Name: Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra
Brand: Samsung

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra and Tab S12+ come with Adobe Photoshop preinstalled, the first Android tablets to do so, according to Samsung. The app has been tuned for the S Pen, which ships in the box, and for touch editing on the Ultra’s oversized screen. For illustrators and photographers who wanted a large Android canvas, the main reason to buy an iPad just got weaker.

Until now, a working creative on Android had to make do with substitutes or move edits to a laptop. Adobe brought Photoshop to the iPad years ago, and that single app kept many artists inside Apple’s ecosystem. Samsung is paying for the same advantage, and the deal is exclusive: Photoshop for tablets will stay on Galaxy Tab S models for at least six months.

The hardware matches the pitch. The Ultra is 5.1 millimeters thin, slimmer than most smartphones, and weighs 692 grams. Its 14.6-inch, 120Hz AMOLED panel reaches 1,600 nits at peak, bright enough to edit outdoors. The 11,600mAh battery is rated for up to 23 hours of video, which in practice should cover a long day of sketching without a charger. The Tab S12+ moves to a 12.6-inch screen at 553 grams.

Both run MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500. Samsung claims 61% faster AI processing, 19% faster CPU performance and 17% more graphics power than the Tab S11 Ultra, which matters most when a layered Photoshop file starts to stutter. They launch on One UI 9, based on Android 17, with seven years of OS and security updates, long enough to keep a tablet bought now supported into the next decade.

The fine print is about money. The four months of Photoshop access are a trial of Adobe’s premium mobile plan, so after that a buyer pays Adobe a subscription on top of the tablet. The other bundled apps, including Notability and a Google AI Pro plan, are also time-limited trials, and Samsung says availability and later charges depend on the market. The speed gains are measured against Samsung’s own previous tablet, not against Apple’s chips, so whether Photoshop runs better here than on an iPad Pro remains untested. And the Ultra has no cellular version, so editing away from Wi-Fi means tethering to a phone.

Prices went up. The Tab S12+ starts at $1,199 and the Ultra at $1,399, with the 1TB Ultra at $1,999.99; 9to5Google counts the Ultra’s increase at $100 over the model it replaces. In the UK the two cost £1,199 and £1,399, in the eurozone €1,329 and €1,569, and in South Korea they start at 1,549,900 and 1,899,700 won.

Both tablets go on sale on October 7 in the United States and other major markets, including South Korea and Japan, in grey and silver. Photoshop for tablets reaches the Galaxy Store the same day.

Samsung has bought itself a head start of six months. After that, Photoshop is free to land on cheaper Android tablets, and the Ultra will have to justify $1,399 on its screen alone.

Tags: Samsung, tablets, Adobe, Adobe Photoshop, Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra, Galaxy Tab S12+