Galaxy Tab S12 vs S11 Ultra and S10+: which should you actually buy?

Samsung announced the Galaxy Tab S12+ and S12 Ultra on 30 September 2026, with sales starting 7 October in select markets. Before you reach for your card, it's worth asking a different question: does either tablet solve something your current one doesn't?

If you're holding a Tab S10+ or Tab S11 Ultra that still works fine, the honest answer is often no. Here's what changed in each generation, what the early tests show, how the S12 stacks up against Apple's tablets, and why a refurbished predecessor from refurbed is worth a serious look first.

Samsung's own figures show where the S12+ moves the needle against a Tab S10+, and where it doesn't.

Chip: Dimensity 9500, up from the S10+'s Dimensity 9300+, a two-generation jump.

Weight: 553 g (Wi-Fi model), down from 571 g.

Battery: 10,600 mAh, up from 10,090 mAh.

Display: 12.6 in AMOLED at 120 Hz, barely bigger than the S10+'s 12.4 in at the same resolution.

Rear camera: a single 13 MP lens. The S10+'s 8 MP ultrawide is gone.

S Pen: no longer Bluetooth-enabled, so it loses the remote Air actions the S10+'s pen supports.

Charging and Wi-Fi: unchanged, at 45 W and Wi-Fi 6E.

Real improvements, but not reasons to replace a working Tab S10+.

Line up the Tab S11 Ultra against the new S12 Ultra and almost everything matches, except the chip.

Display: 14.6 in AMOLED, 120 Hz, 2960 x 1848. Identical.

Thickness and weight: 5.1 mm and 692 g. Identical.

Battery: 11,600 mAh. Identical.

Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 7 on both.

Chip: Dimensity 9500 on the S12 Ultra, up from the Dimensity 9400+. Samsung's own figures put this at up to 19% faster CPU performance, 17% faster GPU performance and 61% faster NPU processing, on selected workloads rather than every app evenly.

If you already own an S11 Ultra, that single changed row is what you'd be paying full price for.

PhoneArena ran the S12 Ultra against the S11 Ultra and Apple's iPad Pro 13 in M5 and published early results. It's one outlet's testing, not a broad consensus, and its battery figures used a 200-nit screen.

Geekbench 7 single-core: 2,082 (S11 Ultra) vs 2,782 (S12 Ultra) vs 3,593 (iPad Pro M5).

Geekbench 7 multi-core: 7,977 vs 9,407 vs 15,022.

Web browsing: 10h 16m vs 10h 10m vs 15h 19m.

Video playback: 8h 37m vs 9h 00m vs 9h 18m.

Full charge: 96 min vs 94 min vs 115 min.

Read together: a clear CPU and GPU jump from the S11 Ultra to the S12 Ultra, almost unchanged battery life, and a wide lead for the M5 iPad Pro in these specific benchmarks. None of that tells you which device runs the apps you use best, and Samsung's own figure of up to 23 hours is based on locally stored 720p video under lab conditions, not comparable to a rival's mixed-use figure.

Samsung DeX turns the tablet into a resizable-windows, keyboard-and-mouse workspace that's useful for research, messaging and office work. It doesn't make desktop-only software available just because the screen now looks like a computer's. Even Samsung says some specialised software still needs a laptop.

Photoshop's arrival on Android tablets is a real addition, alongside Notability, Clip Studio Paint and LumaFusion. But the offer bundled with the S12 is four months of premium mobile access, with early exclusivity to the Galaxy Store only, not a permanent S12-only feature and not the same feature set as desktop Photoshop.

A faster NPU matters when an app runs its AI features locally. Anything that leans on a cloud assistant stays limited by your connection and subscription, whatever chip is doing the local work.

If you're not committed to Samsung at all, Apple's iPads are the other real alternative to a new S12. Procreate is iPad-only, and Apple offers Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro on the iPad Air, ecosystem differences Samsung's improving app selection doesn't remove.

The S12's Dimensity 9500 chip is designed by MediaTek and built on TSMC's N3P process, not made by Samsung. The Samsung name on the tablet doesn't mean Samsung made the chip inside it.

