The tablet has been listed on Best Buy in the US and the $599.99 price tag is inclusive of the Stylus.
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Tab S3 at this year’s MWC 2017 expo. Touted as the competitor to the Apple iPad Pro, the Galaxy Tab S3 comes with a host of improvements over the predecessor and features major changes like support for S Pen stylus and an external keyboard. At the launch event, Samsung, however, did not reveal pricing and availability details for the Galaxy Tab S3. The tablet has now been spotted online. The e-retailer Best Buy has listed the Galaxy Tab S3 for $599.99 (Rs 39,400 approximately), which is the same starting price for the Apple iPad Pro.
Best Buy sells electronic appliances and is based in the US with operations in Canada and Mexico as well. According to the listing on Best Buy, the S Pen will also come bundled with the Galaxy Tab S3 under the $599.99 price tag. Best Buy has also listed the keyboard case with built-in keyboard for the Galaxy Tab S3 at a price of $129.99 (Rs 8,600 approximately). This brings the total cost of the Galaxy Tab S3 with the external keyboard to around $730 (Rs 47,900 approximately).
While the Galaxy Tab S3’s price is very close to the Apple iPad Pro’s, it would still be cheaper than its competitor as only the iPad comes within the said price. The Apple Pencil and the Apple Smart Keyboard case are sold separately for $99 (Rs 6,500 respectively) and $149 (Rs 9,800) respectively. Even though Samsung hasn’t officially announced the price, the Best Buy pricing for the Galaxy Tab S3 seems believable considering its specifications and features which are at par with the Apple iPad Pro. ALSO READ: Apple iPad Pro with 10.5-inch display to reportedly launch on April 4
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 specifications
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 features a 9.7-inch Super AMOLED QXGA display with resolution of 2048×1536 pixels and aspect ratio of 4:3. The tablet also supports playback of HDR content too. At the core of the tablet runs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor paired with 4GB of RAM. The tablet comes with 32GB of built-in storage which can be further expanded up to 256GB via a microSD card.
In the photography department, the Galaxy Tab S3 sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with auto-focus and f/1.9 aperture. Up front, the tablet houses a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture and auto-focus for video calling and selfies. The tablet is fuelled by a 6,000mAh battery with fast charging support. Samsung claims that the tablet’s battery can offer runtime of up to 12 hours. ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 hands-on and first impressions
The tablet comes in two variants – one with LTE compatibility and the other with Wi-Fi only. In a more elaborated manner, the connectivity options available on the Galaxy Tab S3 include Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth, GPS and USB Type-C 3.1 for charging and data transfer. The cellular variant of the Galaxy Tab S3 supports LTE Cat.6 with maximum speeds up to 300Mbps. The tablet also features a fingerprint scanner which is embedded on the Home button. The tablet also houses four speakers, out of which two are placed at the bottom. On the software front, the Galaxy Tab S3 runs Android 7.0 Nougat-based TouchWiz UX.