The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 family is packed to the rafters

In an already busy Galaxy Unpacked event, which highlighted anticipated upgrades to Z Flip and Z Fold smartphones, and brought back the rotating bezel with the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, Samsung didn’t shy away from announcing not one, not two, but three new tablets; the Galaxy Tab S9, Galaxy Tab S9 Plus and Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra. It’s the same cadence we saw with the Tab S8 series, and on paper, it seems like a fairly rote annual upgrade.

Starting at $1,299, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 range is available for pre-order today and will be available for purchase online and in-store from the 18th of August 2023.

Here’s what you probs want to know about Samsung’s latest tablets before throwing down your dosh.

Great question. A tablet is, in many ways, a by-product of more affluent times. A piece of tech that’s not quite a smartphone and not quite a laptop, but also both of those things and not. It fills a very small, almost microscopic gap in the market: the device you watch YouTube on while sitting on the loo.

So, in this economy especially, the first question on your mind should be “how much does it cost?”

Unfortunately, the answer won’t shock you into purchasing one. While the lower end of Samsung’s Galaxy S9 tablets are modestly priced compared to Apple’s flagship iPad, they still start at $1,299 at their cheapest (Tab S9 128GB Wi-Fi). If you want to plus up your Tab S9 experience, you can pay up to $2,949 for the Tab S9 Ultra with all the bells and whistles, including 1TB storage and 5G connectivity.

Here’s a rundown of Galaxy Tab S9 pricing in Australia:

Maybe the most significant feature of the entire Galaxy Tab S9 range— as pointed out by our friends at WhistleOut— is that every model is IP68 rated for water and dust-resistance. That's the most protected you can get according to the IP rating scale, promising complete dust ingress protection and water resistance when submerged beyond one-metre depths. Use it in the rain, drop it in a public toilet, or watch an episode of The Bear under water in the bath. You should be covered, so long as it's dropped in fresh water. The IP rating scale doesn't account for things like salt or chlorinated water. 

The biggest difference between the three tablets boils down to screen size. The Galaxy Tab S9 sports a tidy 11-inch display, the Tab S9 Plus goes a little bigger with 12.4 inches of unadulterated AMOLED and the Tab S9 Ultra is packing a whopping 14.6-inch display that's sure to impress. 

Besides the added screen real estate, size doesn't matter in the Tab S9 family. Each model is rocking the same Dynamic AMOLED display with an adaptive refresh rate (between 60 and 120hz).

On the camera angle, you're giving up one rear shooter if you opt for the cheaper Tab S9, which features a single 13MP lens on the back. The Tab S9 Plus and Ultra have an additional 8MP Ultra-Wide lens, which is a nice-to-have but nary used. The dual 12MP selfie camera on the Tab S9 Ultra is a little more practical, but not noticeably MIA from the Tab S9 and Tab S9 Plus (which both pack a single 12MP Ultra-wide lens for nice group selfies.) 

Other than that (and the storage/connectivity variations outlined above,) the three tablets are practically the same. They even all come with an S-pen stylus in the box for the creative crowd.

All Tab S9 models also come in the same  two colourways: Graphite (Grey) or Beige. Think typical funeral attire and you're pretty much there. 

Here's a side-by-side comparison of all three tablets: