Samsung Will Be Launching Its Foldable Tablet This Year

A Twitter tipster with the handle Revegnus says that Samsung will introduce the Galaxy Z Tab foldable tablet this year. According to the tweet, the Galaxy Z Tab will be unveiled alongside the high-end Galaxy Tab S9 line. Revenue (via SamInsider) also notes that if for some reason the foldable tablet isn’t ready for release this year, it will be introduced at the same time as the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 smartphones in 2024.

The tipster @Tech Reve claims in a tweet that the Samsung Galaxy Z Tab will be the company’s first foldable tablet and will launch alongside the Galaxy Tab S9 devices later this year.

Exclusive: Z Tab, foldable tablet to launch alongside Galaxy Tab S9 this year

— Revegnus (@Tech_Reve) April 9, 2023

While the Twitter tipster doesn’t have a huge track record to go on, having only joined the site in 2019, the account does have some prediction wins to point to, including correctly leaking the Samsung Galaxy S23 colors back in January ahead of the launch via some Thai marketing literature.

When pushed on certainty, Tech_Reve did allow a bit more wiggle room on the release date. “There’s a really high probability that this will come out this year. If it doesn’t come out this year, it’s going to be one of a bunch of foldable coming out next year… Wouldn’t that be less attention-grabbing?”

There aren’t any rumored specs to pass along, but we’d imagine that a foldable Galaxy Z Tab would feature a foldable display much larger than the 7.6-inch screen that appears when you open the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Otherwise, Samsung would have no reason to make the device since the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is already available. A 10-inch or larger display would do just fine, thank you.

Samsung will likely be attempting the latter with a foldable tablet, and you can see its appeal of it. A big screen is great while traveling, but the larger the display the less portable the tablet. Most people won’t just pop the 14.6-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra in their bags without a second thought, but a hypothetical 6-inch clamshell that unfolds into a 12-inch tablet is far more appealing.

If such a product were to be released this year, it probably would be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and the AMOLED display would feature a 120Hz refresh rate. A large-capacity battery would keep the lights on.

The Galaxy Z Tab could feature a triple-folding display that would allow the device to be folded in such a way that one of the tri-folds acts like a cover screen to provide some smartphone functionality. When fully opened, the tablet display would be more landscape than the portrait orientation of the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Back in 2021, renders surfaced of a foldable tablet called the Galaxy Z Fold Tab that included three screens, two hinges, and a magnetic dock on the tablet’s frame to charge the S Pen.

Besides carrying a hefty 10-inch or larger display, you can expect a foldable Galaxy Z Tab device to sport a huge price tag that could rival and possibly surpass the $1,799 cost of the Galaxy Z Fold 4.

Samsung would probably prefer to release a foldable table this year which would give the company a headstart over Apple. The latter is rumored to have a foldable iPad ready in 2024 according to TF International’s reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

There’s another reason why Samsung may want to branch out into foldable tablets reasonably quickly. Rumor has it that when Apple finally does enter the foldable race, it won’t be with an iPhone Flip but with a foldable iPad. Indeed, one of the sources of this rumor is said to be Samsung’s own employees.

It’s safe to say that if there is indeed a market for foldable tablets, then Apple will dominate it given half a chance. While just under a third of the world’s population favors iOS over Android, tablets are a very different story. iPads make up over half of the devices in use today

Samsung hovers around the 30% tablet market share mark, and would no doubt love to beat Apple to the market.

Don’t expect a foldable tablet to come cheap, though. Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Tab S tablets start at $699, while its entry-level foldable phone — the Galaxy Z Flip 4 — sells for $999. Still, if you consider a four-figure sum a small price for portability, then you’ll want to keep a close eye on the next Samsung Galaxy Unpacked events.