Samsung’s upcoming flagship Android tablets have leaked again, and this time we have what appears to be the clearest look yet at the front of both the Galaxy Tab S12+ and Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra.
SammyGuru has published renders of the two tablets showing their displays and bezels. The overall design appears very close to last year’s Galaxy Tab S11 lineup, while the Ultra model once again carries the shallow display notch that many hoped Samsung would finally remove. Samsung has already confirmed that the Galaxy Tab S12 series will arrive during the second half of 2026, while previous reports have pointed toward a September announcement.
Samsung apparently still likes the notch
Earlier rumors suggested the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra could replace its notch with a punch-hole selfie camera. These renders point in the opposite direction. The familiar cutout is still sitting in the middle of the upper display edge, matching the CAD renders that surfaced last month.
The renders do not offer any details about the size. However, we expect it to remain the same as last year, as Samsung has little reason to deviate from a winning formula. The renders also feature a new gradient wallpaper with an “S” in the center, which could be the default wallpaper on this year’s models.
The interesting changes may once again be inside
Samsung keeping the exterior largely unchanged puts more pressure on the hardware underneath to justify an upgrade. A recent Geekbench listing linked to the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra pointed toward MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500 processor and 12GB of RAM. If accurate, Samsung will use a MediaTek flagship chip in its most expensive tablet for the third year running, following the Dimensity 9300+ in the Tab S10 Ultra and Dimensity 9400+ in the Tab S11 Ultra.
Beyond the faster processor, previous reports suggest much of the hardware could stay exactly where it was last year. Samsung has also warned that rising memory and component costs are putting pressure on its mobile business, which essentially means that we can expect price hikes on the upcoming tablets.
If the design stays almost identical and most of the hardware carries over from the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, a faster chip alone could make the new model difficult to justify over last year’s tablet. Samsung could crank up the Galaxy AI features and software tricks, but buyers paying flagship-tablet money will probably expect more than a new processor and another year of the same notch.
Samsung does have some impressive hardware it could borrow from its other flagship devices, including the Privacy Display that debuted on the Galaxy S26 Ultra and the silicon-carbon battery technology used in its latest foldables. For now, we will have to wait and see whether any of it makes its way into the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra.
