Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is big, heavy, and expensive, but it also has the most impressive display of any Android tablet available today. Movies and games look incredible on the 14.6-inch AMOLED panel, and paired with fast performance and long battery life, the Tab S11 Ultra is about as high-end as it gets. So long as you have deep pockets and don’t mind its gargantuan size, it’s a really compelling package.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is an incredibly impractical tablet. It’s too big to comfortably hold, is outrageously expensive, and isn’t a good value when put next to its many Android tablet competitors.
And even so, I’ve still thoroughly enjoyed my time with it.
The Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is the fourth installment in Samsung’s “Ultra” tablet ranks, and as a media consumption device, it’s basically perfect. With a stunning 14.6-inch AMOLED display, great speakers, and plenty of processing power and battery life, it’s a truly indulgent tablet. When you’re watching a movie or playing a game, the experience on the Tab S11 Ultra is magical.
But is it an experience worth $1,200? While it probably won’t be for most people, for anyone willing to drop that kind of cash on an ultra-premium Android tablet, I can’t think of anything better than the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra. That is, so long as you can wrangle it.
The number one reason to buy the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra
Joe Maring / Android Authority
If there’s one thing that makes the Tab S11 Ultra worth its exorbitant price tag, it’s the display. At 14.6 inches and with a 90.8% screen-to-body ratio, using the Tab S11 Ultra really does feel like using a miniature TV. This was also true of Samsung’s previous Ultra tablets, and it’s still just as impressive on this year’s model.
Going into this review, I wasn’t sure how I would get along with a tablet this big. If anything, I was worried it would annoy me. However, after taking the Tab S11 Ultra with me on a two-week vacation to Italy, it clicked.
The display makes the Tab S11 Ultra’s price tag worth it.
Almost every night before bed, my partner and I would use the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra to watch an episode of Gilmore Girls. Propped up on our hotel bed, it was like having a high-quality AMOLED TV right in front of us. On our train rides across the country, using the Tab S11 Ultra to play a few rounds of Balatro was overkill in the best way possible. And on the many occasions we scanned Google Maps to find a restaurant for dinner, doing so on a 14.6-inch canvas was just the best.
The display is so big that at one point, I was playing Balatro while YouTube TV ran in the smallest possible picture-in-picture player. Because the Tab S11 Ultra is so huge, I could still more than comfortably watch the Dolphins and Commanders game even in that “small” PiP window. Where this would have felt cramped on a more traditional 10-inch tablet, it felt perfect on the Tab S11 Ultra.
Joe Maring / Android Authority
The free stylus that comes bundled with the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra.
And it’s not just that the Tab S11 Ultra has a big display — it’s also an incredibly high-quality one. The Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel delivers rich colors and deep blacks, and the 120Hz refresh rate is wonderfully smooth. The brightness levels are also incredible. I’ve rarely needed to push the brightness slider past 50%, and when you do crank it to the full 1,600 nits, it feels like you’re staring into the sun on a screen this big.
The Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra delivers one of the best multimedia experiences you get on an Android tablet today.
Of course, a good display is only as good as the speakers that accompany it, and this is another area where the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra excels. You get four AKG-tuned speakers that support Dolby Atmos, and I’ve been incredibly happy with them. While watching movies or TV shows on the Tab S11 Ultra, the audio sounds like it’s coming from a Bluetooth speaker rather than a tablet.
This is all to say that the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra delivers one of the best multimedia experiences you get on an Android tablet today, and if that’s what you’re after, Samsung has you covered.
My biggest frustration with the Tab S11 Ultra
Joe Maring / Android Authority
While all of that is true, so is the fact that getting an oversized tablet like this comes at a cost — and not just the price tag. I’m talking about the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra’s bulky design. It’s only natural that a 14.6-inch display would result in a large tablet, so while it isn’t a surprise that the Tab S11 Ultra is so big, that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s an absolute pain to hold and carry.
Samsung sent me the Tab S11 Ultra without an included case/stand, and this is how I tried using it for the first couple of days. By the end of day two, I was so fed up with trying to hold the tablet that I ordered a case from Amazon so I could continue my review testing in peace.
Measuring 326mm long and weighing 692 grams, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra isn’t a tablet you’ll want to use for more than a few minutes at a time without a stand. It’s awkward to get a good grip on, and the weight is immediately felt. The Tab S11 Ultra is lighter and thinner than the Tab S10 Ultra, but ergonomics will always be an issue with a screen this massive.
That said, using the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra with a case is a much more enjoyable experience. Propping it up to watch a movie to play a game is delightful, and if you get a keyboard case for the tablet, it’s bound to excel there, too.
If that’s how you plan on using the Tab S11 Ultra, you’ll be fine. But if you want a tablet you can comfortably hold while scrolling through Reddit on the couch or watching YouTube in bed, I think the Tab S11 Ultra will annoy you more than anything else. Without a doubt, this has been the most frustrating thing about the tablet during my review period.
Performance, battery life, and software
Joe Maring / Android Authority
If the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra’s size doesn’t deter you, the good news is that the rest of the experience it provides is pretty exceptional.
