Samsung announces Galaxy Tab S9 FE and S9 FE Plus tablets

In a surprise announcement, Samsung has unveiled a couple of new big-screened tablets: the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and S9 FE Plus. As with other entries in the FE series – including the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE which was shown in the same announcement – the name of the game here is offering an affordable alternative to the high-end devices like the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra.

Despite being the budget options, both tablets bring some impressive high-end features to the table. The most notable is the same IP68 weatherproofing rating as the non-FE S9 tablets, which certifies both devices as fully dust-proof and able to be submerged in 1.5m of water for up to 30 minutes. Not only is this kind of protection a rarity on tablets in this price range, it’s rare for tablets of any price, so it’s great to see it crop up on the S9 FE.

Build-wise, the standard S9 FE measures 166 x 254 x 6.5mm, and weighs 523g if you buy the Wi-Fi only model, or 524g if you opt for the 5G version. The S9 FE Plus is quite a bit bigger at 185 x 285mm, but maintains that same impressive thinness of 6.5mm. Once again, which version you pick determines the weight, with the Wi-Fi model coming in at 627g and the 5G model weighing 628g.

Both tablets are fitted with an LCD display that offers an automatic refresh rate of up to 90Hz, but as you probably guessed from the dimensions, one is bigger than the other. The Standard S9 FE has a 10.9in display like the standard Apple iPad, and the S9 FE Plus has a larger 12.4in panel.

The 12MP ultrawide selfie camera that sits in the display is the same across both devices, but things are slightly different with the rear cameras. Both the S9 FE and S9 FE Plus get an 8MP main lens, but the latter squeezes in an extra sensor, also offering an 8MP ultrawide rear camera.

There’s been no confirmation of the processor we can expect to see in either device, but we do know that you’ll have your choice of RAM and storage pairings to go with it. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE comes with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, backed up by 128GB or 256GB of onboard storage, respectively. The base model of the S9 FE Plus has 8GB of RAM paired with 128GB of storage, while the higher-specced version gets 12GB and 256GB. Both tablets have a microSD card slot, so whichever combination you choose, you can expand the storage by a further 1TB.

Rounding out the internals, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE is fitted with a hefty 8,000mAh battery, while the S9 FE Plus gets an even bigger 10,090mAh unit. Stamina figures aren’t offered for the standard S9 FE, but Samsung claims that the S9 FE Plus will be able to manage around 20 hours of continuous video playback before tapping out.

Finally, we’ve got a couple of noteworthy accessories that warrant talking about. Being Samsung tablets, it’s unsurprising that the S9 FE series both come with an S Pen in the box. With this, you’ll be able to easily doodle and take notes, helped along by a slew of compatible apps including Goodnotes, Clip Studio Paint and LumaFusion.

If you want to focus on your creativity, Samsung also announced the new Galaxy Buds FE alongside the tablets. As well as promising powerful bass and rich sound, the Galaxy Buds FE offer active noise cancellation and solid battery life, with six hours in-ear and 21 total when you’ve got ANC engaged. These are available in either Graphite or White, and will retail for $99 (UK pricing is yet to be confirmed).

We also don’t have UK prices for the Galaxy Tab S9 FE series, but we do know that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE will start at $449 and comes in four colours: Mint, Silver, Grey and Lavender. We’ll have more to share when we get our hands on review samples for both tablets, so be sure to check back in soon to see what we make of the latest entries to Samsung’s FE range.