Did Samsung lose faith in the Galaxy Tabs? This is not how you win against the iPad Pro!

*Benchmarks found on Nanoreview.net

So, the Galaxy Tab S10+ and Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra literally launched at the last moment before a new generation of silicon hit the Android market. While the Dimensity 9300+ is not bad, benchmarks show that it’s already between 20% and 30% slower than the newest Dimensity 9400.

Yet, the Tab S10+ and Tab S10 Ultra are full-priced top-tier Samsung tablets.

Trouble behind the scenes?

It’s a perplexing choice indeed. We’ve seen faint speculation and rumors that Samsung was actually trying to cook up a new generation of Exynos chip early — an Exynos 2500 or an offshoot of it for the tablets.

However, manufacturing woes and poor yield forced Samsung to switch to a Dimensity at the last moment. And, since MediaTek’s 9400 series wasn’t quite ready just yet, the choice was made to go for Dimensity 9300+.

What’s the big deal?

As premium tablets are pushing price limits to $1k and above, users are rightfully asking “What can it do, though?”. Apple talks up its M4 chips quite a lot, and the claims are covered by the incredible power of the processors. Yes, you can edit 4K video, record songs, do graphic design, and you can have multiple windows open on an iPad.

iPadOS isn’t perfect for multi-tasking — if you are rendering your work, it’s better to let it do its thing and not touch it until it's done. And its Stage Manager mode isn’t a replacement for a nice desktop working environment, even though Apple tried to fine-tune it and make it better. Then, a lot of people just don’t want to be in the Apple ecosystem.



Which is why a lot of tech enthusiasts look at Samsung’s tablets. DeX is much more desktop-like, the S Pen and beautiful AMOLED screens offer great options for artists, and Samsung partnered up with Luma Touch to bring the high-quality LumaFusion video editor to Android. The latter is still rough around the edges but is being worked on, all thanks to Samsung’s tenacity.

But that tenacity is all in vain if you simply launch your premium tablet with hardware that’s just about to be superseded.

Would’ve been better to put it on pause

Whatever the reason for the Dimensity 9300+ and early launch, it should’ve been postponed.

Let’s be honest — nobody was sitting on the edge of their seats, begging for a Galaxy Tab S10 so soon after the excellent Galaxy Tab S9 line was released. There was no rush, Samsung could’ve just waited it out.

Launching a premium tablet just at the time when new gen hardware is coming is a recipe for bad sales and eroding the trust in the brand. It kind of sends the message that Samsung has silently given up on the Galaxy Tab S series, but I don’t believe that’s in any way the truth.

But I can see the sentiment — tech-savvy commenters across articles, reviews, and videos, are as perplexed as I am. Sure, customers that are not as familiar with the latest tech trends may end up buying a Tab S10 Ultra, but will they end up being happy with it a couple of years down the line?

I have huge respect for Samsung for still making premium Android tablets in a market where most have given up on trying to rival Apple’s iPad Pros. But this is not how that particular battle is fought, not even talking about a win here. Patience and releasing when the hardware is right would’ve been the better call.