Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 review: Should you buy it?

Samsung is one of the few large OEMs that has consistently offered Android tablets, and even with new competition from the likes of OnePlus and Google, it’s still way out in front. Consequently, Samsung didn’t have to change much with its Galaxy Tab S9 family. In fact, the smallest member of the family, the Galaxy Tab S9, is the only model that saw a significant upgrade compared to the Tab S8 series. While the Tab S8 had the same 11-inch screen size, it was an LCD. Samsung gave the Tab S9 an AMOLED, matching the more expensive Tab S9 Plus and Tab S9 Ultra.

In the past, an 11-inch tablet would have seemed huge, but we live in a world of enormous phones and gargantuan tablets. The Tab S9 Ultra, for instance, has a whopping 14.6-inch screen. You can get phones that measure almost 7 inches, and a foldable like the Pixel Fold is 7.6 inches. If you’ve got one of these big phones, the 11-inch Tab S9 might seem a little small. It’s still plenty big enough to be useful, though it’s widescreen instead of a more square ratio like the OnePlus Pad or iPad. Even at 11 inches, that makes it somewhat awkward to use in portrait orientation.

The new AMOLED panel is as good as Samsung’s other AMOLED tablets, just a bit smaller (and cheaper). It has excellent viewing angles, and it’s bright enough to use outdoors. The Tab S9 also has four Atmos-compatible speakers around the periphery, and they sound great for a tablet. In fact, they’re probably louder and clearer than the speakers on your laptop.

Unlike Samsung’s other 2023 tablets, the Tab S9 is compact enough that you won’t mind carrying it around. The durable aluminum chassis is just 5.9mm thick, and it weighs 498g (a little over one pound). There’s just enough bezel around the screen to hold the Tab S9 without accidentally touching the screen, and the lower mass makes it much more comfortable than the Tab S9 Ultra and S9 Plus (which are also impressively thin). The 8,400mAh battery is a bit larger than the one in last year’s tablet, and it does the Tab S9 good. It’ll last through a day of intense use with a little left in the tank. It’s not the most long-lived slate, but using it for an hour here and there will still get you multiple days of use, and it loses almost no juice sitting on the coffee table.

We’ve seen most Samsung phones gain water resistance over the years, but that’s still rare on tablets. Yet, the Galaxy Tab S9 does have an IP68 rating. It’s less likely to encounter water than a phone, but it’s still nice to have.

The Tab S9 is a good size if you need something bigger than your Android phone, and it has Samsung’s awesome multiwindow functionality to make the most of all that real estate. Android is still light on apps that are optimized for the big screen, but split-screen in One UI 5.1 saves the day. The Tab S9 is big enough that you can have three apps up at once, and they’ll all be usable. On foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 5, the three-up layout can be a bit cramped. Samsung also lets you have your favorite app groups for easy access. That makes the Tab S9 a real multitasking powerhouse, though it’s not as compact as a Z Fold.

Update support on Android tablets is a real crapshoot — even “important” devices like Lenovo’s flagship Tab P12 Pro, which was one of the few with an Android 12L beta, have languished on old versions of the OS. Samsung’s tablets get the same general update guarantee as its phones: five years of security patches and Android OS updates. The first round of updates later this year will bring Android 14 and One UI 6.0, but future update cycles will be a bit more delayed if past years are anything to go by.

Samsung includes the S Pen stylus with the Tab S9, making this device a great canvas for drawing, coloring, and taking notes. The S Pen is super-responsive thanks to the 120Hz display refresh, and it’s a joy to write on the screen. The S Pen’s soft tip is much easier to control on the glass display than the Apple Pencil on an iPad. However, you’re mostly limited to the S Pen-enabled apps that ship with the tablet. Very few apps in the Play Store will work properly with the S Pen.

The S Pen works as a stylus whether or not it’s charged, but keeping it topped up will enable some additional features like button shortcuts and gestures. Neither are must-haves, but it is easier to keep the pen charged with the Tab S9. Samsung made the magnetic S Pen holder on the back of the tablet work in either orientation, a nice upgrade from the confusing magnetic mount on the Tab S8.

Samsung sells a keyboard case for this tablet, which makes it almost a miniature laptop. The keys are a bit wobbly, and vertical travel is minimal, even for a laptop-style keyboard. It’s faster than typing on the screen, but the case does add a lot of bulk if you’re just looking to protect the tablet when not in use. The keyboard case is $140, and it will most likely only work for this tablet generation. That makes it a tough sell.

All versions of the Tab S9 have the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Samsung, which is clocked a touch higher than non-Samsung versions of the chip. Some Samsung phones throttle too heavily when they heat up, but the company’s tablets have a lot more thermal headroom. The Tab S9 only loses a little speed when it warms up, making it a good option for gaming, though peak performance for multitasking and professional design work is not remotely comparable to the Apple M-series iPads.

The Galaxy Tab S9 starts at $799.99 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. A version with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage is available for $920, but we suggest you stick with the base model. You could spend more on the Tab S9 Plus or S9 Ultra, but you’re just getting the same experience in a larger, less convenient footprint.

Samsung makes several versions of the Tab S9, but there are a few non-Samsung tablets you might also consider if you don’t need the most premium piece of hardware.

• Google Pixel Tablet ($499 at Best Buy): Google’s first tablet in years offers the slick Pixel interface with Android 13 (soon to be Android 14). It’s also $300 cheaper than the Tab S9 and can double-up as a pseudo-smart display thanks to the bundled speaker dock. However, the display is a run-of-the-mill 60Hz LCD, and it doesn’t come with a stylus.
• OnePlus Pad ($479 at OnePlus): The OnePlus Pad is the company’s first tablet. It’s fast, attractive, and has a solid 144Hz LCD screen. There’s an included stylus, but it’s barely supported in software. The latest version of Oxygen OS lacks the advanced multitasking features of the Galaxy Tab S9, though.
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus ($999 at Amazon): The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Plus is essentially the same as the Tab S9 with a larger screen and higher price. Unless you need a tablet larger than 11 inches or a model with 5G support, there’s no reason to upgrade.
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra ($1119 at Samsung): The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is the largest member of the Tab S9 lineup, with a 14.6-inch AMOLED screen. It also has two front-facing and rear cameras. If the Tab S9 and Tab S9 Plus are both too small for what you have in mind, this $1,200 tablet is for you.
• Apple iPad Pro M2 ($786 at Amazon): The 11-inch iPad Pro requires a transition to iPadOS which doesn’t play quite as nicely with an Android phone, but it makes up for it with laptop-grade power and a more comprehensive software suite with exceptional app support and compatibility.