In the ongoing human search for tools that expand what we can see and do, Samsung's Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra arrives as a monument to display craftsmanship — a 14.6-inch OLED canvas that makes the visual world feel larger and more vivid. Yet at $1,399, a full $200 more than its predecessor, the tablet asks buyers to pay a premium for incremental progress, raising the perennial question of whether refinement alone justifies the cost of admission. It is a device that excels at being what it is, while stopping short of becoming something more.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra: Premium OLED tablet with steep $1,399 price tag
Paying more for essentially the same machine with a slightly faster processor
Mark
So what's the actual upgrade here from last year's model? Is it worth the $200 more?
Mimi
The processor is faster—Dimensity 9500 instead of 9400+—but the performance bump is small. You're mostly paying more for the same tablet.
Luke
And we should note: that price increase is attributed to the RAM crisis, but we don't have Samsung's official statement on that. It's the reviewer's inference based on industry conditions.
Mark
What about the display? That seems to be the real star.
Mimi
The 14.6-inch OLED is genuinely impressive. Nearly 1,000 nits of brightness, excellent contrast, vivid colors. It rivals the iPad Pro for watching video.
Luke
Though the iPad Pro actually gets slightly brighter with HDR content. And the iPad's colors are more naturalistic, which some people prefer to Samsung's oversaturation.
Mark
Can you actually use this as a laptop replacement?
Mimi
Not really. DeX Mode requires an external monitor to work properly, and even then it's not a true desktop experience. The tablet itself gets a less functional interface.
Luke
And you'd need to buy the $399 Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra Pro Keyboard separately. So you're looking at $1,800 just to approximate laptop functionality.
Mark
Battery life—is that a problem?
Mimi
It lasts about 11.5 hours in testing, which gets you through most of a workday. But it's actually 30 minutes shorter than last year's model.
Luke
Which is odd. You'd expect battery life to improve or at least stay the same in a newer device. The reviewer notes it's not a steep drop, but it's still a decline.
Mark
Who should actually buy this thing?
Mimi
Samsung users who want the biggest Android tablet and spend a lot of time watching video or reading. The screen is genuinely beautiful.
Luke
And that's a real constraint. If you're not already in the Samsung ecosystem, or if you're price-sensitive, there are better options. The Lenovo Tab Plus Gen 2 is $399 and does streaming just fine.
Il Polso
- A $200 year-over-year price hike — blamed on an industry-wide RAM shortage — lands on a device that offers only modest performance gains over its predecessor.
- The 14.6-inch OLED display is genuinely stunning, pushing brightness and color saturation to levels that make content consumption feel almost immersive, but it overshoots naturalism in ways that Apple and OnePlus do not.
- DeX Mode, Samsung's desktop ambition, still requires an external monitor to function properly, leaving the laptop-replacement promise feeling more like a workaround than a solution.
- Battery life quietly regressed — down roughly 30 minutes from last year — a small but symbolically troubling step backward in a device asking more money for the next generation.
- The tablet finds its clearest audience in Samsung loyalists who prize screen size above all, while budget shoppers and Apple users are pointed firmly toward alternatives at a fraction of the cost.
In the ongoing human search for tools that expand what we can see and do, Samsung's Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra arrives as a monument to display craftsmanship — a 14.6-inch OLED canvas that makes the visual world feel larger and more vivid. Yet at $1,399, a full $200 more than its predecessor, the tablet asks buyers to pay a premium for incremental progress, raising the perennial question of whether refinement alone justifies the cost of admission. It is a device that excels at being what it is, while stopping short of becoming something more.
Samsung's Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra arrives not as a reinvention but as a refinement — and an expensive one at that. Priced at $1,399, it costs $200 more than last year's model, a hike Samsung attributes to rising component costs across the industry. The upgrade it offers in return is incremental: a slightly faster MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chip and the same 12GB of RAM, housed in a body that hasn't changed at all.
What hasn't changed for the worse is the display, which remains the tablet's most compelling argument. The 14.6-inch OLED panel delivers near-1,000-nit brightness with HDR content, rich contrast, and color saturation vivid enough to make a nature documentary feel almost photorealistic. It outshines the iPad Pro M5 in standard dynamic range brightness, though Apple's screen edges ahead in HDR and leans toward more natural color reproduction. For anyone who spends hours watching video or reading on a large screen, this display alone makes the device worth considering.
Performance is capable without being exceptional. The tablet handles everyday multitasking — streaming, browsing, light productivity — without complaint, but the iPad Pro M5 still holds a clear lead in raw processing power. DeX Mode, Samsung's attempt at desktop-like functionality, requires connecting to an external monitor before it fully comes to life, which undercuts the idea of the tablet as a standalone laptop replacement. Battery life, meanwhile, slipped about 30 minutes compared to last year — a quiet regression that shouldn't accompany a price increase.
The Tab S12 Ultra occupies a narrow but real niche: Samsung ecosystem users who want the largest Android tablet available and are willing to pay for the privilege of that screen. For everyone else — Apple users, budget-conscious shoppers, or anyone hoping for a true laptop alternative — the math points elsewhere.
Samsung's latest flagship tablet arrives at a crossroads between ambition and restraint. The Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra costs $1,399 and brings a 14.6-inch OLED screen to anyone willing to pay for it—a genuinely massive canvas for streaming, reading, and work. But this year's model is less a leap forward than a sideways shuffle, with a $200 price bump that asks more questions than it answers.
The tablet's calling card remains its display. The 14.6-inch OLED panel delivers the kind of contrast and color saturation that makes watching video feel almost tactile. In lab testing, the screen hit nearly 1,000 nits of brightness with HDR content and showed oversaturated color reproduction across both sRGB and DCI-P3 standards—which, in practical terms, means images pop with vivid intensity. A nature documentary on YouTube becomes almost photorealistic. The 2960 x 1848 resolution keeps details sharp across that enormous screen. Compared to the iPad Pro M5 and OnePlus Pad 3, Samsung's tablet delivers brighter standard dynamic range, though the iPad Pro edges it out slightly in HDR brightness. The trade-off is that Samsung's colors feel more vivid while Apple's and OnePlus's lean toward naturalism.
The physical design hasn't changed. At 12.8 by 8.2 by 0.2 inches and weighing 1.6 pounds, the Tab S12 Ultra remains thin and light enough to travel with, though holding something this large for extended periods can strain the arms. The power and volume buttons sit on the top left when held horizontally. A microSD card slot and USB-C port occupy the right edge. There's no headphone jack. Samsung isn't reinventing anything here, and for some buyers, that's exactly the point.
Under the hood, the tablet runs a MediaTek Dimensity 9500 processor paired with 12GB of RAM—a modest upgrade from last year's Dimensity 9400+ chip. Performance gains are incremental. The tablet handles multiple Chrome tabs, YouTube playback, and typical work apps without lag. Android feels snappy. But it's not a laptop replacement, and Samsung knows it. The iPad Pro M5 still outpaces it in raw processing power. For gaming, streaming, and light productivity, the difference barely registers. For serious computing work, you'll notice the gap.
Battery life tells a similar story of competence without breakthrough. In continuous web surfing tests at 150 nits of brightness, the Tab S12 Ultra lasted 11 hours and 31 minutes—about 30 minutes less than last year's model. That's enough to get through most of a workday, though the iPad Pro M5 and especially the OnePlus Pad 3 stretch considerably longer. It's a decline that shouldn't have happened in a newer device, even if the practical impact is modest.
The real friction point is DeX Mode, Samsung's attempt at desktop-like functionality. To use it properly, you need to connect the tablet to an external monitor. Only then does a Windows-like taskbar appear on the monitor while the tablet gets a less functional interface. It works, but it's a compromise that undercuts the tablet-as-laptop pitch. You're not getting a true desktop experience; you're getting a tablet that can talk to one.
Then there's the price. At $1,399, the Tab S12 Ultra costs $200 more than last year's model. Samsung attributes this to the ongoing RAM crisis, which has driven up component costs across the industry. The irony is that the company didn't pack more RAM into this year's tablet—doing so would have pushed the price even higher. So buyers are paying more for essentially the same machine with a slightly faster processor.
For Samsung loyalists who want the largest Android tablet available and don't mind the premium, this is still a compelling device. The OLED screen alone justifies consideration if you spend hours watching video or reading. But for everyone else, the calculus shifts. Apple users should stick with the iPad Pro or iPad Air. Budget-conscious Android shoppers can get a Lenovo Tab Plus Gen 2 for $399. The Tab S12 Ultra occupies a narrow lane: Samsung ecosystem users with deep pockets who value screen real estate above all else.
Citazioni salienti
Though I wouldn't replace my laptop with this tablet, I could still get work done on it without too much trouble.— Reviewer assessment of work capability
Vuoi la storia completa?
Leggi l'originale su Tom's Guide ↗
Technology