Samsung might release the Galaxy Tab S8 sooner than you think

Don’t despair at word that Samsung might not ship the Galaxy Tab S8 until 2022 — it might arrive slightly sooner than expected. Well-known (if not always reliable) leaker Ice Universe claims the Tab S8 release date will dovetail with that of the Galaxy S22.

While the tipster didn’t narrow down the time frame, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S21 series in January this year and shipped it toward the end of the month. If the company is consistent with the S22 launch, that puts the Tab S8 release date sometime in January 2022.

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There’s more to the apparent Tab S8 scoop beyond the release date — Ice Universe also claims to have hardware details. The leak provider believes the Tab S8 Plus variant will ship with Qualcomm’s SM8450 chip (the successor to the Snapdragon 888), One UI 4.0, and the same 10,090mAh battery capacity as the Tab S7.

Ice Universe also echoed previous talk of a possible Tab S8 Ultra model, although there weren’t any hardware details. Some theorize that a rumored 14.6-inch tablet might be the Ultra, but that’s far from verified at this stage. There’s likely to be a smaller standard device as well.

This won’t satisfy you if you were hoping for a Tab S8 release date shortly after Samsung’s August 11 Unpacked event. A possible January debut would still beat waiting months longer, though, and it might ensure that both the new tablet and the S22 share very similar performance and features.