The first 5G tablet to hit market is coming from Samsung in Q1 2020
Samsung has been one of the leading proponents of the new 5G cellular standard, so it was a bit of surprise when it didn’t immediately announce a 5G variant of the Galaxy Tab S6 when it launched last year. It was only a month later, however, that hints emerged that the company was indeed planning a 5G version of the tablet as well. If you’ve been wondering when it would eventually hit the market Samsung has today officially announced it will debut in Q1 2020.
The current iterations of the Galaxy Tab S6 include a Wi-Fi only model and a 4G LTE model with both powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855. Until the launch of the Galaxy Tab S6, Samsung had been releasing its flagship tablets with Qualcomm’s high-end chips from the previous year, so it was pleasing to see Samsung start to take the category a little more seriously again. The addition of a 5G variant will help the Tab S6 stand out from the crowd as the first to land with support for the dramatically faster network speeds on offer.
As readers will be aware, Qualcomm has released an upgraded Snapdragon 885+ model with performance tweaks. The delay in the arrival of the Galaxy Tab S6 5G could be due to Samsung’s desire to integrate the newer part into the tablet, which would certainly help to boost its appeal. It is unlikely, however, that we will see the company drop the all-new Snapdragon 865 which is more likely to debut in a potential Galaxy Tab S7. Expect to learn more in the next couple of months.