Samsung Galaxy Tab S Takes a Shot at the iPad Air

The 10.5-inch Tab S weighs just 465 grams and is just 6.6-mm thick, compared with 469 grams and 7.5-mm for the iPad Air. Not much thinner and not much lighter, but this game is played on a pretty small scale, and the winner typically gets to hold onto bragging rights only until a competitor releases its next product.

The display in the new Samsung tablets is 2,560 x 1,600 resolution Super AMOLED screen, significantly more than the 2,048 x 1,536 Retina display in the iPad.

Apple’s next iPad release is rumored to be coming in October, and the main upgrade to the device will be a new processor that is faster and consumes less power. The iPad Air was a major innovation in tablet design, and Apple is not expected to come up with any further breakthrough this time around. The Retina display is expected to remain unchanged, while the main camera is expected to increase resolution from 5 megapixels to 8, and the front-facing camera is expected to get a boost from 1.2 megapixels to 1.5.

The Tab S in both sizes is the best tablet Samsung has ever released, but tablet sales growth has stalled. IDC last month lowered its 2014 worldwide tablet forecast from 260.9 million units to 245.4 million units, representing a year-over-year growth rate of just 12.1% compared with a year-over-year growth rate of 51.8% in 2013.

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IDC gave two reasons for the slowdown: consumers are keeping their tablets far longer than first anticipated and the rise of so-called phablets — smartphones with 5.5-inch or larger screens — which many consumers are finding adequate for the tasks once performed by tablets.

The IDC researchers suggest that the tablet industry will respond by refocusing on larger-screen devices, like the 12-inch Surface Pro 3 recently released by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). The added benefit of the larger screens is that makers can charge more for them.

The 10.5-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S with 16 gigabytes of storage sells for $499, the same price as the comparable iPad Air. Preorders start Friday, and both versions of the tablet will ship to customers beginning next month.

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