N3P is a performance and efficiency node, not an environmental rating. Making chips at that scale still needs large amounts of electricity, water and chemicals, and real emissions controls, whatever the node name says.

Display production carries its own cost too. Apple's own M5 environmental report uses different carbon assumptions for OLED and LCD panels, which shows a premium screen can carry a bigger production footprint, though it doesn't tell us Samsung's own panel figure.

On materials: Samsung reports recycled plastic, aluminium, rare-earth elements, copper and steel in selected S11 Ultra parts, plus fully recycled packaging paper, not the whole tablet. Apple reports 30% recycled content by weight on the M5 Pro and M4 Air, fully recycled aluminium enclosures and battery cobalt, and 95% recycled battery lithium. Samsung also reports cutting single-use plastic from mobile packaging and zero-waste-to-landfill certification at ten manufacturing sites: real progress, not proof of zero impact across every supplier.

No equivalent documentation exists yet for the S12.

These are modelled estimates for different configurations, destinations and methods, not directly comparable measurements, and they don't show a straight-line improvement from one Samsung generation to the next.

Tab S10+ (SM-X828U): 170.95 kg CO₂e over a 4-year modelled lifecycle, US distribution.

Tab S11 Ultra (5G, 256 GB): 140.53 kg CO₂e, UK distribution, same 4-year model.

iPad Pro 13 in M5 (cellular, 256 GB): 120 kg CO₂e, US configuration.

iPad Air 13 in M4 (cellular, 128 GB): 89 kg CO₂e, US configuration.

Galaxy Tab S12+ and S12 Ultra: no verified figure exists yet for either model.

For the Tab S11 Ultra, Samsung attributes about 117.2 of that 140.53 kg, roughly 83%, to manufacturing alone. That's the real argument for keeping a tablet that still works: most of its footprint is already spent before you ever turn it on.

Repairability tells a similar story. No independently verified teardown of the S12 exists yet. Microsoft's own service documentation for the Surface Pro 13 in, 12th Edition, by contrast, covers replacing the SSD, battery, display, ports and cameras: real evidence you can plan a repair around. A refurbished Surface Pro is worth a look if that kind of repairability matters to you.

Match your situation to the smarter buy.

General Android use, notes and media: a refurbished Tab S10+ or Tab S11 Ultra covers it.

A very large Android canvas for drawing or heavy multitasking: a discounted refurbished Tab S11 Ultra, not the new S12 Ultra. You'd be paying full price for one upgraded chip.

Creative work built around Procreate, Final Cut or similar: a refurbished iPad Pro fits better than either Samsung tablet.

One device that needs to run desktop software: a refurbished Surface Pro, once you've checked your specific apps run on its Arm-based chip.

If the environment is your main reason to care, the data above points the same way every time: keep the tablet you have, or buy someone else's refurbished one. Manufacturing is the biggest share of a tablet's footprint, and that's already spent on a device that works.

Is the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra still worth buying now the S12 Ultra exists?

Yes, for most people. The S11 Ultra matches the S12 Ultra on display, battery, storage options and Wi-Fi generation. Only the chip is newer on the S12 Ultra, and a refurbished S11 Ultra costs noticeably less.

What changed on the S12+ versus the S10+?

A lighter body, a newer Dimensity 9500 chip, a bigger battery and better cooling. It also lost the S10+'s rear ultrawide camera and the Bluetooth S Pen's remote actions.

Does the Galaxy Tab S12 have AirDrop?

Not confirmed. Samsung and Google support Quick Share to AirDrop file sharing on some devices generally, but Samsung's own S12 product page still describes sharing links with iOS devices rather than a direct transfer. Check this on the shipping software before counting on it.

Is a refurbished tablet actually better for the environment than buying the new S12?

Generally yes. Manufacturing accounts for roughly 83% of a tablet's lifecycle footprint, so keeping or buying an already-made device avoids most of that impact. There's no verified figure yet for the S12 itself to compare against directly.