Samsung Galaxy Tab S7, S7+ review: nice displays with snappy performance but DeX still feels unfinished and widescreen aspect ratio is bad for productivity work
Context & Ripple Effects
This review lands mid-arc in The Verge's long-running verdict on Samsung tablets: since the Galaxy Tab S3's cramped keyboard and limited multitasking, and the Tab S4's mediocre Android tablet apps that made accessories mandatory, every flagship has shipped with strong hardware held back by software. The S7 follows the pattern to the letter — displays and performance earn praise, while DeX, Samsung's answer to desktop-class work, is called unfinished.
What makes this iteration matter is that Samsung's own software layer is now the named bottleneck rather than just the app store: the widescreen aspect ratio actively hurts productivity work, meaning the tablet is drifting toward the media-consumption role reviewers flagged back on the Tab S4.
First-order effects
- Buyers weighing the Tab S7 as a laptop replacement get a clear negative signal on its two productivity pillars — DeX and screen format — pushing the purchase decision toward media use or a different device.
- Samsung's DeX investment fails to differentiate its flagship at launch, leaving display quality and raw performance as the only selling points reviewers credit.
Second-order effects
- The criticism pressures Samsung's next generation, and the later Tab S8 and S8 Plus review shows the response was cross-device integrations — yet the Android tablet app ecosystem is still flagged as rough, confirming the fix did not land where it counted.
- Developers and Google face renewed evidence that premium Samsung hardware alone cannot sustain tablet productivity demand, keeping the incentive problem for Android tablet apps unresolved.
Third-order effects
- Five consecutive review cycles (Tab S3 through S8) trace a structural pattern: Samsung ships best-in-class panels and silicon each generation while the productivity software gap persists, suggesting Android tablets are locked into a hardware-leads-software cycle no single OEM can break alone.
The trend: Samsung's Galaxy Tab flagships keep advancing display and performance hardware while their productivity story — from multitasking to DeX to the app ecosystem — stays one generation behind, capping the Android tablet's challenge to laptops.