As you may have heard earlier this week, Samsung is preparing to bring back the Galaxy Tab Active rugged tablet series with a new model that's been confirmed to carry the Galaxy Tab Active 3 moniker. Evidently, Samsung is keeping quiet about this new tablet but evidence of its existence has been popping up through various channels. Here's what we know so far.
The Galaxy Tab Active 3 will be powered by the Exynos 9810 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM. This is according to a Geekbench listing that also reveals the tablet is running Android 10. As a quick reminder given that its predecessor was released three years ago, the Galaxy Tab Active 2 was powered by the Exynos 7870 chipset, 3 GB of RAM, and Android 7.1 Nougat.
Galaxy Tab Active 3 has a 4,900mAh battery
The Galaxy Tab Active 3 has already been approved by Safety Korea and the certificate confirmed a couple of details. Firstly, the tablet is being manufactured in Vietnam, and secondly the device will have a design similar to the Galaxy Tab Active 2 in that it will have three physical (or capacitive) buttons on the lower bezel. The main focus here is ruggedness, so the inclusion of physical buttons is a plus.
The photo above suggests that the Galaxy Tab Active 3 measures roughly 215 x 130mm, so it should have a footprint similar to the Galaxy Tab Active 2 which measures 214.7 x 127.6 x 9.9mm.
The Galaxy Tab Active 3 with model number SM-T575N was certified by Safety Korea this month and its battery carrying model number EB-BT575BBE was also approved by the same regulatory agency. The unit has a rated capacity of 4,900mAh, up from the Tab Active 2's 4,450mAh unit.
Galaxy Tab Active 3 will be available in Wi-Fi, LTE, and 5G configurations
Finally, we can conclude from the known model numbers (SM-T570 / SM-T575 / SM-T577) that the Galaxy Tab Active 3 will be available in Wi-Fi, LTE, as well as 5G configurations. Samsung has aggressively pushed into the 5G era and has released a total of nineteen 5G-enabled device models so far. They range from mid-range to high-end devices and include various form factors from smartphones and foldables to tablets and notebooks. The Galaxy Tab Active 3 will likely become Samsung's first rugged tablet to support 5G.
Since the Galaxy Tab Active 3 is now gathering regulatory approvals, it remains to be seen exactly when it will be released or whether or not it will make it to the market by the end of the year. Either way, the Galaxy Tab Active 3 could soon become a staple for first responders and enterprises who may want to take advantage of 5G in a rugged design.
