Galaxy Tab S8 full press release leaked ahead of Wednesday reveal
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Just when you thought there will be no more leaks about the Galaxy Tab S8 and Galaxy S22, respected leaker Evan Blass has surprised us with perhaps the most exciting rumor: Samsung's new devices will get longer software support.
Blass has leaked the press release that Samsung was apparently planning to share on Wednesday, which is when these new products will be unveiled. The document mostly confirms what earlier reports have already revealed: the South Korean giant will announce three new tablets, including a larger Ultra model for the first time, on February 9.
Galaxy Tab S8 specs
All three models will be fueled by a 4nm chip, likely the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and will boast a dual rear camera array with a 13MP main sensor, a 6MP ultra-wide camera, and a flash unit. The slates will support 4K video recording at 30fps and will feature a quad stereo setup with AKG and Dolby Atmos support.
The standard model will have an 11-inches LTPS TFT panel with a resolution of 2500x1600, the Tab S8 Plus will come with a 12.4-inches AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2800x1752, and the Tab S8 Ultra will boast a 14.6-inches screen with a resolution of 2960x1848. The screens on all the models will support a high refresh rate of 120Hz for fluid scrolling and gameplay.
The smallest model will have a side key-integrated fingerprint sensor and the rest of the variants will come with an in-display fingerprint reader.
The slates will have a 12MP ultra-wide front camera and on the Ultra it will be accompanied by another 12MP wide sensor and the two modules will be housed in a notch. This has allowed Samsung to achieve the 'thinnest ever bezels,' but whether consumers will like a notch on their tablet remains to be seen.
The dual-camera array should result in a better video calling experience and to improve things further, Samsung has equipped all the devices with a three-microphone setup to block out background noises.
The Tab S8 Ultra and S8 Plus will get a new S Pen with a latency speed of 2.8ms, a significant improvement over Tab S7's 9ms latency, meaning the delay between your input and its appearance on the screens will be negligible.
The Tab S8 series will support 45W fast charging. The Ultra variant will have an 11,200mAh battery and it will need just 90 minutes for a full charge. The S8 will come with an 8,000mAh battery and the Plus model will have a 10,090mAh cell under the hood, and these models will require 10 minutes less to go from zero to full.
RAM options for the smaller models include 8GB and 12GB and storage options are 128GB and 256GB. The Ultra will be available in three RAM configurations (8GB/12GB/16GB) and three storage variants (128GB/256GB/512GB). All three products will have a microSD slot for expanding storage up to 1TB.
Galaxy Tab S8 pre-order and release date
Per the document, pre-orders will begin on February 9 and the tablets will be released in select markets including the US, Europe, and Korea, on February 25.
If you pre-order the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, you will get the new Book Keyboard Cover for free, and those who pre-order one of the other two tablets will be treated to the Book Cover Keyboard Slim. S Pen and USB Type-C cable will be bundled in for free but you will have to buy the 45W charger with your own money. If you are interested in getting more freebies, you should consider reserving the device today.
Other tidbits include the Armor Aluminum frame which will make the devices 30 percent more scratch-resistant and 40 percent less prone to bending than the outgoing Galaxy Tab S7 and Samsung Dex desktop interface support for mirroring the contents on a larger screen.
The new tablets will come pre-installed with Android 12 and will get four operating system updates and five years of security updates. We think they have a solid chance at becoming one of the best tablets of the year.
The document also mentions two unreleased mid-rangers, the Galaxy A53 and A33, prompting speculations that these phones will also be revealed during the Unpacked event.
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