New premium Samsung tablets tipped to stick with MediaTek for 2026

Over nine months have passed since Samsung released the Galaxy Tab S11 and Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra globally (curr. $999 on Amazon). Nonetheless, initial details about potential successors emerged at the start of the year. Now, Android Authority claims to have uncovered references to the Galaxy Tab S12 series in Samsung's AI Core app.

To recap, previous leaks identified the model numbers SM-X846 and SM-X946. Currently, these are believed to be the Galaxy Tab S12 Plus and Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra. Thus, the smaller Galaxy Tab S may sit the S12 series out, just as it did with the S10 series in 2024.

According to Android Authority, Samsung has now added references to 'MT6993' within its AI Core app. Additionally, its APK teardown highlights that the chipset can perform plenty of on-device AI tasks like generative editing. Android Authority asserts that these snippets indicate that Samsung will ship the Galaxy Tab S12 series with MediaTek's Dimensity 9500 chipset, which we have already reviewed inside the Magic8 Pro Air, Find X9 Pro and the X300 Pro, among others.

It is worth noting that Android Authority made a similar claim last year that the Tab S11 series would launch with the Dimensity 9400. Given that Samsung has equipped its flagship tablets with Plus-branded Dimensity chipsets in recent years, we suspect that the Tab S12 Plus and Tab S12 Ultra will adopt the Dimensity 9500 Plus, which MediaTek has not announced yet.