Galaxy Tab S2 hands-on: 4:3 aspect ratio, better fingerprint reader are notable improvements, but $400+ Android tablets are a hard sell in sea of budget tablets
Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica :
Context & Ripple Effects
Samsung opened U.S. preorders for the Tab S2 starting at $400 less than a week before this hands-on, and the review lands amid a crowded field of premium-priced Android slates — Dell's $400 Venue 8 7000 earlier in the year made the same bet on build quality justifying flagship pricing.
The timing matters because Samsung is hedging within its own lineup: days after this piece ran, it shipped a Galaxy Tab S2 Nook variant aimed squarely at readers, while Google was weeks from answering with the Pixel C and its detachable keyboard. The question Cunningham poses — who actually needs a $400+ Android tablet — frames all three launches.
First-order effects
- Samsung's pitch rests on hardware deltas that are easy to copy — the 4:3 screen ratio and improved fingerprint reader — leaving the $400 preorder window exposed to the budget-tablet flood the review flags.
Second-order effects
- Rival premium entrants are pushed toward productivity add-ons to justify the price: Google's Pixel C bundles a solid detachable keyboard, and Samsung's own follow-up TabPro S leans on one too, conceding that media consumption alone doesn't carry a flagship tablet.
Third-order effects
- If mediocre app support keeps capping what premium Android tablets can do, the segment drifts toward keyboard-equipped hybrids or niche variants like the reader-targeted Nook — a squeeze the Tab S4 review three years later still describes as apps that are merely adequate and usefulness dependent on accessories.
The trend: Premium Android tablets are being forced to justify flagship prices through keyboards, niches, and accessories as budget slates absorb the casual-buyer market.