Samsung starts the Galaxy Tab S12 line at $1,200 with two large-screen models

Both increases are $100, and in percentage terms the cheaper tablet took the larger one. Bloomberg set the Ultra against the S11 Ultra's most recent price, which puts the starting point at $1,299 and the rise at about 7.7% ^[4][8]. It set the Plus against the older S10+, which puts the starting point at $1,100 and the rise at about 9.1% ^[6][9]. The two baselines are also different kinds of number. Bloomberg's "most recent price" leaves open whether the S11 Ultra's price had moved since launch, and the Plus comparison goes back to the S10 generation ^[4][6].

With no new 11-inch model in the series ^[2], the cheapest S12 is the $1,200 Plus ^[10]. The Ultra costs $199 more, about 16.6%, for a screen 2 inches larger on the diagonal and a 5.1-millimetre body ^[10][11][5].

One reading of the empty slot is an upmarket push. Samsung raises both remaining prices and lets the small model lapse, so every buyer of a current-generation S tablet pays at least $1,200 ^[10]. Another is a staggered lineup: the S11 stays on sale as the entry tablet, and Samsung saves the cost of a replacement this cycle. A third is an 11-inch S12 that arrives later, in which case the gap is a matter of timing.

The two reports lean different ways. The Indian Express described the launch as Samsung dropping the base model ^[3]. Bloomberg wrote only that Samsung did not announce an update for the 11-inch S11 ^[2]. Neither says whether the S11 stays on sale. Neither includes the shipment, revenue or margin figures that would show whether the tablet market is flat.

I think the prices support the upmarket reading more firmly than the lineup does. Samsung raised list prices by the same $100 at both tiers it refreshed ^[4][6]. The only other product it launched with them was a SmartTag tracker with better precision and longer range ^[1][7]. It did not renew its smallest S-series size this cycle ^[2]. A higher list price brings in more revenue per tablet sold, but it can also cost sales. With no volume figures, the margin case rests on prices alone. The upmarket reading is wrong if a current S tablet survives in the line below $1,200, whether that is a repriced S11 or an 11-inch S12 that comes later.