Galaxy Tab S9 series hands-on: Refinement maximized

Samsung unveiled its latest high-end tablets—Galaxy Tab S9, Galaxy Tab S9+, and Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra—today. At its Galaxy Unpacked event, the company revealed what's new in its new tablets compared to the Galaxy Tab S8 series from last year. The Galaxy Tab S9 series is now available for pre-order. We went hands-on with all three new tablets during the launch event.

You can watch our Galaxy Tab S9 series hands-on video below.

Galaxy Tab S9, S9+, and S9 Ultra hands-on video

Refinement seems to be the name of the game with the Galaxy Tab S9 series. Samsung is already the king of the ring in the premium Android tablet space and is the only one that can compete with Apple's iPad lineup. And with the Galaxy Tab S9 series, Samsung has upped its game by improving the design, processing, and software.

All three tablets are still extremely thin (as low as 5.5mm) and made using strong Armor Aluminum material, but they are now IP68-rated for dust and water resistance. Even the bundled S Pen is IP68 rated, and it now charges magnetically regardless of its orientation, which wasn't possible with the Galaxy Tab S8 if the S Pen was not in its proper orientation.

Every Galaxy Tab S9 series device has an OLED screen, an upgrade over the base Galaxy Tab S8 that has an IPS LCD screen. The Galaxy Tab S9 has an 11-inch screen, while the Galaxy Tab S9+ has a 12.4-inch screen. The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra has a massive 14.6-inch screen. All tablets have QHD+ resolution, HDR10+, and they now have Vision Booster for better visibility in bright outdoors. These tablets are also compatible with the new and option S Pen Creator Edition, which has a grippy design and a wider tilt angle, which is better than the bundled S Pen while drawing.

All three Galaxy Tab S9 series tablets are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 For Galaxy processor. The Galaxy Tab S9 has 8GB/12GB RAM and 128GB/256GB storage. The Galaxy Tab S9+ has 12GB RAM and 256GB/512GB storage. The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra has 12GB/16GB RAM and 256GB/512GB/1TB storage. They all support storage expansion via a microSD card slot.

The base Galaxy Tab S9 also gets a bigger battery (8,400mAh) than the Galaxy Tab S8 (8,000mAh). The other two tablets have the same battery capacities as their predecessors. The Galaxy Tab S9+ has a 10,090mAh battery, and the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra has an 11,200mAh battery. They all have 45W fast charging, but a charger is not included in the box.

The Galaxy Tab S9 series has the same 13MP primary rear-facing camera used in the Galaxy Tab S8 series. The Galaxy Tab S9 misses out on the 6MP ultrawide camera that's present in the Galaxy Tab S8, though. The rear-facing ultrawide cameras have been upgraded from 6MP on the Galaxy Tab S8 series to 8MP on the Galaxy Tab S9+ and the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra. All tablets have 12MP ultrawide front-facing cameras. The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra also has an additional 12MP front-facing camera for automatic pan and zoom on a person's face during video calls.

All three new tablets run Android 13-based One UI 5.1.1 out of the box, which brings many new improvements to multitasking and productivity. They will get four major Android OS updates and five years of security updates. They also have 5G (cellular models), GPS, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and USB 3.2 Type-C ports. All three tablets have an in-display fingerprint reader and quad speakers that are 20% bigger.

Galaxy Tab S9, Tab S9+, Tab S9 Ultra: Pricing and release dates

The Galaxy Tab S9 starts at £799 in the UK, and the series tops out at £1,699 for the 1TB version of the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra with 5G connectivity. You can click here to view the pricing and release dates of all the Galaxy Tab S9 models.

• Pre-order Galaxy Tab S9 series