New Delhi: Samsung has officially announced and introduced its most awaited Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S12+ in the U.S. Both will go on sale on October 7 in Gray and Silver color options. The Ultra starts at $1,399.99 (roughly Rs. 1,34,245), and the S12+ at $1,199.99 (about Rs. 1,15,065).
That’s a lot for a tablet. Last year’s Tab S11 Ultra opened at $1,199.99, so the new Ultra is $200 higher. The question is what the extra money buys.
Some of it is real. Both tablets use MediaTek’s 3nm Dimensity 9500, which Samsung says is 19% faster on CPU and 17% faster on GPU than the S11 Ultra’s chip. It claims up to 61% more NPU performance. The Ultra is 5.1mm thick, the thinnest Galaxy Tab so far, and there’s a new 3D vapor chamber to keep heat down during video editing and design work. Both are rated IP68.
The displays are 14.6 inches on the Ultra and 12.6 inches on the Plus. Both are Dynamic AMOLED 2X panels at 120Hz with peak brightness up to 1,600 nits. Samsung quotes up to 23 hours of battery on the Ultra and 21 on the Plus. Charging tops out at 45W, which takes about 95 minutes for a full fill.
Software is where Samsung is pushing hardest. The tablets run Android 17 with One UI 9, and Multi Window now handles three panes at once. A six-month Google AI Pro trial comes with them. Photoshop is pre-loaded, which Samsung calls a first for Android tablets, and there’s a four-month free trial of the mobile plan. Notability is pre-loaded too. Then come the sweeteners: a year of Goodnotes, a discount on LumaFusion, a Notion trial, and Clip Studio Paint offers. Samsung puts the whole bundle at around $445.
Support is long. Samsung promises up to seven OS upgrades and seven years of security updates. The S Pen is in the box, though the Pro Keyboard with its dedicated Galaxy AI key costs extra.
Not everyone is sold. PhoneArena’s early review argues the Ultra is basically last year’s tablet at next year’s price. It points out that the peak brightness and the rear camera setup match the S11 Ultra.
Samsung’s pitch is that the software and the long update promise make up the difference. If you already own the S11 Ultra, that’s a hard sell.
