a free keyboard cover with backlight.
Iskren, a tech journalist at PhoneArena, has been passionate about technology since his childhood, sparked by his early experiences with phones like the Ericsson T28 and Sony Ericsson P910i. After earning a bachelor's degree in Media and Journalism, he turned his fascination with smartphones into a career, with a particular interest in Apple and Motorola. Outside of his tech pursuits, Iskren enjoys watching TV series, movies, driving, and has a deep passion for cars and Formula 1. He looks forward to the future of mobile tech, particularly the potential of rollable smartphones.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: