Tablets really exist in two categories. First, you have the everyday tablets that people use for minor things, like watching videos and checking their social media—the usual things that one can often enough do on their phone, just bigger. The next category is for the serious users: people who need to multitask and essentially use a tablet in place of a laptop. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra tablet gives you the best of a productivity tablet with an entertainment experience that cannot be beat.
Looking at the specs on the Tab S9 Ultra, we see incremental hardware changes from the previous model and a few of what some people may consider downgrades. The S9 Ultra and its predecessor, the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, are the same size, with the S9 Ultra weighing only a few grams more than the 5G version of the S8 Ultra. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra has a dynamic AMOLED 2x 120Hz 14.6” display compared to the S8 Ultra’s Super AMOLED screen of the same size.
While the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra has Android 13 out of the box instead of Android 12, which is available on the S8 Ultra, both are upgradeable to Android 14 and One UI 6. The Qualcomm SM8550-AC Snapdragon 8 chipset is only a generational leap from the S8 Ultra’s SM8450. The Octa-core CPU’s specs somewhat favour the S9 Ultra, and the GPU just upgrades the S8 Ultra’s Adreno 730 to the 740. The two models also have an identical 11200 mAh Li-Po battery with 45W wired charging.
“The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra tablet gives you the best of a productivity tablet with an entertainment experience that cannot be beat.”
Samsung has shrunk the number of total builds that they offer, removing 128GB and 256GB with 8GB of RAM as well as the 256GB and 512GB versions with 16GB of RAM, offering now 256GB, 512GB and 1TB with 12 GB of RAM and another 1TB with 16GB of RAM. It’s disappointing to lose those 16GB options with the smaller storage sizes, but the number of build options can get out of control pretty quickly.
Moving on to the cameras, the rear camera’s wide lens is a consistent 13MP f/2.0 with a 1/3.4” sensor across both models, with the ultrawide lens boosting its resolution from 6MP f/2.2 to 8MP f/2.2. The selfie cam lenses stay the same, both offering a 12MP f/2.2 wide and 12MP f/2.4 ultrawide lens.
Something removed from the latest model is the ability to shoot 4K at 60 frames per second, a feature that was available on the S8 Ultra, but I believe this is a loss in the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra that won’t be felt by the average user. The fact that they don’t offer higher frame rates on 1080 video and the fact that people do not generally lean on the use of their tablet’s camera when the smartphone in their pocket will likely take better photos and video than any tablet, I don’t think that the addition of 60fps on the old model was anything but a feature to catch people’s eyes.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 series is the first in the Galaxy S series of tablets to offer water and dust resistance, including a water-resistant S Pen. Its Vision Booster also uses an algorithm to adjust the screen’s contrast and colour to keep your screen visible and boost the tablet’s capabilities beyond its 980 nit brightness. I can tell you that, through its use, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra screen’s vibrance in all environments has been phenomenal and beyond what the specs may suggest.
In reviewing Samsung’s last few premium tablet offerings, I’ve been blown away by the sound. The 4-speaker stereo sound is incredibly clear, even at its loudest, and it gets loud. I tested the speakers by playing the movie Twister during one of the many less-than-quiet tornado scenes and my wife and I had to yell to hear each other over the sound, which was not quite at max volume.
“…the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra screen’s vibrance in all environments has been phenomenal and beyond what the specs may suggest.”
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra’s video and audio capabilities make it a solid gaming option as well. Its overall performance gives you a great experience that can handle any mobile game, making it look and sound great in the process. I would, however, recommend some kind of Bluetooth controller for a lot of games because the S9 Ultra’s large size makes it a little tough to handle.
Samsung’s latest S Pen is a responsive stylus that gives you that natural sensation that you are actually writing on the screen. The optimized notes apps available for the device make creating documents or just taking notes on an existing document a genuine pleasure, and now, on the Samsung Notes App, they offer live collaboration, letting you work with other people on a shared document.
The Samsung Dex App takes your productivity even further with the ability to turn your tablet experience into something that feels more like a PC experience, with taskbars, windows and everything else you come to expect from a home computer. Also, expect seamless file sharing between Samsung devices. If you are working on a document on your phone, toss it to your tablet to keep going. Did you shoot a video on your phone? Edit the video on the S9 Ultra effortlessly.
What I would love to see is more compatibility for high-end creativity apps, like the full versions of Adobe’s Creative Suite (Photoshop’s full version, Premiere, etc), DaVinci Resolve, Affinity Photo and more. They do work with some applications like Filmora, LumaFusion and Photoshop Express, which are a good start, but more preferred applications (many of which work on an iPad) would really be a giant leap for the tablet.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra that I tested (the 256GB with 12GB of RAM) comes in at a pricey $1199.99 USD, with the highest tier 1TB tablet coming in at $1619.99 USD. There are cheaper and smaller options than the 14.6” S9 Ultra, with the 12.4” Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ ranging between $999.99 and $1119.99 and the 11” Galaxy Tab S9 priced between $799.99 and $919.99.
Prices are in line with Apple’s iPad Pro series when comparing size and storage, so your decisions about what tablet is right for you can vary depending on ecosystem preferences and productivity needs, but if you are just looking for a powerful tablet that is excellent for work and astonishing for play, then the larger Samsung Galaxy S9 Ultra may be the one for you.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra tablet’s fantastic display, big sound, gaming capability and lightning-fast performance—even when multi-tasking—are, like the physical tablet, larger than life. Its biggest drawback is the fact that it is not making giant technological leaps that appeal to customers and its failure to market what might make the latest and greatest device worth the price of the upgrade. But, even with small steps, it’s still further ahead of its predecessor, making it the best in its class, no matter what
- Power and performance Whether you’re bringing an idea to life or streaming your favorite show, unleash greatness in every experience with a superfast Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, our most powerful tablet processor yet
- TS9 Ultra Screen size and quality Make every experience ultra-amazing on a 14.6″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen —our largest on the Tab S9 Series. Get ready for intense colors, deep contrasts and unbelievable brilliance.
