Why You Can Trust CNET Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 10.5-inch tablet gets more storage, RAM when it arrives in Jan. 2022
The budget-friendly Android 11 tablet has a 10% performance boost over the Tab A7, too.
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The Galaxy Tab A8 has an 80% screen-to-body ratio.
Samsung introduced the Galaxy Tab A8, Wednesday, a new midrange 10.5-inch Android 11 tablet. It is the successor to the Galaxy Tab A7 and is expected to be released in the US in January 2022. Pricing wasn't announced for the Tab A8 but the Tab A7 currently starts at $230, AU$379 and £210.
For the Galaxy Tab A8, Samsung switched from a 10.4-inch widescreen display to a 10.5-inch 1,920x1,200-pixel display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, which will allow you to see more on the screen vertically when working in landscape mode. Also updated are the CPU and GPU in the tablet increasing their performance by 10%, Samsung said in the announcement.
Also read: Samsung's new $250 Galaxy A13 5G is its cheapest 5G phone yet
Also, while the memory and storage on the Tab A7 tapped out at 3GB and 64GB, respectively, the Tab A8 is expected to be available with up to 4GB of memory and 128GB of storage. A microSD card slot supporting cards up to 1TB will also be available.
Other features carry over from the Tab A7 including its quad-speaker system with Dolby Atmos support, headphone jack, 8-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front cameras and a 7,040-mAh battery. It also has Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), Bluetooth 5.0 and optional LTE, but availability will vary by model and region.
Although Apple's iPad continues to lead the tablet market, Samsung is one of only a handful of Android tablet manufacturers. The Galaxy Tab A8 could potentially offer consumers a less expensive iPad alternative that could be used for both entertainment and remote work or learning if necessary.