Samsung Just Gave The Galaxy Tab S6 Lite A Fresh Lease On Life
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In a surprising move, Samsung released a new version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, and it's available on Amazon. This refresh happened without much of an announcement or fanfare — Samsung simply dropped the product in Italy and opened the pre-orders. The new Galaxy Tab S6 Lite brings with it a few upgrades in terms of specifications as well as a small bump in price, but perhaps the most notable difference is the upgrade from Android 10 to Android 12.
The original Galaxy Tab S6 Lite was released in 2020, and since then, it has been updated to run Android 12 — so the fact that this "new" version runs Android 12 out of the box was to be expected. According to GSM Arena, the 2020 version of the tablet will receive one more update and then continue receiving security patches for another year afterward. This bit of knowledge is interesting in relation to the new Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, because with a 2022 release date, the hardware may end up unsupported fairly soon after purchase. Perhaps the company sees this as a stepping stone for the next generation, but considering the quietness of the release, there is little hype for the refreshed Tab 6 Lite.
Samsung hasn't commented about the product release, but there is some insight into the new tablet through the specifications found in the Italian Amazon listing.
Stealthy launch, but it does bring upgrades
Aside from an upgrade to Android 12, the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite comes with an updated chipset. It's powered by 720 Snapdragon, based on 8 nm process technology, and comes with 4GB of RAM (via MoneyControl). As a result, users should see better performance both in terms of the processor and the built-in graphics card. However, Samsung only seems to have released this tablet in a 64GB variant and omitted the 128GB version and the LTE version, both of which were present in the original release. It's possible that the other variants are just not up yet, seeing as this is still super fresh, but it's also possible Samsung opted to re-release a single version.
Barring the few noted changes, everything else appears to be the same, which makes this a curious release. The 2022 version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite comes with a 10.4" LCD display and a 2000 x 1200px resolution. In the box, you'll also get a charger and the Samsung S-Pen stylus. In terms of ports, what users find is pretty standard for a Samsung tablet, with a microSD slot that lets you upgrade the storage capabilities as well as a USB-C port and a 3.5mm audio jack.
The device is available for pre-order and will start shipping on May 23, 2022. It's unclear whether Samsung will add it to the U.S. version of Amazon, but you can pre-order from Italy if you don't mind the shipping costs. With such a stealthy launch, it's difficult to estimate how many of these Samsung has in stock — but then again, the original version also launched very quietly.