Ever since Apple debuted its iPad Air 2 tablet, the battle to beat what is claimed to be the thinnest tablet ever made has been raging strong and Samsung is at the forefront of players trying to unseat Apple's acclaimed portable computing device.
While Samsung's Galaxy Tab, the vendor's initial competitor tablet, made a big splash in the market last summer, the rumors running rampant today are that Samsung intends to claim the 'thinnest ever' title from Apple with its impending Galaxy Tab S2.
Initial reports reveal Samsung's Galaxy Tab S2 will hit the market featuring two display options, an 8.0-inch and a 9.7-inch, which wraps around the Tab S portfolio of 8.4-inch and the 10.5-inch variants.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 will supposedly boast a metal frame, claims the report, and be thinner than iPad Air 2 which is 6.1 mm thick. That's thinner than Apple's latest smartphones, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which are 6.9 mm and 7.1 mm respectively.
How thin will the Galaxy Tab S2 be? None of the rumors and reports are pitching out specifics just yet.
Yet as Apple learned the hard way with its latest iPhones, thinness doesn't come without some pain. Early user reports claimed the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices could be bent easily though Apple later declared most of the reported bending claims weren't accurate.
The same rumor reports claiming a thinner-than-iPad Galaxy tablet is in development are noting that Samsung is further hedging its bets in the uber competitive device space by prepping two lower-priced tablets, a Galaxy Tab A and Galaxy Tab A Plus, with 8.0 inch and 9.7 inch displays respectively.
These tablets, according to reports, will be LTE and Wi-Fi only options and both will reportedly have the same display resolution of 1,024 x 768 pixels.
If Samsung does develop a thinner table than the iPad Air 2 it may be a blow to Dell as well given Dell's Venue 8 is nearly as sleek as the iPad Air 2.
Industry analysts, for the past few months, have been noting that consumer demand for tablets is on the wane for a number of reasons. A bevy of portable computing options, from large smartphones to phablets to tablets and sleek thin laptops may be confusing consumers a bit who are opting away from tablets for the comfort of a laptop experience.
Another market factor is price as consumers are reportedly looking more at mid-range and lower costing computing options than high-end devices such as the Apple iPad Air 2 which starts at $499 and can range up to nearly $900 depending on GB requirements.
A recent IDC research report reveals tablet sales are slowing even as tablet prices continue to drop. While the total tablet market grew in 2014 it was a much slower growth rate and price points have been declining since 2012. At the same time global phablet shipments, which are devices boasting screen sizes ranging from 5.5 to under 7 inches, are expected to beat tablet shipments this year, with 318 million units shipped compared to 233 million tablets.
Beating Apple and its iPad Air 2 tablet could be a huge feather in Samsung's device cap but given market trends, ruling the tablet market as the 'thinnest' device may be short-lived no matter what vendor attains the title.
