Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Announced Today

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 was announced by Samsung today as Samsung’s newest flagship tablet with Android. The launch price will start at $649, with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 release date set to September 6th in the first markets with pre-orders starting from Samsung on August 23 says Samsung, though Amazon is already taking orders for it with launch on August 9:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-128GB-Tablet-Cloud/dp/B07VFFCHL9/

As we have seen from the leaks leading up to today, the main thing that pushes the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 further now is the big boost in speed and power in the hardware both compared to its competitors as well as Samsung’s other tablets on account of the octa-core 1.7 GHz – 2.8 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor with options of 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, or 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage.

UPDATE: The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 was updated to run Android 10 in Q2 2020.

This makes the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 the world’s most powerful Android tablet by a long shot right now, with the Geekbench 4 benchmarks clocking in scores of over 3,500 in single-core and over 11,000 in multi-core scores in the latest benchmark tests for the 6GB RAM tablet. In terms of benchmark comparison, that actually makes Samsung’s Tab S6 as powerful as the snappy iPad Pro 10.5.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6

With options of 6GB and 8GB of RAM, this is the first Android tablet for the consumer market to feature this much RAM, so that’s a huge game changer in itself. Even the microSD card support is a whopping 1TB for the additional memory cards.

Samsung underlines the potential the tab S6 has as a smooth running gaming tablet, given its partnership with game platforms like Unity and Unreal Engine with Game Booster and AI capacity, as well as a partnership with Discord so that users can more easily and smoothly access live chat in Game Launcher when playing computer games with others.

This is also the first Android tablet to feature dual rear cameras, with both a 13MP camera and a 5MP camera, offering a Ultra Wide angle camera for capturing landscape or indoor interior photos as if you had a DLSR with its 123-degree wide field of view. These cameras can also record 4K video at 30 fps. The front camera is a 8MP camera.

As a high-end S-series tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 runs Android 9.0 Pie and will receive both Android 10 and Android 11 updates, it has a 10.5-inch Super AMOLED screen with a WQXGA 2560 x 1600 resolution display and great support for its new digitizer that connects magnetically to the back in its own little carved out ditch to hold it in place.

The new wirelessly charged Bluetooth Tab S6 S Pen functions both as a digitizer and as a remote control, as the pen now features S Pen Air actions that lets a user take pictures, videos, or control features on the tablet.

Among digitizer functions, it even allows for writing notes directly on the screen while doing other tasks, even watching videos, as the notes will be saved on a adjustable transparent layer during multitasking. And it naturally supports handwriting recognition and handwriting conversion exports into other documents.

The new S Pen has a 10 hour battery life from a 0.35 mAh battery and charges in just 10 minutes. The battery for the tablet has a capacity of 7040 mAh, and a battery life of 15 hours.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 (blue)
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 (blue)

A onscreen / under display fingerprint reader have been added for security purposes as well as a quick way to login, and the newest version of Samsung DeX, Samsung’s mobile-to-desktop feature, has been added to the Tab S6 so that it can be used as laptop, and the optional new Tab S6 Book Cover Keyboard even has its own dedicated DeX button, as well as a touchpad, a S Pen holder, and features multi-angles positioning for the tablet.

In addition to the fingerprint reader and DeX, it also comes with Samsung Knox security suite and additional deeper security features and settings, and it comes with Bixby as well as support for SmartThings smart devices, so that the tablet can be used as the centralized hub for controlling all those smart devices.

Audio features are great with 4 speakers and AKG audio tuning and Dolby Atmos. Other specs includes dual-band 2.5 GHz + 5 GHz 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Galileo, accelerometer, gyro, geo sensor, hall sensor, RGB light sensor, dual microphones, video playback support for 8K video at 30 fps, and a USB C port.

The models are split into the Wi-Fi only models (SM-T860), the 4G LTE models (SM-T865 / SM-T867), and 5G models (SM-T866). There are three color options for the Tab S6, with these being called Mountain Gray, Cloud Blue, and Rose Blush.

As for dimensions, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 is both very thin and light, with a weight of just 420 grams, and a thickness of 5.7mm. Only the amsung Galaxy Tab S5e is lighter in the 10-inch category, at just 400 grams. But then again the Tab S5e doesn’t have as high specs as the Tab S6. It’s otherwise 244.5mm long, and 159.5mm wide.

The optional accessory list consists of the new S Pen, a POGO Charging Dock, a Book Cover, and Book Cover Keyboard. The pen fits neatly into the Book Cover even when closed, so it seems that everything have been thought through with the Tab S6.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 keyboard


– Tom Bowen