Galaxy Z Fold5, Z Flip5, Watch6, Tab S9 hands-on review

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9, Tab S9+, Tab S9 Ultra hands-on review

Samsung also unveiled three new high-end tablets in the S-series - the ultimate 14.6" Tab S9 Ultra, the smaller 12.4" Tab S9+, and the most compact, but similarly premium-specced 11" Tab S9. There are notable improvements across the board - perhaps not many, but important ones nonetheless, so we'd file this release as more than just an incremental upgrade.

But before we go into that, here's a quick look at the key specs.

The most important development this time around is the introduction of an IP rating. All three models in the lineup meet the IP68 criteria, so they should be able to survive if dumped in freshwater down to 1.5m for as long as 30minutes. While there have been Xperia Z4 Tablet from way back in 2015.

The other major thing for the Tab S9 generation, which you may have picked up from the specs table, is in the display department and it's two-fold. For starters, the 'entry-level' model in the range, the Tab S9 proper, now gets an OLED display, while the previous generation's base version had an LCD - hardly befitting the 'S' in the model name, so we're glad that's been addressed.

But that's not all. All three models now get panels with Dynamic AMOLED 2X branding as opposed to the 'plain' Super AMOLEDs that the Tab S8+ and S8 Ultra had. So you'd be getting some dynamic refresh rate adaptability (if only in the 60-120Hz refresh rate), in addition to the HDR10+ support. Also new is the Vision Booster functionality, inherited from the Galaxy S smartphones, that plays with tone mapping to improve visibility in bright outdoor conditions.

Changes can be seen in the cameras too. Oddly enough, the S9 proper has lost the ultrawide module - apparently all the budget went into the display. On the flipside, the S9+ and the S9 Ultra get a modest upgrade on their ultrawides from 6MP to 8MP. Over on the front, things appear unchanged, with all three models getting a 12MP ultrawide camera, plus an extra regular FoV 12MP one on the Ultra.

13MP+8MP rear setup on the Ultra and Plus • Only the Ultra gets a dual selfie camera

A very predictable upgrade can be seen in the chipset field in the specsheet - all three tablets come with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. In the materials we have, there are fairly limited RAM and storage options, and they often vary by region, so we can't be drawing final conclusions from there, but it appears that the Tab S9+ and S9 Ultra will start from a 12GB/256GB spec, while the Tab S8+ and S8 Ultra's base version was a barely adequate 8GB/128GB, which is a welcome turn of events. The dedicated microSD slot remains and that's nice too.

As was the case last year, the S9 tablets support S Pen and come with one bundled in the box. The 2023 S Pen is IP68-rated too, to match the tablets' water resistance, and now features bidirectional charging so you don't need to pay attention how you place it in its cradle.

A new addition this year is the optional S Pen Creator Edition that's sold separately and is thicker, with a textured surface for improved grip.

As usual, a variety of covers and cases will be available for the Tab S9s, including two different keyboards, but we didn't get to see those.

Wrap-up

Samsung's Unpacked event this summer brought plenty of new devices with some surprising developments in addition to the stuff already known in advance from the usual pre-announcement barrage of leaks.

Perhaps the piece of hardware that we're greeting with the most enthusiasm this time around is the improved Galaxy Z Flip5, which gets more useful thanks to the large cover display and better-looking because of the long-awaited gapless folding design. The Galaxy Z Fold5 only has the gapless folding going for it as a source of excitement, though it can be argued that there wasn't much else to improve on the large-size Galaxy foldable. Still, if we're to wish for something else from the next generation bendy Galaxies, that would be a smoother crease and better cameras.

Meanwhile, with the Watch6 Classic we're getting back the rotating physical bezel that we feared was forever gone once the Watch5 Pro showed up without one last year - that's almost an exciting turn of events.

And finally, it's nice to see Samsung adding a feature we didn't think we needed (and seemingly neither did any manufacturer for the past several years), but we can now appreciate it once it's here - the IP68 rating on the Tab S9 lineup is most welcome.

Overall, it was a pretty eventful day today for Samsung Galaxy devices - there were a lot of those, and some of our favorite ones too (you guessed it, it's the foldables). Now what's left for us is to start counting the days before some of that stuff starts showing up our doorstep for reviewing.