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Samsung starts the Galaxy Tab S12 line at $1,200 with two large-screen models
Samsung priced the Galaxy Tab S12 at $1,399 for the Ultra and $1,200 for the Plus, each $100 above the earlier model Bloomberg compared it with. With the line now starting at $1,200, what happens to the older 11-inch S11 decides how far upmarket Samsung has moved.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- Samsung did not announce an update for the smaller 11-inch Galaxy Tab S11 alongside the new pair, according to Bloomberg.
- The S12 Ultra has a 14.6-inch display and a 5.1-millimetre body, and the S12+ has a 12.6-inch screen.
- Samsung also introduced an upgraded SmartTag tracker with better precision and longer-distance tracking than earlier models.
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Why it matters
- cost A buyer who wants a current-generation Samsung S tablet now pays at least $1,200, unless Samsung keeps the older S11 on sale as a cheaper way in.
- exposure Samsung is asking S-series buyers to absorb increases of about 7.7% on the Ultra and 9.1% on the Plus, so its tablet revenue now depends on how many of them still buy.
- contradiction The upmarket thesis holds only if The Indian Express is right that the base model was dropped; Bloomberg's narrower account leaves room for the S11 to stay on sale as a cheaper tier.
Both increases are $100, and in percentage terms the cheaper tablet took the larger one. Bloomberg set the Ultra against the S11 Ultra's most recent price, which puts the starting point at $1,299 and the rise at about 7.7% [2][1]. It set the Plus against the older S10+, which puts the starting point at $1,100 and the rise at about 9.1% [4][2]. The two baselines are also different kinds of number. Bloomberg's "most recent price" leaves open whether the S11 Ultra's price had moved since launch, and the Plus comparison goes back to the S10 generation [2][4].
With no new 11-inch model in the series [5], the cheapest S12 is the $1,200 Plus [3]. The Ultra costs $199 more, about 16.6%, for a screen 2 inches larger on the diagonal and a 5.1-millimetre body [3][4][3].
One reading of the empty slot is an upmarket push. Samsung raises both remaining prices and lets the small model lapse, so every buyer of a current-generation S tablet pays at least $1,200 [3]. Another is a staggered lineup: the S11 stays on sale as the entry tablet, and Samsung saves the cost of a replacement this cycle. A third is an 11-inch S12 that arrives later, in which case the gap is a matter of timing.
The two reports lean different ways. The Indian Express described the launch as Samsung dropping the base model [6]. Bloomberg wrote only that Samsung did not announce an update for the 11-inch S11 [5]. Neither says whether the S11 stays on sale. Neither includes the shipment, revenue or margin figures that would show whether the tablet market is flat.
I think the prices support the upmarket reading more firmly than the lineup does. Samsung raised list prices by the same $100 at both tiers it refreshed [2][4]. The only other product it launched with them was a SmartTag tracker with better precision and longer range [1][7]. It did not renew its smallest S-series size this cycle [5]. A higher list price brings in more revenue per tablet sold, but it can also cost sales. With no volume figures, the margin case rests on prices alone. The upmarket reading is wrong if a current S tablet survives in the line below $1,200, whether that is a repriced S11 or an 11-inch S12 that comes later.
What to watch
- Whether the S12 Ultra holds its $1,399 list price, given that Bloomberg measured its increase against the S11 Ultra's most recent price and not its launch price.
- Any Samsung disclosure of tablet unit sales after the S12 ships, the first evidence on whether the $100 increases cost it buyers.