Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra vs Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra

Here we compared two flagship tablets: the 14.6-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2) that was released on July 26, 2023, against the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and came out 1 year and 6 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 Ultra
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • 36% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1750K versus 1288K)
  • Shows 9% longer battery life (26:34 vs 24:19 hours)
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Faster storage type - UFS 4.0 versus UFS 3.1
  • 22% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2127 and 1739 points
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra and Tab S8 Ultra 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
12 / 256 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
51.9
(Average)
Value Index
17.3
(Bad)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Super AMOLED
Size 14.6 inches 14.6 inches
Resolution 1848 x 2960 pixels 1848 x 2960 pixels
Aspect ratio 16:10 16:10
PPI 239 ppi 240 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (30-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 930 nits 600 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Gorilla Glass Victus Plus
Screen-to-body ratio 90.8% 90.8%
Display features - DCI-P3 - DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 98.2% 99.5%
PWM 240 Hz 250 Hz
Response time 3 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 326.4 mm (12.85 inches) 326.4 mm (12.85 inches)
Width 208.6 mm (8.21 inches) 208.6 mm (8.21 inches)
Thickness 5.5 mm (0.22 inches) 5.5 mm (0.22 inches)
Weight 732 g (25.82 oz) 726 g (25.61 oz)
Waterproof IP68 No
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Metal Metal
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Gray, Yellow Gray
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Area 681 cm2 (105.5 inches2) 681 cm2 (105.5 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio
Tablet Ranking (58th and 84th place)
Android Tablet Ranking (42nd and 63rd place)

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
Max clock 3360 MHz 3000 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715
- 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3
- 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 8 MB 6 MB
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 740 Adreno 730
GPU shading units 1536 1024
GPU clock 680 MHz 818 MHz
FLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS ~1675.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 9753 7401
Single-core score 2127 1739
Multi-core score 5667 4000
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 605896 494123
GPU 452910 219109
Memory 229430 187196
UX 462701 388048
Total score 1750937 1288476
Samples [134 tests] [48 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 98% -
Graphics test 9 FPS -
Graphics score 1153 -
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability 96% -
Graphics test 21 FPS -
Section 1 24 FPS -
Section 2 21 FPS -
Section 3 18 FPS -
Graphics score 5622 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 79% 74%
Graphics test 22 FPS 13 FPS
Graphics score 3829 2300
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
Web score - 14520
Video editing - 7437
Photo editing - 30368
Data manipulation - 11430
Writing score - 15400

Memory

Configuration
RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory clock 4200 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 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 40 GB 36.6 GB

Battery

Capacity 11200 mAh 11200 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 (32% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 45 min)
Full charging time 2:08 hr 1:37 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:11 hr 07:12 hr
Watching video 12:20 hr 11:24 hr
Gaming 07:26 hr 07:07 hr
Standby 165 hr 152 hr
General battery life

Main camera

Matrix 13 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution 4128 x 3096 -
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Digital Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Lenses 1) Standard: 13 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
1) Standard: 13 MP
2) Ultrawide: 6 MP
Camera features - - Bokeh mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 13 MP 13 MP
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.0
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor size - 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 8 MP 6 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 -
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS
Additional lens 12 MP -
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (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 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes 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* 20 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

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

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced July 2023 February 2022
Release date August 2023 April 2022
Launch price (MSRP) $1199 $1119
Successor - - Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra
SAR (head) 0.93 W/kg -
SAR (body) - 0.69 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 - 589 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 S9 Ultra is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which tablet would you choose?
27 (58.7%)
19 (41.3%)
Total votes: 46

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