Rumors of an upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 have been intensifying recently and the Wi-Fi version of the tablet may have just passed through the FCC.
The Federal Communications Commission is the U.S. certification body in charge of authorizing devices before they hit the market. The FCC is usually among the last stops before a device is ready to make its official debut, so an FCC listing typically suggests an imminent release in the United States.
With the Mobile World Congress 2017 just around the corner, it's safe to assume the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 could become official at the show in a couple of weeks.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 At The FCC
The FCC listing doesn't specifically mention the Galaxy Tab S3 name. Nevertheless, the listing is for a tablet with model number SM-T820, which has surfaced several times recently as the Wi-Fi version of the Galaxy Tab S3. The 4G LTE variant of the tablet is believed to carry model number SM-T825, and it was spotted at the FCC at the end of January.
With the FCC approval out of the way, all that's left is an official announcement and a market release, which could follow shortly after the MWC introduction. No solid details are available yet regarding the price of the tablet, but it's expected to be along the same lines of the Galaxy Tab S2 from 2015.
Samsung is holding a press conference at the MWC later this month and it already confirmed that the Galaxy S8 flagship smartphone will not debut at the show, so the Galaxy Tab S3 could instead be among the stars of its event. Should this turn out to be accurate, the Galaxy Tab S3 would mark Samsung's first tablet in more than a year.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 Rumored Specs
In terms of specifications, the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 is rumored to feature a curved display similar to that of the Galaxy S7 edge, which rocked last year's MWC show. The prospect of a curved-display tablet raised plenty of interest, but that's not the only highlight expected for the tablet. The Galaxy Tab S3 is also rumored to boast an S Pen stylus, previously reserved for the company's Galaxy Note line of phablets.
S Pen support would allow Galaxy Tab S3 owners to use the tablet for all sorts of multi-tasking tricks and the rumored 4:3 aspect ratio should make it quite appealing.
The Galaxy Tab S3 is rumored to have a 9.6-inch display with a high resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 pixels and pack a Snapdragon 820 processor under the hood. Other purported specs include 32 GB of native storage (24 GB actually available to the user), microSD support for extra storage of up to 256 GB, a 12-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, and a 5-megapixel front shooter. The tablet is expected to run Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, with Samsung's own TouchWiz UI on top. The Galaxy Tab S3 is further rumored to sport a sleek design with an ultra-thin profile.
No other details are available at this point, but the MWC is just around the corner and we'll keep you up to date as soon as we learn more.
