Test verdict on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra: Ultra slim tablet improves in the details

The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is an eye catcher. Equipped with a large 14.6-inch AMOLED panel, the Samsung tablet is very slim at only 5.5 millimeters (~0.22 in), without appearing too delicate. The unibody construction from so-called Armor Aluminum resists attempts of some gentle warping without any problems and also offers a high-quality feel holding it in the hands.

The highlight of the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is definitely the high-resolution OLED display, despite the lack of an adaptive refresh rate like in the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Compared to the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, Samsung was able to slightly increase the maximum brightness of a pure white display without any dark areas to 625 cd/m² in the second generation of its XXL tablet. And with 900 cd/m² in the realistic APL18 test, the maximum brightness is even much higher - for comparison, the predecessor reached a top brightness of 795 cd/m² in our measurements. This means that HDR content displayed on the panel of the Tab S9 Ultra, which is designated for HDR10+, HDR10, and HLG, is also correspondingly attractive.

The weak point of the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra was its low battery life, but Samsung was able to remedy this to a large extent in the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra. Even though the runtimes of the 2023 model are still not at the level of an Apple iPad Pro 12.9, they now range at satisfactory levels. Lasting 10.5 hours with WLAN and almost 12 hours playing videos in our realistic battery test at an adjusted brightness of 150 cd/m², the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra lasts noticeably longer than the predecessor generation.

If you are looking for a powerful Android tablet, you can get a detailed impression of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra from our extensive review of the Galaxy tablet.