Galaxy Tab S9 FE vs Galaxy Tab S8+ (Plus)

Here we compared two tablets: the 10.9-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE (with Exynos 1380) that was released on October 4, 2023, against the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ (Plus), which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and came out 1 year and 8 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each tablet
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Shows 16% longer battery life (25:00 vs 21:37 hours)
  • Delivers 50% higher peak brightness (697 against 466 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Much smaller footprint: 20% more compact case (65.4 vs 81.7 square inches)
  • Weighs 44 grams less
  • Ready for eSIM technology
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ (Plus)
  • Has a 1.5 inches larger screen size
  • 74% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1288K versus 741K)
  • Comes with 2090 mAh larger battery capacity: 10090 vs 8000 mAh
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • Super AMOLED display (versus competitor's TFT LCD)
  • Faster storage type - UFS 3.1 versus UFS 2.2
  • 65% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1678 and 1014 points
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and Tab S8+ (Plus) crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
6 / 128 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
35.8
(Mediocre)
Value Index
29.6
(Mediocre)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type TFT LCD Super AMOLED
Size 10.9 inches 12.4 inches
Resolution 1440 x 2304 pixels 1752 x 2800 pixels
Aspect ratio 16:10 16:10
PPI 249 ppi 266 ppi
Refresh rate 90 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 750 nits 600 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10 Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 81.7% 84.6%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 96.7% 92.1%
PWM 84400 Hz 245 Hz
Response time 27 ms 1 ms
Contrast 1052:1 ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy Tab S8+ (Plus)
12.4″ (16:10 ratio) = 69.1 in2
Galaxy Tab S9 FE
10.9″ (16:10 ratio) = 53.4 in2
~29% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
697 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 254.3 mm (10.01 inches) 285 mm (11.22 inches)
Width 165.8 mm (6.53 inches) 185 mm (7.28 inches)
Thickness 6.5 mm (0.26 inches) 5.7 mm (0.22 inches)
Weight 523 g (18.45 oz) 567 g (20 oz)
Waterproof IP68 No
Rear material Metal Metal
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Silver, Gray, Green, Purple Silver, Gold, Gray, Pink
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-button Yes, in-display
Area 422 cm2 (65.4 inches2) 527 cm2 (81.7 inches2)
Visual size comparison
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (109th and 86th place)
Android Tablet Ranking (84th and 65th place)

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ (Plus)
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 1380 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
Max clock 2400 MHz 3000 MHz
CPU cores 8 (4 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 3 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 1 core at 3 GHz: Cortex-X2
L3 cache 4 MB 6 MB
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 5 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Mali-G68 MP5 Adreno 730
GPU shading units 160 1024
GPU clock 949 MHz 818 MHz
FLOPS ~303.7 GFLOPS ~1675.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ (Plus)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 3076 8953
Single-core score 1014 1678
Multi-core score 2910 3773
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 306773 494123
GPU 92101 219109
Memory 125803 187196
UX 216534 388048
Total score 741211 1288476
Samples [2 tests] [48 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 97% -
Graphics test 2 FPS -
Graphics score 295 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability - 72%
Graphics test - 13 FPS
Graphics score - 2221
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 10094 13706
Video editing 6776 7469
Photo editing 25266 29611
Data manipulation 10377 11074
Writing score 14346 12916

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-07-15 -> AzuNoBelAnTuTu741211
📘 2026-03-27 (DanielDuca12)AnTuTu696034
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ (Plus)
No benchmark results yet

Memory

Configuration
RAM
RAM size 6 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR5
Memory clock 2133 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 2.2 UFS 3.1
Memory card MicroSD MicroSD
Memory card max size Up to 1024 GB Up to 1024 GB

Software

Operating system Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 14) Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 14)
ROM One UI 6.1 One UI 6.1
OS size 29 GB 31 GB

Battery

Capacity 8000 mAh 10090 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 45 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes (50% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 45 min)
Full charging time 1:30 hr 1:35 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:42 hr 06:41 hr
Watching video 12:33 hr 10:27 hr
Gaming 05:38 hr 06:18 hr
Standby 145 hr 131 hr
General battery life
25:00 hr

Main camera

Matrix 8 megapixels 13 megapixels
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash No LED
Stabilization Digital Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 60FPS
Lenses 1) Standard: 8 MP
1) Standard: 13 MP
2) Ultrawide: 6 MP
Camera features - - Bokeh mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 8 MP 13 MP
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.0
Focal length - 26 mm
Sensor size - 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution - 6 MP
Aperture - f/2.2
Stabilization - Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 -
Aperture - f/2.4
Sensor CMOS -
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.3 5.2
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort No Yes
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo
NFC* No No
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
eSIM support* Yes No
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 18 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo 4.0
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Mid-range Flagship
Announced October 2023 February 2022
Release date October 2023 April 2022
Launch price (MSRP) $449 $899
Successor - Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE - Samsung Galaxy Tab S11
SAR (body) 0.59 W/kg -
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Keyboard weight 345 g 338 g
Bundled charger Not included Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ (Plus) is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which tablet would you choose?
1 (11.1%)
8 (88.9%)
Total votes: 9

User opinions

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