Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra Review: Big screen, big letdowns

Table of Contents:

Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra Specs

The best of the best, almost

Here is a quick overview of the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra specs:

Comprising Samsung’s signature Armor Aluminum and tempered glass, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra uses the same design language that has been utilized on its tablets for years. With flat edges, a traditional 16:10 aspect ratio, and pretty much no curves, it’s definitely a device that fits today’s landscape. 

Size is definitely a concern here. Sure, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is immensely razor-thin at 5.5 mm, but the two other dimensions are a concern. It measures 32.6 by 20.8 mm, which is comparable to the display size of a MacBook Pro 14-inch. In comparison with a 13-inch iPad Pro, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is equally unwieldy. 

The Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is also quite heavy at nearly 700 grams. It surely isn’t a lightweight device you’d be able to lug everywhere with you. I mean, you could, but the experience would probably be miserable. 

There’s still a notch on the display, which is a pity as it ruins the immersion for me, but I guess Samsung couldn’t find a way to fit the selfie camera inside the thin bezel. 

Colors-wise, we get the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra in two colors––Moonstone Gray and Platinum Silver, which are two very drab and conservative hues devoid of any life. It’s probably what sells well, as most consumers usually go with safe colors. 

Inside the box you’ll find:

The highlight of the Galaxy S11 Ultra is its 14.6-inch screen, and as is traditional of Samsung, it’s a high-quality Dynamic AMOLED one, with the usual features like HDR and a 120 Hz refresh rate part of the specs sheet. 

As we mentioned, it’s a 16:10 display, making it perfect for consuming media like TV shows and movies. That’s unlike an iPad Pro, which has a boxier 3:2 aspect ratio and introduces lots of letterboxing. 

In real life, it’s a joy to experience any type of content on such an expansive and high-quality screen. Everything simply pops at you and beckons you to use the screen even more. Come to think of it, this might be a problem for your digital wellbeing. 

Display Measurements:

In our tests, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra achieves very high brightness, comparable with the large 13-inch iPad Pro. The minimum brightness is better on the iPad, though. 

For biometrics, the Galaxy S11 Ultra uses an under-display fingerprint scanner. It functions perfectly well, enabling you to unlock the device quickly and effortlessly. A problem might be the actual handling of the device, but that is fixable by enabling face unlock as well. 

Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra Keyboard and Stylus

Packed in the box with the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is Samsung’s S Pen stylus, which attaches magnetically to the side of the tablet. Previously, the attachment point was at the rear of the tablet, but it’s absolutely more convenient to have the accessory on the side.

Sadly, in line with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the included S Pen lacks Bluetooth, so no Air Actions are available here. Samsung is slowly making its stylus less feature-rich, probably in preparation of getting rid of it in the not-so-distant future. 

Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra Performance & Benchmarks

MediaTek’s finest

The Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra comes with the MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ chip, a 3nm powerhouse that’s very comparable to the Snapdragon 8 Elite, though not quite. 

In the CPU-heavy Geekbench 6 benchmarks, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra performs well in both the single- and multi-core tests, beating its predecessor but unable to challenge the iPad Pro with the beastly M4 chip. 

GPU Performance

There’s a pretty major improvement in graphics performance as well. The gargantuan new tablet achieves a very decent peak performance and not-too-shabby sustained score thanks to the Immortalis GPU on deck, beating the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra and also inching that much closer to the 13-inch iPad Pro. Certainly a great tablet for gaming, but please do consider pairing a controller. 

The device comes with 12GB of RAM in the 256GB and 512GB versions, but the top-tier 1TB one comes with 16GB of RAM for exceptional multitasking. There’s a microSDXC card slot allowing you to make use of up to 2TB microSD cards, which is great to see. 

Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra Software

Samsung DeX has been substituted with Android 16‘s native desktop mode, which might be perceived as a downgrade by some, but what can you do. Thanks to the size, you can actually use this tablet as a pretty decent external OLED monitor for your PC.

There are quad speakers on the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, and the quality they deliver is pretty great, actually. Tuned by AKG, which has been the case with most Samsung flagship devices for the past few years. 

The sound is rich and full, with great sound separation and a fairly wide soundstage, which makes listening to music and pretty much any other kind of media pretty enjoyable. 

Another downgrade here is a small but notable lack of a haptic or even regular vibrator motor. That’s right, the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra doesn’t provide vibration feedback. This isn’t so critical on a tablet, but the downgrade is still noteworthy. 

Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra Camera

No more wide camera up front

The Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra drops the wide-angle front camera and only retains a 12MP ultrawide angle one, which isn’t great news. Sure, an ultrawide is mighty useful, but the tighter perspective of a wide-angled camera can definitely be helpful in certain situations. Regardless, the ultrawide camera does deliver a pretty decent image quality.

Taken with Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra’s front ultrawide camera

At the rear, the tablet still comes with the 8MP ultrawide and 13MP wide cameras. The quality is fine, given that we’re dealing with a tablet here. 

 

Should you buy it?

Well, the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is a mixed bag. 

On one hand, it’s a big and fast tablet with a pretty lovely screen and very decent battery life. It also charges faster than I anticipated. Positioning the S Pen on the side and not at the back is a smart improvement. You also get seven years of support, which is excellent. 

But on the other hand, it introduces lots of tiny but aggravating downgrades that add up. There’s no more vibration feedback and we lose one front camera. The S Pen on deck has also lost Bluetooth capabilities. We also get the same design language, but after a couple of generations, this one is looking slightly stale. 

Overall, I don’t feel you should upgrade if you’re coming from a Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra or a Tab S9 Ultra. Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra might consider upgrading if they feel their devices have run their course. 

If you desire the best and largest Android tablet available in 2025, consider this one, but also casually check for deals on the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra: it’s basically the same, and you might save some cash.