In brief: Samsung on Wednesday announced a new version of its flagship Galaxy Tab S6 which the company is calling the world's first tablet to support 5G connectivity. Aside from the inclusion of a 5G modem, the new Galaxy Tab S6 appears to be identical to the original.
The original Galaxy Tab S6 launched last summer sporting a 10.5-inch OLED display powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 SoC. Buyers could configure it with either 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or 8GB of memory and 256GB of local space. Both models include a microSD card slot that can accept cards as large as 1TB.
It also ships with an S Pen stylus that attaches magnetically to the rear of the slate, just under the dual camera array. A 7,040mAh battery can power the portable for up to 15 hours on a single charge, Samsung said.
Samsung said the revised slate will go on sale in South Korea starting January 30. A model with 128GB of storage in mountain gray will run you 999,900 won, or around $850. No word yet on whether or not Samsung plans to sell the 5G-equipped tablet outside of its home country.
Given how early we are in the 5G lifecycle, it may make more sense for Samsung to wait and add 5G to its next-gen tablet for a global release. Then again, Android tablets don't have the momentum they once did meaning new models are fewer and far between and Samsung may not want to wait that long to introduce a 5G tablet to a wider audience.
Masthead credit: 5G by B.Zhou