Samsung has long been the company embodiment of the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So, with the Galaxy Tab S6 pretty brilliant in every respect, and with no real Android tablet competition worth speaking of, it’s perhaps no surprise that the first Galaxy Tab S7 leaks we’ve seen point to a ‘steady as she goes’ approach.
The leak above, which comes via prolific leaker @OnLeaks and French tech blog Pigtoucoques, shows a tablet that, well, looks exactly how you’d imagine a new member of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S family to appear. It’s a sleek rectangle with a large screen, curved corners and a flat back. It’s thin, too, though notably not as thin as the Tab S6 according to Pigtoucoques’ source (a leaked CAD design) – the new one is 6.4mm thick, compared to the Tab S6’s 5.7mm depth.
- The best tablets you can buy
- NEW: The PS5 has been unveiled, and it's looking great
- What's the best Android phone?
And you’re not imagining things, either – that camera on the back does jut out rather a lot, taking the tablet to 7.7mm thick there, which means you won’t be putting your tablet flat on a table unless you have a case to even things out. That feels disappointing to us – who even uses a tablet’s rear camera, anyway? We’d rather have a flat back, thanks.
Still, there is good news on the Tab S7’s other camera: it’s now on the long side of the tablet, where previously it lived on the short side. Why is this important? It means you can make video calls while holding the tablet in its more natural landscape mode, without appearing on your side. And now we’re used to making more video calls in our current lockdown world, that feels like quite a welcome change, even if it’s not exactly a reason to pre-order.
Otherwise, there’s not too much to say. It looks like the power button may double up as a fingerprint reader, which would be an interesting retreat, given the Tab S6 introduced an in-screen reader. There’s also room for the S Pen to magnetically clip to the back, just as there was in the last generation – that’s what the thin tray underneath the camera node is for.
The Pigtoucoques piece finishes by saying that the Tab S7 is due to launch next month. That feels a little early to us, given Samsung is allegedly planning an Unpacked event to launch the Galaxy Note 20, Fold 2 and Galaxy Watch 3 at the start of August, but we shall see.
