The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 5G has been officially revealed, and it’s virtually unchanged from the prevailing model apart from its capability to attach to the next-gen networks.
The tablet’s unveiling, first noticed by Android Central, comes weeks before we expected it to be shown on stage at Samsung Unpacked on February 11.
The new 5G version is virtually unchanged from the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 released late in 2019, though it’ll only are available one configuration of 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage alongside a Snapdragon 855 chipset, 10.5-inch OLED display, and included S Pen.
The large difference, a Snapdragon X50 5G modem rather than the X24 modem that came within the LTE version of the Tab S6.
The tablet will become available on January 30 in South Korea and can cost 999,900 won (around $847 / £651 / AU$1,257), though Samsung didn’t mention any longer rollout plans in its handout.
While Samsung will definitely beat Apple to releasing the primary 5G-capable tablet, the important question is, will it matter? LTE-connecting tablets are neat, especially with higher-end Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 and iPad Pro options for on-the-go professionals.
But those are for more niche audiences – and, more importantly, 5G networks are still in their youth.
There’s little question that some heavy-coverage areas will get the 1Gbps-plus speeds we’ve seen in phones just like the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, but we’ve only seen that in small parts of dense cities so far.
As those networks still build out over 2020 and mature toward the top of the year, Apple won’t seem as behind if it launches a 5G iPad in October consistent with its usual product cadence.
If it doesn’t, well, Apple could seem to be falling as far behind in tablets because it might be in 5G phones.
