Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 leak suggests it should be cheaper or come with a charger

Just a day after an enormous leak spilled the beans on most of the key details of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 range, there’s now another leak, one which reiterates some points and fills in some gaps.

This comes from LetsGoDigital, and one of the new things that the site claims is that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 won’t come with a charger in the box. We’ll get into whether that’s likely and why that could be a bad thing further down, but first, there’s a bunch of other stuff the site has also claimed.

It says that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 has an 11-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 1600 x 2560 and a 120Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, 5G, Android 12, 8GB of RAM, a choice of 128GB or 256GB of storage, a microSD card slot, and Samsung’s One UI 4.1 skin.

The slate will apparently get three years of Android updates and four years of security patches, lacks a notch, and has a 12MP selfie camera, along with a 13MP main rear snapper and a 6MP ultra-wide one. There are also apparently four speakers tuned by AKG.

The Galaxy Tab S8 also apparently has an 8,000mAh battery, 45W fast charging, dimensions of 253.8 x 165.4 x 6.3mm, and a weight of 507g.

It’s also said to come with an S Pen stylus in the box, but that might be different to the one that comes with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra. While the latter slate might have a new stylus, the standard Tab S8 could reportedly get the same one as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus, and therefore have a slightly higher latency.

Finally, the site claims that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 will be unveiled on February 8 alongside the Samsung Galaxy S22 range, and that it will be available in grey, silver, and pink gold shades, with a starting price of €700 (around $800 / £585 / AU$1,105).

That’s for a Wi-Fi-only model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. For 256GB of storage the price apparently rises to €750 (roughly $855 / £625 / AU$1,185), while for 5G you’ll supposedly be paying either €850 (approximately $970 / £710 / AU$1,345) if you want 128GB of storage, or €900 (around $1,025 / £750 / AU$1,420) for 256GB.

The site also mentions pricing for the other models, saying that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus will likely start at €900 (roughly $1,025 / £750 / AU$1,420), while the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra might start at €1,050 (around $1,200 / £875 / AU$1,660).

Analysis: no charger is no surprise

While this is the first we’ve heard that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 won’t come with a charger in the box, it isn’t a surprise, as many Samsung products now don’t include one.

The argument is probably one you’ve heard before at this point – most people already have chargers lying around, so there’s no need to include one, and not doing is both better for the environment and reduces costs, with savings that can be passed on to the consumer.

This is all true, and arguably a good justification for not including a charger, but in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 there are two reasons why it perhaps should.

Firstly, while most people probably already have a compatible charger, they might not have a 45W one, as that’s higher power than some chargers offer. So many buyers might still have to purchase a charger to get the most out of this slate.

Secondly, while savings could be passed on to consumers, the leaked prices above suggest they might not have been in this case, as the starting price in euros is the same as the starting price of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 (which could also mean the same starting price in other regions, of $649.99 / £619 / AU$1,149). But that slate did come with a charger in the box.

So while we’re generally on board with ditching chargers from boxes, in this case Samsung arguably should be including one – or selling the slate for a lower price than is rumored above.

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