Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 2024 Unboxing: My First Impressions

After Samsung unveiled the latest 2024 Edition of the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite just over a week ago, I bought the tablet as quickly as possible and can already share my first impressions with you today.

In case you’ve read my review of the 2020 and 2022 editions: Not much has changed compared to its predecessors. The display, body, S Pen and other features are identical. What is new, however, is the packaging, which has a new and thinner design now. One reason for that is that the charger is not included anymore.

The processor is also different. Instead of the Exynos 9611 (2020 Edition) and Snapdragon 720G (2022 Edition), the latest 2024 version has a Samsung Exynos 1280 SoC now. This is an octa-core chip consisting of two ARM Cortex A78 cores with up to 2.4GHz and six ARM Cortex A55 cores with up to 2GHz.

I have already run the Geekbench 5 benchmark test and the new processor is indeed a good deal more powerful than its two predecessors. That’s nice to see, because there were only minor differences in the predecessors.

The S6 Lite 2024 is also noticeably more powerful than the Galaxy Tab A9+. However, it remains slightly weaker than the Galaxy Tab S9 FE.

Old Hardware In New Box

As I said, apart from the processor and packaging, nothing else has changed. We still get a metal body that feels high-quality and is thin at 7 mm. It also has a MicroSD card slot, a USB 2.0 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

There is no official keyboard cover and therefore no connector for it.

Features such as a fingerprint reader, four speakers (it only has two) or a waterproof casing are missing. The Galaxy Tab S9 FE offers all of this.

The display is also the same. The S6 Lite has a 10.4-inch IPS panel with a resolution of 2000 x 1200 pixels. I think that’s sharp enough, but at around $400, I expect more. The 60Hz is also low, while even the cheaper Galaxy Tab A9+ and Lenovo Tab M11 offer a higher refresh rate.

Fantastic S Pen

On the other hand, I think it’s great that the S Pen is still included. Nothing has changed here compared to its predecessors and I think the S Pen will be the only reason why the 2024 Edition might make it onto our best lists.

Especially if the prices drop a bit, it will probably be the best inexpensive tablet with a pen for quite a while, just like its predecessors. The cheap alternatives from Lenovo and Amazon have always disappointed me in my tests. Even the Google Pixel tablet has a worse pen option. And the iPad 9 with Apple Pencil is significantly more expensive.

What do you think of the 2024 Edition of the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite?