By this time last year, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 was fully revealed and available to buy. But its follow up, the Galaxy Tab S8 is taking a bit longer, with leaker Ice Universe previously predicting it will debut alongside the Galaxy S22 next year.
While previous Samsung Galaxy Tabs have come in regular and plus-sized forms, this year the company is said to be mixing things up with something even larger. But, according to a new report out of Korea, the giant Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra could be extremely hard to get your hands on in more ways than one.
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Korean blog Naver packs a lot of details into a short post. Essentially, it sounds like production yields of the Tab S8 Ultra will be so low that it will only launch in certain regions and in small quantities. It’s also suggested that restocks aren’t guaranteed.
No reason is given for this, so it might come back to our old friend the global chip shortage, or it might be that the giant 14.6-inch 120Hz OLED display is difficult to produce in large quantities.
Alternatively, it could be that the margins are so thin that it’s simply not worth Samsung devoting a huge amount of production space to the new Android tablet. In other words, it might just be a desirable marquee product to show the company’s prowess, rather than something it necessarily wants in every home.
As the ‘Ultra’ name suggests, this version of the Galaxy Tab S8 is set to offer a lot of performance grunt and desirable features. Alongside the high-spec screen, early reports suggest a massive 12GB RAM, 45W charging support and a bundled S Pen for doodling on that giant canvas.
The alleged 14.6-inch display also means there’s plenty of room for a battery, and word is that it will have a 12,000mAh battery — quite a step up from the 8,000mAh and 10,090mAh cells found in the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 and S7 Plus, respectively.
Converted South Korean price rumors point to an expensive device, with the WiFi-only version starting at $1,247. That would eclipse the $1,099 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which sounds like a bold move — though for those that want the extra 1.7-inches of screen, there’s precious few alternatives.
There's a Samsung Unpacked event October 20, where it’s possible the Tab S8 could make an appearance. But with a launch not tipped until next year, we wouldn’t bet on it.
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