On the performance front, the Tab S11 Ultra is powered by a 3nm MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ chip and 12 or 16GB of RAM, depending on which configuration you choose. The Tab S11 Ultra has handled all of my apps without issue, including split-screen multitasking and running videos in a picture-in-picture player running atop other apps and games. Balatro, while not the most graphically intense game, runs flawlessly on the Tab S11 Ultra — as does a more demanding game like Call of Duty: Mobile, even with graphics and frame rate settings both set to Max.
That powerful day-to-day performance also translates to benchmark results. In our GeekBench 6 CPU tests, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is notably faster than the Tab S10 Ultra, though it trails slightly behind the OnePlus Pad 3 and its Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. The Tab S11 Ultra also delivers impressive results in the Wild Life Stress Test GPU benchmark, producing more stable performance and much cooler peak and average temperatures than the other two tablets.
As for battery life, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra lasts multiple days between charges. Tablet use varies wildly from person to person, but in my case, I consistently got at least four days of use per charge. That was with around two hours of screen time per day, most of which included streaming on Hulu and YouTube TV, playing Balatro, and using apps like Google Maps and X — not to mention using the Tab S11 Ultra to play white noise overnight while sleeping. I expected great endurance from the 11,600mAh battery, and that’s exactly what I got.
What about the software? For the most part, it’s great. Samsung’s One UI is one of the best-optimized Android skins for large displays, letting you run up to three apps in split-screen view and a fourth in a floating window. Is it overkill? Yes. But on a display this big, it can actually be pretty useful.
Joe Maring / Android Authority
Samsung’s first-party apps look great on the Tab S11 Ultra, as do most Google apps. Android app optimization still isn’t perfect for tablet-sized displays, and you notice the unoptimized ones more on a screen this large. However, we’re at a point where this is more of a minor annoyance than a true deal-breaker.
Samsung’s One UI is one of the best-optimized Android skins for large displays.
Unfortunately, One UI 8 changes how DeX works on Samsung tablets, in that you can no longer run Samsung DeX directly on the Tab S11 Ultra’s display. If you want to use DeX, you have to connect the tablet to an external monitor. While this hasn’t been an issue for me as someone who’s used the Tab S11 Ultra primarily for entertainment purposes, it is a substantial drawback for folks who were hoping to use the tablet as a productivity machine — particularly if you want to pair the Tab S11 Ultra with a keyboard case and use it as a laptop.
Should Samsung ever walk back this decision with a future software update (and I hope it does), the good news is that you don’t have to worry about the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra being eligible for the update. Just like all flagship Samsung devices over the last several years, the Tab S11 Ultra is promised major Android OS upgrades and other updates for seven years.
Should you buy the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra?
Joe Maring / Android Authority
When I’m watching a movie on the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, playing a game, or running two apps side-by-side on its 14.6-inch screen, I absolutely love it. If you’re consuming any form of media, it’s going to look better on the Tab S11 Ultra than virtually any other tablet or smartphone — no question about it.
If that’s your top priority in your next tablet purchase and you aren’t concerned about ergonomics or price, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is a fantastic choice. But for everyone outside that group, it’s difficult to recommend the Tab S11 Ultra over its smaller, cheaper competitors.
Those competitors start from within Samsung itself. The Galaxy Tab S11 ($799.99 at Amazon) is a downsized version of its Ultra sibling, with its 11-inch display being much more manageable yet still big enough to enjoy your apps and games. It shares the Ultra’s high-quality AMOLED panel, MediaTek chip, and software — all while being much more comfortable to handle. Not to mention, it’s also quite a bit cheaper. Unless you absolutely need the Tab S11 Ultra’s 14.6-inch screen, I’d argue that the “regular” Tab S11 is the better overall tablet.
If you want the best tablet display available in 2025, it doesn’t get much better than the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra.
It’s also worth looking at the OnePlus Pad 3 ($649.99 at Amazon). It has more raw horsepower than the Tab S11 Ultra, outstanding battery life, fast charging, and great software. The 13.2-inch display is also outstanding, even though it uses an LCD panel rather than an AMOLED one. It’s sharp, colorful, buttery smooth with a 144Hz refresh rate, and the unique 7:5 aspect ratio is more adaptable to different use cases than the Galaxy Tab’s 16:10 design. The best part? The OnePlus Pad 3 is $500 cheaper, too.
The point is, you have options in the premium Android tablet space. If it were my money, I’d sooner choose the regular Tab S11 or the OnePlus Pad 3 before dropping $1,200 on Samsung’s Ultra tablet. If you want a more manageable tablet design and something that’ll give you more bang for your buck, I’d say you should do the same, too.
But if money isn’t an object and you solely care about having the biggest and best tablet display you can get in 2025, it doesn’t get much better than the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra
New 14.6-inch display • Upgraded DeX modes • Very thin • Robust AI features
MSRP: $1,199.99
Largest display to date for a Galaxy Tab tablet
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is the biggest and best Galaxy Tab to date. The 14.6-inch display rocks 120Hz at 2,960×1,848 pixels of resolution. A huge 11,600mAh battery should keep you going all day, and quad-speakers promise a crisp entertainment experience.
Positives
- Stunning 14.6-inch AMOLED display
- Loud, high-quality speakers
- Comes with a free stylus
- Great performance and battery life
- Seven years of updates
Cons
- Very heavy and uncomfortable to hold
- Can’t run Samsung DeX without an external monitor
- Extremely expensive
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