For nearly a decade, you didn’t need to look hard on the internet to find someone writing off the concept of Android tablets — and, frankly, with good reason. Devices like the Motorola Xoom littered store shelves months after the launch of the original iPad; that slate even debuted witha splashy Super Bowl ad in 2011, only to fail once the product actually hit the market. Aside from theNexus 7 series, and, I guess,Amazon’s Fire tablets, very little actually caught on with mass audiences.
These days, all tablets are in a bit of a slump, and I’m not just talking about their sales numbers. From the ever-confusing iPad lineup — a problem Apple is rumored to solve by adding a larger iPad Air, for some reason? — to thefirst-gen Pixel Tablet, it seems like the last couple of years worth of hardware has been met by the general public with a shrug. Then there’s Samsung.
I’m not trying to say Samsung has perfected this category, that nothing should ever change with this lineup. But I do think Samsung has effectively made the only tablet most Android fans should turn to, and certainly thebest tablet of 2023. Yes, theGalaxy Tab S9+is expensive, andyes, the changes made this year are superficial at best. Better processors are always welcome, and water resistance is an obvious addition that I’d like to see come to more tablets. But, let’s be real. No Galaxy Tab S8+ owner should look at the Tab S9+ — and frankly, I think that’s for the best.
There’s something to be said for a company willing to make iterative updates to a product that doesn’t necessarily need fixing. What do you want from a tablet that isn’t there in 2023? Samsung’s middle child slate has a great screen, excellent speakers, a bundled S Pen that makes taking notes a cinch, and a full desktop mode in DeX that pairs excellently with the mouse and keyboard of your choosing. Is it true that these are all hallmarks of its predecessor? Yes —and we loved those features in 2022, too.
Quick, which one is the Tab S9+?
I think that, when it comes to smartphones, there’s an obvious criticism here. If you’re going to make and release phones so similar to each other year after year, maybe don’t assign those devices an annual launch. Samsung has already backed off this approach with its tablets, releasing the Galaxy Tab S7, S8, and S9 series just about eighteen months apart each time. While I think you could argue these releases could grow even slower with time, I like seeing this approach with hardware. There’s less pressure to upgrade every generation — hell, I’d be surprised if Tab S7+ owners felt the need to run out to their local Best Buy.
At the end of the day, if you’re in the market for a tablet, and the iPads just aren’t doing it for you, the Galaxy Tab S9 series — and, in particular, the Tab S9+ — is the way to go. It’s safe, it’s reliable, it’s maybe a little boring. It’s not going to rock the boat, but it’s going to be a great way to get some work done on the go. And maybe, when it comes to tablets, that’s all that really matters.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+
The Galaxy Tab S9+ isn’t exactly Samsung’s most revolutionary piece of hardware ever, but it does exactly what it sets out to do with flying colors. While slates like the Pixel Tablet might be more exciting on paper, the Tab S9+ remains the Android tablet to beat in 2023 — and, frankly, we don’t see that changing any time soon.
