Recently Samsung unveiled its trio of high-end tablets for 2023, namely the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, but it’s long been rumored that there could be two more entries in the Tab S9 series, and now Samsung has confirmed as much.
On a page of Samsung's French website detailing its Bixby assistant, there’s a mention of the various devices that Bixby is available on, and among them – as spotted by leaker Roland Quandt – there’s the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus (styled as 'FE+').
So this is confirmation that these tablets exist and that they’ll be called the Tab S9 FE and the Tab S9 FE Plus. We’d even go a step further and say that their mention here suggests these slates will probably be launched soon.
Galaxy Tab S9 FE / Tab S9 FE+ naming confirmed by Samsung dot com https://t.co/FGHALCBrU4 pic.twitter.com/ApDZwJIrHpAugust 4, 2023
There’s further evidence for this too, as a few days ago, MySmartPrice spotted the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus on an FCC (Federal Communications Commission) database, which is something that we’d expect to happen close to launch.
Exactly when the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus will launch is unclear, but we’d guess it could be as soon as within the next few weeks.
We do have some idea of what to expect from these slates when they land though, thanks to previous leaks and rumors.
A less powerful Tab S9
One leak showed the designs of the Tab S9 FE and the Tab S9 FE Plus as being similar to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus respectively, complete with a single-lens rear camera on the standard FE, and a dual-lens one on the Plus model.
The same leak pointed to a 10.9-inch screen on the Galaxy Tab FE and a 12.4-inch display on the Tab S9 FE Plus. That would make for basically the same sizes as the standard Galaxy Tab S9 and the Tab S9 Plus.
So how will these slates differ from the non-FE models? Well, they’ll almost certainly be less powerful, with talk of a mid-range Exynos 1380 chipset (the same silicon powering the company's current mid-range Samsung Galaxy A54 smartphone) in place of the top-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. There may be other differences too, such as to the camera specs, but that’s unclear for now.
We should find out soon, and TechRadar will be sure to cover the announcement of these slates in full whenever it happens, as well as assessing whether they rank among the best Android tablets and – if the price is right – perhaps the best cheap tablets.
