The Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra already felt expensive. The S12 Ultra is shaping up to cost €200 more. That’s not a small bump. That’s a statement.
According to Android Headlines, leaked European pricing puts the Galaxy Tab S12 Plus at €1,299 and the Ultra at €1,539. To put that in context, the Tab S10 Plus came in around €180 cheaper, and Samsung skipped a Plus model entirely with the S11. So this is a double gut punch: the Plus is back, and both models cost significantly more than what came before.
These are European prices, which tend to run higher than US retail. So there’s a chance American buyers get a slightly gentler number. But don’t bank on it. The direction is clear, and it’s up.
So why is this happening? The short answer is RAM. The global RAM crisis has been squeezing manufacturers across the board, and Samsung is feeling it harder than most. Its mobile division posted its first quarterly loss this year, with a huge chunk of expenses going straight to Samsung LSI, its own semiconductor arm, for RAM and storage costs. It’s a strange situation where one part of Samsung is essentially draining another, and consumers end up picking up the tab.
This isn’t new territory for Samsung in 2026. The Galaxy S26 lineup launched at higher prices. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Flip 8 followed the same pattern. The tablet line was always going to be next. The RAM crisis doesn’t care what product category you’re shopping in.
Still, the price hikes hit differently on tablets. Samsung’s Android tablets are genuinely well-built pieces of hardware. The displays are great, the performance is solid, and the S Pen integration on the Ultra is one of the better stylus experiences you’ll find outside of Apple’s ecosystem. But great hardware doesn’t fix a software problem, and Android tablets still have a software problem.
The productivity app gap between Android tablets and iPad is real and it’s wide. Developers still prioritize iPadOS for tablet-specific features, which means iPad wins in the boardroom, the classroom, and the creative studio. Samsung’s DeX mode helps, but it’s not enough to close the gap. At €1,299 or €1,539, buyers are going to ask hard questions about what they’re actually getting for that money. And for a lot of people, the honest answer is going to point them toward an iPad.
Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy Tab S12 series within the next month or so. When it does, the specs and features will matter. But so will the price. And right now, the price is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the wrong direction.