Samsung is keeping up with Apple on the tablet market with its high-end Samsung Galaxy Tab S lines. But the Korean tech giant has something that Apple does not have, which is an entry in the mid-range tablet lines.
That is where the Samsung Galaxy Tab A comes in which the Korean tech company launched last year.
With Samsung’s mid-range tablet having been in the market for more than a year and a half already, there are already reports saying that the Korean tech giant is now looking to launch its latest iteration, which is to be called officially as the Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2016), reports the Christian Today.
Reports also have it that that the Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2016) shall include a stylus, which was made an add-on to the company’s latest phablet, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, launched a few days ago.
The surprising thing about this is the fact that the stylus, officially called as the S Pen, was previously an accessory only to Samsung’s flagship products. It seems that the company is now expanding its S Pen add-on to its other lineups including the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2016).
It has been said by someone who claims to be privy to the development of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2016) that the S Pen on the upcoming tablet would be very similar to the stylus of the Galaxy Note 7.
This only indicates that the Galaxy Tab A (2016) shall have other flagship features like the Air Command menu, as well as likely support for the Samsung Note apps. It has been also said by the same source that the feature would actually make the upcoming tablet as a work-focused device.
Retaining its mid-range category
Despite its flagship features, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2016) shall retain its mid-range lineup category because of its design and specifications, and most importantly its price, which would be quite similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A launched in April last year.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2016) shall reportedly feature an Exynos 7870 processor, paired with 2GB of RAM.
It shall also have 16GB of internal storage with an option to expand because of its microSD support.
It shall feature an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, a 7,300 mAh battery, and shall reportedly come laden with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow already. Though with the official release last month of the Android 7.0 Nougat, it seems likely that the Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2016) shall have a free upgrade to the latest Google mobile operating system.
Confirming the S Pen and other features
Contrary to previous reports that the Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2016) shall not have a stylus, a recent image leak by SamMobile has already shown that the device shall have an S Pen.
There are speculations now saying that the S Pen could actually come out on the larger model of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2016) and not on the smaller model.
There are also reports stating that the upcoming tablet shall have a 7-inch variant, which is relatively new compared to the 8-inch and 9.7-inch variants of its predecessors when it came out last year, notes Digital Trends.
The 7-inch model will be reportedly powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core Exynos 3475 processor and will come with 1.5GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable internal storage.
The device shall also feature a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2-megapixel selfie camera as well as a 4,000 mAh battery. Although there are reports saying that Samsung would like to further improve the battery if it can find a way to do it.
According to the same reports, the 7-inch version may come out with a resolution of 1,280 x 800 which is a relatively slight upgrade from the 1,024 x 766 resolution of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A when it came out last year.