Samsung Targets iPad With Launch Of Ultra-Thin Galaxy Tab S2

Samsung targeted Apple Monday by taking the wraps off its thinnest tablet to date -- the Galaxy Tab S2 -- which, at 5.6mm thin, edges out the 6.1mm thin iPad Air 2.

The South Korean company's newest tablet device offers a lighter, boxier tablet design, with the option of an 8-inch or a 9.7-inch model, and an improved, faster Enynos 5433 SoC, putting it head to head with Apple's flagship iPad device.

’The Galaxy Tab S2 is not only our thinnest and lightest tablet of its size ever, it also gives users quick, easy access to a wealth of superior viewing and productivity features,’ said ​CEO and President of IT & Mobile Division at Samsung Electronics JK Shin in a statement. ’We believe the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 is the most complete personal visual device designed for consumers to carry and use anywhere.’

[Related: Head-To-Head: Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 Versus Apple iPad Air 2 ]

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post

Packed into an all-metal frame, the Galaxy Tab S2 contains a 2,048-x-1,536 Super AMOLED display, as well as reading mode and adaptive display.

But for Samsung partners, it is not the slick design features of the newest tablet that puts it on Apple's level -- it's the productivity features.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, which will run on the Android 5.0 (Lollipop) operating system, will come preloaded with Microsoft Office Solutions and will store up to 100 GB of free files on the cloud through OneDrive for two years, according to Samsung.

The new tablet also will include a touch-enabled security tool, Fingerprint Scanner, which is similar to Apple's TouchID feature on iPad devices.

The tablet also will tout Multitasking and Pop-Up Window features, allowing users to utilize two apps on their tablets at once, which are also similar to productivity tools recently unveiled in iOS 9 by Apple.

Samsung stated that its tablets are compatible with the Book Cover Keyboard, which is a separately sold accessory offering a PC keyboard trackpad for on-the-go productivity.

"Samsung always demonstrates innovation by offering the latest and greatest of realtime industry speeds and feeds," said John Convery, a vendor relations and marketing consultant to Denali Advanced Integration, No. 87 on the 2015 CRN SP 500, in an email. "My experience is it is not about the features, but the function and integration into a total solution that delights the customer and improves the user experience."

Samsung and Apple have long struggled to get the biggest foothold in the competitive tablet market. According to market research firm IDC, Apple beat Samsung on the tablet front by significant margins in 2014, taking 27.6 percent market share while Samsung took only 17.5 percent.

The Galaxy Tab S2 also boasts improvements with its new Exynos 5433 SoC, as opposed to the Galaxy Tab S' Exynos 5420 SoC. The Exynos 5433 has four Cortex A57 cores clocking 1.9GHz, and four Cortex A53 Cores with a peak frequency of 1.3GHz.

Samsung did not release the price of its new tablet line, but stated that the devices would be available globally at an unspecified date in August.

PUBLISHED JULY 20, 2015