While it's obviously too soon to know for sure, it's looking extremely likely right now that Samsung will have a very busy high-end product launch schedule in the second half of 2023.
After only unveiling the Galaxy S23 handset trio in the early stages of the year, the Korea-based tech giant is widely expected to roll out at least two premium foldable models, as well as at least two feature-packed new smartwatches, an upgraded alternative to Apple's industry-leading AirPods Pro 2, and three jumbo-sized Android tablets with state-of-the-art specifications in a few months' time.
Hot on the heels of the first revealing (and completely unsurprising) Galaxy Tab S9 series visual leak comes a fairly comprehensive list of features today pertaining specifically to the Ultra variant. These specs are of course not etched in stone yet, but they do look pretty... logical on paper and carry Ice Universe's stamp of authenticity, which means they're probably the real deal.
So where are the upgrades?
If you're familiar with what last year's Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra offers in the dimensions, weight, screen size and resolution, processing power, and memory departments, the newly leaked Tab S9 Ultra numbers on Twitter will not exactly shock or surprise you.
It's crystal clear that Samsung has no intention to massively improve or overhaul probably the best Android tablet in the world right now... simply because there's not really a lot of room for true innovation or substantial upgrades.
Yes, the Tab S9 Ultra is set to be exactly as thin as the Tab S8 Ultra (pictured here).
The Tab S9 Ultra is all but guaranteed to look virtually identical to its predecessor, measuring the exact same 326.4 x 208.6 x 5.5mm while adding just a tiny bit of weight to reach 737 grams. Unfortunately, that's not going to help boost the battery capacity, although 11,200mAh remains an impressive number, especially when you also consider the blazing fast 45W charging capabilities.
Speaking of fast, we expect this next-gen colossus to pack the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processor and cutting-edge LPDDR5X memory technology as the Galaxy S23 trio, thus raising the bar compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered Tab S8 Ultra.
Like its forerunner, the Tab S9 Ultra is set to feature up to a whopping 16 gigs of RAM, but we'll have to wait and see what other configurations are in the pipeline and how much storage space they'll carry.
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A near-certain upgrade will apparently come in the form of IP68 water and dust resistance certification, which will replace... no such certification on the Tab S8 series.
Last but certainly not least, the 14.6-inch Super AMOLED display sporting a resolution of 2960 x 1848 pixels also doesn't sound like an improvement over the Tab S8 Ultra, but a separate Ice Universe tweet calls for 120 percent DCI-P3 support.
It's not entirely clear how something like that will even be physically possible as the Galaxy S23 series, for instance, boasts 100 percent Mobile Color Volume in the DCI-P3 color range, promising "unbelievably vivid colors regardless of differing levels of brightness." If the Tab S9 Ultra can pull off the leap to 120 percent, we're guessing the colors will be even more "unbelievably vivid."
What about the Galaxy Tab S9 and Tab S9 Plus?
Unfortunately, we don't have any other Ice Universe tweets to try to crack the mystery of the other two Tab S9 family members, but those renders showing off the 12.4-inch model and... common sense make it fairly easy to guess almost everything that Samsung has planned for these upcoming iPad Pro alternatives.
This is almost surely how the Galaxy Tab S9+ will look.
The Tab S9 and S9+ should also look a lot like the Tab S8 and Tab S8+ on the outside while hiding an ultra-powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy SoC on the inside and likely adopting IP68 water and dust resistance as well.
Although we highly doubt that the 12.4-inch Galaxy Tab S9+ will be able to squeeze a larger than 10,090mAh battery into pretty much the same body as the Tab S8 Plus, the "vanilla" Tab S9 could increase the 8,000mAh cell capacity of the 11-inch Tab S8, which may result in a screen size and/or product weight bump.
The Tab S9, S9+, and S9 Ultra are obviously all set to include a handy S Pen in the box as standard while likely keeping the microSD card slot alive and the headphone jack dead. Everything else is a lot harder to predict for the time being.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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