Samsung’s latest flagship tablets are now available in the UAE, with the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S12+ starting at AED 4,629 and topping out at AED 8,289 for a fully loaded 1TB Ultra with 5G. Both models run Android 17 with One UI 9 on top and use a 3nm processor that Samsung has not named in its announcement. That is a strange gap for a product pitched mainly on performance.
The Ultra keeps its large 14.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display in a 5.1mm chassis, which Samsung calls its thinnest Galaxy Tab. The S12+ uses a 12.6-inch panel for buyers who want something easier to carry. Both screens reach up to 1,600 nits of peak brightness, both are IP68-rated for dust and water resistance, and both come with an S Pen in the box. That last point still sets Samsung apart from Apple, which sells its stylus separately.
On performance, Samsung claims the Ultra offers up to 61% faster NPU processing, 19% faster CPU performance and 17% better graphics than the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra. Those are the company’s numbers, not independent results, and the large NPU gain shows where the focus is. The S12 series is clearly being sold as an AI tablet first, with Galaxy AI features such as Note Assist for summarising and organising notes alongside Multi Window support for up to three apps at once. Samsung rates battery life at up to 23 hours of video playback on the Ultra and 21 hours on the S12+.
The most interesting software news is Adobe Photoshop, which comes preloaded and marks the app’s first appearance on Android tablets. iPad users have had a version since 2019, so Android has been well behind for creative professionals. Adobe’s tablet edition includes S Pen support and Firefly-powered editing tools, and eligible buyers get four months of the premium mobile plan. Notability, Goodnotes, LumaFusion and Notion round out the productivity and creative apps.
The S12+ also works with Samsung’s Book Cover Keyboard Slim, which adds a dedicated AI key and DeX for a more desktop-like setup. That brings it closer to the laptop-replacement role Samsung clearly has in mind.
UAE buyers also get a long list of bundled extras, including six months of Google AI Pro, plus subscriptions to Amazon Prime, OSN+, Spotify, Careem Plus and others, subject to eligibility terms. Ultra configurations run from AED 5,399 for the 256GB Wi-Fi model to AED 8,289. The S12+ costs AED 4,629 with Wi-Fi or AED 5,209 with 5G, in Gray or Silver. At that higher end, the Ultra is pricing itself against the top iPad Pro models. Photoshop on Android helps close one gap with Apple, but whether the creative app ecosystem around it can do the same is still an open question.
