Samsung unveils Galaxy Tab S6 with S Pen support to take on iPad Pro

The South Korean tech giant Samsung has recently announced the new Galaxy Tab S6, a high-end Android tablet that’s designed for both productivity work and entertainment needs. Samsung is trying to take on Apple’s iPad Pro and Microsoft’s Surface Pro with its flagship tablet.

Just like its rivals, the Tab S6 supports pen input (a stylus is included in the box) and it can be attached to an optional keyboard case. Tab S6 has a 10.5-inch OLED screen (2560 x 1600 pixel resolution), similar to the outgoing Tab S4, but Samsung has trimmed the bezels a tad to make the overall footprint smaller. It has also traded the facial recognition login system for an in-screen optical fingerprint scanner.

As far as the back design of the device is concerned, the Tab S6 has a dual-camera system with a standard lens and a 123-degree wide-angle lens. The back is also home to the most interesting part of the tablet: a magnetic strip that lets the included S Pen stylus attach to the tablet. Like the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil, the S6 can charge the pen when it’s attached and it even has a similar on-screen charging notification when you attach it. But sticking the stylus on the back of the device is far more clumsy than on the side, and in my brief time using the tablet, it was very easy to knock the stylus off the back while holding it.

In addition, Samsung’s optional keyboard and folio cases have a cavity to cover the stylus and will likely do a much better job of keeping it attached than just the magnets alone. Meanwhile, the S Pen stylus has similar remote-control features as the S Pen that comes with the Galaxy Note 9 smartphone, including the ability to advance PowerPoint slides or trigger the camera shutter remotely.

Specifications of Tab S6

• 10.5″ Super AMOLED Display
• 6GB + 128 GB or 8GB + 128GB RAM and storage configurations
• Snapdragon 855 or Exynos 9610
• 7,040 mAh battery (15 hours battery life claimed)
• 8MP front camera
• 13MP + 5MP rear cameras
• Four AKG speakers with Dolby Atmos technology
• Optical fingerprint sensor
• New Bluetooth S-Pen

The device will be available starting on September 6th for $649, which gets you 128GB of storage and 6GB of RAM. A version with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM will cost $729. Samsung says an LTE version of the Tab S6 will be available later in the year.