Here’s how much the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 will cost

I’ve been drooling over the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 for a while now. Samsung lifted the lid on the gorgeous, productivity-focused tablet last month, and it genuinely looks like it could be a serious contender to the iPad Pro.

But while its specifications have been public knowledge for a while now, we didn’t know anything about its pricing or availability, until today.

So, here’s the deal. The base tablet will cost $600. That’s a full $200 more than its predecessor. If you want to add on the Pogo Keyboard (and you will), that’s another $130. For the full monty, you’re going to be looking at $730. That’s not far off what you’d pay if you got the equivalent 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

So, what do you get for your money? There’s a gorgeous 9.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a 2048×1536 resolution, which is backed up with Android 7.0, 32GB of storage (expandable with a MicroSD slot), 4GB of RAM, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, and a 6,000 mAH battery with quick charging.

In terms of cameras, there’s a 13-megapixel shooter in the back, and a 5-megapixel one for selfies.

Although I haven’t actually tried it myself, these specifications are encouraging, and at face value the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 looks to be a pretty decent bit of kit. It’ll be available to buy from Samsung’s website, as well as Best Buy, Amazon, and other retailers, with pre-orders open from tomorrow.

I do worry that this gorgeous piece of hardware will be undermined by the sorry state of Android on the tablet, which has atrophied in recent years due to a dearth of new hardware and consumer interest. A consequence of this is that many developers fail to consider tablets when they design their Android apps, and they look utterly terrible on large screens. With this in mind, the iPad Pro will always be more enticing.