Samsung Galaxy Tab S9: latest news, leaks, and everything we know so far

It’s been over a year since the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 series launched, so we’re due new models. Though Samsung has yet to mention anything about the upcoming tablet series, rumored and reports mention have trickled out over the internet to paint a picture of what is a subtle upgrade to an already competent series of devices. 

Here’s everything we know so far about the upcoming Galaxy Tab S9 series. 

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 models 

Samsung is expected to get launch the Galaxy Tab S9 with the same lineup as the Galaxy Tab S8. These would be the Galaxy Tab S9, the Galaxy Tab S9 Plus, and the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra. Though Samsung doesn’t typically keep the same models for its tablets from year to year, a report from the Netherlands-based Galaxy Club claims as much. 

This means we expect a Galaxy Tab S8 that’s 10 inches or so, a Galaxy Tab S9 Plus that’s about 12 inches, and a mega-sized 14-inch Tab S8 Ultra intended to replace your laptop. 

Galaxy Tab S9 design and display

Though we don’t have leaks of the entire lineup,  reputable leaker @OnLeaks has shared details of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus with WolfofTablet, and this leak includes not just specs, but also high-quality renders.

From those renders (some of which you can see above), it appears that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus will look a lot like the Galaxy Tab S8 Plus, with the main difference just being a slightly different camera design, that’s more in line with the Samsung Galaxy S23 series.

Beyond that, this looks to be the same shape as the Tab S8 Plus, and apparently has almost identical dimensions of 285.4 x 185.4 x 5.64mm. It’s also shown to have a magnetic silo for the S Pen stylus on the back, just like its predecessor, and the same USB-C port and quad-speaker positioning.

As for the specs, these apparently include a 12.4-inch screen, with a resolution of 1752×2800, granting it around 266ppi (pixels per inch). That again is the same as the Galaxy Tab S8 Plus. 

One change that sticks out from the Galaxy Tab S8 series is the inclusion of the base-Galaxy Tab S9 having an OLED display and not the LCD as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 had. This rumor comes from reputable display analyst Ross Young.  This is an advantage over the base iPad with which this competes with. Apple still equips that iPad with LCDs which leaves it without the higher contrast and more pleasing image quality of OLEDs. 

Galaxy Tab S9 release date and specifications

The other listed specs are the same too, including 45W charging, an under-display fingerprint sensor, Samsung DeX support (so you can wirelessly connect your tablet to a larger screen), dual cameras on the back, and a single camera on the front.

The specs of those cameras aren’t yet known, but for reference the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus has a 13MP wide snapper, a 6MP ultrawide, and a 12MP selfie camera, so we may see the same on the Galaxy Tab S9 Plus.

The selfie camera is on one of the long edges of the tablet, making it ideal for landscape use, but the report also mentions an unknown sensor on the top edge. However, @OnLeaks later tweeted that this is also found on the Galaxy Tab S8 series, so it’s actually nothing new, and likely just handles adaptive brightness.

Other than a slight tweak to the design of the rear cameras, this leak suggests the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus could be near identical to the Galaxy Tab S8 Plus. But there are plenty of details we don’t yet know, and if nothing else, this new slate is sure to get a power boost.

The Galaxy Tab S8 Plus has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, so for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus we’d expect the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, just like the Galaxy S23 series has. Hopefully, there will be other upgrades too, but we probably won’t know for sure until the slate is announced.

As for when that will be, well, an earlier leak suggested that Samsung was pushing back the launch, but as we’re now over a year on from the release of the Tab S8 series, that doesn’t tell us much that isn’t already evident. 

Samsung typically holds two major Unpacked events a year. As the first event has come and gone, we can expect the Tab S9-series to debut around August alongside the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5. It’ll certainly launch before the next major iPad release, which is good because the best iPads could do with some fresh competition.