Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra leak reveals a stubbornly familiar design

Aug 18, 2026 — 11:27 AM ET

  • New leaked image give us a nearly-official look at Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra, including its front, rear design and S Pen.
  • The flagship tablet appears almost identical to the Tab S11 Ultra, including its controversial notch, thin bezels, dual cameras and Gray colorway.
  • Samsung is reportedly upgrading the internals with a Dimensity 9500 chip, while keeping the same 11,600mAh battery and 14-inch AMOLED display.

The fall of 2026 is almost upon us, and if past release patterns are any indication, Samsung’s tablet series is one of the next big releases waiting for us. That isn’t speculation — the South Korean tech giant confirmed that the new tablet series will be arriving in the second half of the year, and we now have a clear look at what the top-of-the-line Tab S12 Ultra will look like.

We didn’t like last year’s Tab S11 Ultra’s unsightly notch, and unfortunately, according to new device renders shared by Android Headlines, Samsung isn’t ready to ditch the notch just yet.

The shared image is a lower-res one, but it’s still enough to spot some key details. While we’d sure prefer a higher-res render to check out, we at least appreciate that this one’s being shared in its original quality, and the source didn’t attempt to enlarge it with AI. What we get today highlights the upcoming tablet’s front and partial back, complete with its S Pen stylus:

For what it’s worth, the S12 Ultra has leaked in the past, albeit in the form of CAD renders. The image above, on the other hand, looks closer to official marketing material that Samsung will eventually use on its S12 Ultra product page. This gives us a pretty good (and final) idea of how the upcoming flagship tablet will appear.

Comparing this new image with Tab S11 Ultra marketing assets, we’re finding virtually no big differences between the two, barring the wallpaper, of course. It isn’t certain if the wallpaper shown in the image above will be the upcoming tablet’s official stock wallpaper.

The bezels look equally thin, the rear camera setup appears identical, and even the same gray colorway looks to be carried over. Although not immediately visible in the low-resolution image, the source added that the S Pen will retain its prior look, complete with a physical button on the side.

At least from the outside, the Tab S12 Ultra is shaping up to be a familiar-looking successor, and not a major redesign.

Everything else that we already know

We have a pretty good idea of what the upcoming flagship tablet will look like from the outside, and thanks to a few recent leaks, we also know a lot about what Samsung is putting inside.

The tech giant is reportedly planning to use MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500 chip, which should deliver considerably more raw performance when compared to the Tab S11 Ultra’s Dimensity 9400+ component.

That’s the only upgrade we currently know of on paper. The new chipset should help battery efficiency, but don’t expect any major changes to battery capacity. The Tab S12 Ultra will reportedly retain The S11’s 11,600mAh battery and the 14-inch AMOLED panel.

Between now and the expected September unveiling, we’re hoping to learn more about the tablet’s RAM, storage configurations, and charging capabilities to form a complete picture.