The Android tablet market has been staring at an uncertain future for some time now. Between lack of interest from Google, lackluster customer demand, slower replacement cycles, and phablets cannibalizing sales, demand for tablets has slowed down. IDC recently published its tablet shipment numbers for 2017 which revealed that the global tablet market saw a 7.9% decline year-on-year while Samsung’s tablet shipments were down by 6.4%, conceding the second spot to Amazon Kindle Fire tablets.
Taking note of the uncertainties in the tablet market, Samsung has been lying low in the Android tablet space for the last couple of years. The company has cut down on the number of models and the frequency of new tablet launche. Samsung launched the Galaxy Tab S3 last year as its flagship tablet. Though the tablet itself was a good performer, the Android tablet experience left a lot to be desired. If we are to believe a listing on the GFXBench benchmarking website, then it seems Samsung has plans to launch a successor to the Galaxy Tab S3.
An Infinity Display finally?
As per the GFXBench listing, the alleged Galaxy Tab S4 (model number SM-T835) sports a 10.5-inch screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels. It will run Android 8.0 Oreo and will be powered by a Snapdragon 835 processor coupled with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal memory. It will come with a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 7-megapixel front camera. While the internals point towards an evolutionary upgrade, there are rumors that the Galaxy Tab S4 will receive a major design refresh in the form of an Infinity Display.
The Galaxy Tab S4 was one of the unannounced devices mentioned in the leaked Galaxy Note 8 Oreo build. Apart from that tiny hint, so far, we haven’t come across any credible information about the Galaxy Tab S4’s existence or launch date. Although benchmark results can be fabricated easily, Samsung working on a successor to its flagship tablet shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
If the Galaxy Tab S4 is indeed in the works, then one would expect it to make an appearance, along with the Galaxy S9 , at the Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona later this month because the Galaxy Tab S3 was unveiled at MWC 2017. However, there's no concrete evidence available as yet to support the theory. There isn't any evidence of firmware development for a device with model number SM-T835.
