Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE review: Should you buy it?

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE?

With its 10.9-inch display, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE is a dead ringer for the flagship Tab S9, which costs $800 at MSRP (almost twice as much as the FE). Only upon closer inspection will you notice the subtle physical differences. It has the exact same footprint as the Tab S9 but is a fraction of a millimeter thicker. The display is a tenth of an inch smaller, though, and that means a bit more bezel around the edges. That wasn’t really a problem for me, as the screen is still a reasonable size for a tablet, and the extra bezel made it easier to hold.

The exception, of course, is when you turn it to portrait orientation. As a wide-screen tablet, I found it to be awkwardly tall when held vertically, but this is the trade-off you get with Samsung’s tablets that appear to be targeted at landscape use, such as watching movies and playing games. You may want to consider grabbing one of the official Tab S9 FE cases if you want an optional keyboard or a stand for easier use, just be prepared to pay a bit of a premium.

One of the most drastic downgrades for this tablet over the regular Tab S9 series is the display itself. While Samsung’s flagship tablets all sport OLED screens now, the Tab S9 FE still makes do with an LCD. The panel supports a 90Hz refresh rate, which falls short of the 120Hz on more expensive Samsung tablets. The colors were passable but skewed slightly warm to my eyes, and I saw a slight backlight bleed in a few places on the unit I tested. The resolution is respectable at 1,440 x 2,304, but the brightness takes a dip compared to Samsung’s OLED tablets, making it harder to use in bright light.

On the back, you’ll find the Tab S9 FE’s single rear camera, a mediocre 8MP sensor. It’s fine for scanning QR codes or snapping a whiteboard photo, but don’t use it to take the family portrait unless you think your loved ones would look better dim and blurry. Since the screen is LCD instead of OLED, Samsung couldn’t use an in-display fingerprint sensor. Instead, there’s a sensor in the power button, which you’ll find on the top left edge, right next to the volume rocker. I don’t think it’s the most convenient spot, but the sensor performed well enough.

Next to the camera is a magnetic strip where you can attach the included S Pen stylus. This tablet supports all the handwriting and doodling features of the more expensive S Pen devices, but it doesn’t have Bluetooth. That’s no great loss, as the handful of features Bluetooth enables are really for power users that will likely pick the Tab S9 series proper over the FE. Likewise, without the ultra-high refresh rate, the S Pen on the Tab S9 FE won’t have the same low latency we saw on the Galaxy Tab S9 series. The difference is noticeable if you’re writing fast enough, but only if you’re used to the more responsive S Pen.

Picking up the Tab S9 FE, we were pleasantly surprised at how light it was, although it’s not like the Galaxy Tab S9 FE tips the scales — it’s slightly heavier than Samsung’s premium Tab S9, but the difference is just a few grams. You can carry it around without imminent fear of dropping it, and it’ll slip into a bag without weighing you down.

There are only two AKG-tuned speakers on this tablet, compared to four on the flagship Tab S9 devices. They’re on the left and right edges (in landscape) and shifted toward the top corners. That’s actually thoughtful as it makes it less likely you’ll block the speakers with your hands, a common problem for tablets. They sound great for a tablet, too.

The Tab S9 FE doesn’t have a Snapdragon chip inside. Instead, it’s Samsung’s own Exynos 1380, just like the Tab S9 FE Plus. That’s the same system-on-a-chip (SoC) from last year’s Galaxy A54 5G, a phone that we described as having “solid everyday performance.” That’s also a fair assessment of the Tab S9 FE. The Exynos 1380 is a standard eight-core CPU with four fast cores (A78) and four slow ones (A55). There’s no prime core to speed up single-threaded operations, so you might notice the Tab S9 FE isn’t quite as fast off the starting line. Sometimes app launches take long enough that you wonder if you mistapped, but it’s smooth once you get where you want to go.

While the Galaxy Tab S9 FE will run Android 13 out of the box, there’s an Android 14 update with One UI 6 waiting to install. It’s rare to see a budget device get this kind of treatment, and this is just the beginning of Samsung’s excellent support. This tablet is guaranteed four Android updates (three remaining) and five years of security patches. The build of Android 14 on this tablet is typical of Samsung’s other One UI 6 updates. There are some new widgets, redesigned (and quicker to access) quick settings, improved drag and drop between apps, and more.

One of the best reasons to get this tablet is that it’s a serious multitasking machine for not all that much cash. Like the more expensive Tab S9, this device can run three apps side-by-side thanks to Samsung’s robust multi-window feature. The mid-range processor isn’t as bulletproof in multi-window as a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, but it gets the job done. We’re more concerned with the mere 6GB of RAM in the base model. Samsung is fairly aggressive with memory management, so you may find that apps close in the background faster than they do on other devices. It does, however, support 5G if you opt for the cellular model. That’s an upgrade over the Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus, which, in the US at least, does not have a cellular option.

• Google Pixel Tablet ($499 at Amazon): Google’s Pixel Tablet comes with a more elegant version of Android, but it’s not quite as good at multitasking, and Google’s tablet only has a 60Hz screen. However, it comes with a cool charging stand that turns it into a smart display.
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 ($799 at Amazon): The Galaxy Tab S9 is essentially a premium version of the Tab S9 FE, priced $350 higher. It’s almost the same size and weight, but it has a better OLED screen and a faster Snapdragon chip inside.
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus ($515.6 at Amazon): If the Tab S9 FE doesn’t seem big enough, the Tab S9 FE Plus is the same device with a bigger 12.4-inch LCD and 8GB of RAM instead of 6GB. It costs a little more at $600.
• Apple iPad (10th gen) ($413 at Amazon): If you’re not tied to Android, Apple’s iPad are generally better tablets thanks to the more robust software ecosystem. The 10th Gen iPad retails for the same $450 as the Tab S9 FE, but it does not come with a stylus—the Apple Pencil is another $79. You could also go a little higher for the iPad Air with its far superior chipset.