Samsung's $1,400 Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra leaves Android fleets a single premium supplier

A supervisor handed a Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra on Monday gets a 14.6-inch OLED screen in a body 5.1mm thin and 692 grams in weight ^[16]. The keyboard is a separate purchase. "To truly use the Tab S12 Ultra for work, you'll need the $399 Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra Pro Keyboard," Tom's Guide's reviewer wrote ^[6].

On paper, this is a laptop. Engadget describes the S12 Ultra as "meant to be a laptop replacement" ^[30] and calls DeX, the mode that swaps the Android home screen for a taskbar and windowed apps, the "lynchpin" of that role ^[23]. In use, Tom's Guide found that DeX needs an external monitor for full functionality ^[20] and judged the tablet "still not a true laptop replacement" ^[21]. It also found the slate "too cumbersome to hold comfortably for long periods" ^[17]. On that evidence, what a desk worker actually uses is a tablet with a keyboard and a monitor attached.

Speed holds up. Engadget's Geekbench 7 multi-core score was 9,403, against 7,879 for a Dell XPS 13 with an Intel Core 5 320 ^[13]. Engadget also noted that some of the everyday speed comes from running mobile versions of apps like Photoshop ^[14].

Away from the desk, the argument is durability. PCMag says the IP68 rating, which the iPad Pro lacks, means the tablet is dust-tight and can sit in about five feet of water for 30 minutes ^[3]. "If you're in the kitchen, at the beach, or out and about, that IP68 rating gives you a safety state of mind," Samsung's VP of Product Carly Okerfelt said in PCMag's review ^[4]. Battery results depend on the test. Engadget's video rundown lasted 19 hours and 39 minutes ^[7], and Tom's Guide measured nearly 12 hours ^[8].

The reviews disagree on storage. Engadget wrote that a single USB-C jack is the only port and wished for a microSD reader ^[22]. Tom's Guide and PCMag both describe a microSD slot ^[26][24], and Digital Trends says it accepts storage up to 2TB ^[25].

PCMag and Tom's Guide each call the S12 Ultra the best Android tablet of its kind ^[11][12]. The stronger claim, that Samsung is the only maker still offering a proper iPad Pro rival, is Engadget's alone ^[1].

I'd sort roles on two axes before placing an order: whether the person works at a desk with a monitor, and whether they need a connection away from Wi-Fi. Desk work with a monitor is where DeX runs as designed, and the fair comparison is a laptop at the keyboard-included price. Desk work without a monitor falls under Tom's Guide's verdict, and a laptop is the simpler purchase. Field work on Wi-Fi is the tablet's strongest quadrant, on water rating and battery. Field work off Wi-Fi is the one it cannot serve as sold, because PCMag found no 5G model ^[29].