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- Six years of updates
- Bright, vibrant display
- Excellent battery life
- Feels overpriced
- Lacklustre performance
- Only a 90Hz display
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus is the latest tablet in a somewhat turbulent lineup. The most recent entries in the brand’s tablet family were the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra and the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus. The former held Samsung’s position as our favourite Android tablet but the latter had a fair few issues that made it feel like less of a good deal.
So does the Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus correct the mistakes of the past while still being an affordable alternative to the Ultra? Yes, but nowhere near as much as I’d have liked. Some things are better here than on the non-FE model but other issues remain. Plus, there are some downgrades that don’t feel reasonable for a tablet that costs this much. The result is a decent enough tablet but not one that I can recommend you rush out and buy.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus: What you need to know
As a pared-down version of the standard Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Plus, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus uses a less powerful processor. In place is 2.9GHz Samsung Exynos 1580 chipset, backed by either 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage.
The battery is the same as in the Tab S10 Plus, a chunky 10,090mAh cell that supports wired charging up to 45W, but the display is quite different; better in some ways and weaker in others.
The Tab S10 FE Plus has a larger screen (13.1in vs 12.4in) but it uses a lesser IPS LCD panel, instead of AMOLED, so the black and contrast levels aren’t as strong. It also has a lower maximum refresh rate of 90Hz.
Price and competition
Prices for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus start at £649, which gets you the model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage space. The 12GB/256GB model is £749.
The tablet’s most obvious competitor here is the 13in Apple iPad Air, which will currently set you back £749 for the 128GB model or £865 for 256GB. There are also 512GB and 1TB models available but those run to an eye-watering £1,099 and £1,299, respectively.
Going in the other direction, we have some strong competition for much less. The 12.1in OnePlus Pad 2 is our current favourite mid-range tablet and can currently be picked up for just £429. You can also get a crisp OLED display around this price with the 12.3in Honor Magic Pad 2, which is down to £399 at the time of writing.
Design and key features
Just like its pricier sibling, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus uses sturdy aluminium in the frame and the rear and is rated IP68 for dust and water resistance, making it one of the more robust tablets on the market right now.
Accommodating its massive 13.1in display is an equally hefty body, measuring 300 x 195mm (W x H) and weighing a solid 664g. That’s on the heavy side, so prepare for an arm workout if you want to use it on the go. It’s nice and slim, at least, measuring just 6mm thick.
Hold it in landscape orientation and you’ll find the power and volume buttons on the top-left edge, with a microSD card slot in the same position on the right hand side. The USB-C port is on the right edge and the bottom edge houses pogo pin connectors that provide connectivity and power to the optional keyboard case.
The tablet comes with a stylus bundled, and at the time of writing you can also claim a slim keyboard cover for no extra cost. That deal is only running until 13 May 2025, however, after which time you’re looking at an additional £169 for the keyboard case, bringing your total to at least £818 for the total bundle (£918 for the 256GB model).
The Galaxy S10 FE Plus runs Android 15 out of the box, with Samsung’s OneUI 7 plastered over the top. This being 2025, there are of course some AI features included, including Google’s Circle to Search and tweaks to the Notes app that can straighten up your handwriting or help you solve basic maths equations. The best thing about the software, however, is that Samsung has committed to six years of OS updates and security patches, just one year fewer than flagships like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra.
It may only be an LCD panel but the Tab S10 FE Plus’ display outperforms the more expensive Tab S10 Plus in a couple of key areas. First of all, it gets much brighter, hitting 615cd/m2 in manual mode and 822cd/m2 with adaptive brightness enabled and a torch shining on the light sensor. It was a little weak when displaying HDR content (peaking at 590cd/m2) but it was still better than the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus’ result of 424cd/m2.
Colour accuracy is better than on the non-FE model, too; the Vivid profile is as vibrant as ever but the Natural mode recorded a slightly more accurate 1.71 average Delta E colour variance score versus the sRGB colour space. That’s still a way off the target value of 1 or under but it’s better than the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus’ result of 2.79.
The look of the tablet is otherwise generally decent; the 2,880 x 1,800 resolution means images and graphics look nice and crisp and I recorded a strong contrast ratio of 1,943:1 in my testing. The measured black level (0.30cd/m2) isn’t the best I’ve ever seen but it’s close enough to 0 for the black areas to look reasonably deep and inky.
My only real complaint here is the 90Hz refresh rate. To be clear, scrolling and swapping between apps isn’t agonisingly slow, it’s just that if you’re used to 120Hz – on your phone, for example – the difference is noticeable. If this was the norm for tablets in this price range that would be one thing, but both the OnePlus Pad 2 and the Honor Magic Pad 2 refresh up to a buttery smooth 144Hz.
Performance and battery life
I’m not particularly concerned about the Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus scoring lower in the performance benchmarks than the standard Tab S10 Plus or the M3 iPad Air. The former is quite a bit more expensive and the latter makes use of Apple’s notoriously powerful silicon.
However, it’s when we compare the 2.9GHz Exynos 1580 chipset to cheaper tablets that problems arise. The OnePlus scored 17% better in the multi-core benchmarks (although the Samsung was 41% faster with single-core operations) and the Honor pulled 26% and 19% ahead of the Galaxy Tab in the single and multi-core benchmarks.
Similarly, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus sits firmly at the rear of the pack in the GFXBench GPU tests. It’s unsurprising to see Apple taking the gold here, too, but once again both OnePlus and Honor prove superior options for smooth 3D gaming. The Samsung handles simple fare like Candy Crush well enough but if you want to tackle more meaty games, this is one to avoid.
One of my biggest problems with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Plus was the battery life, so it’s great to see the S10 FE Plus correcting this issue. In truth, results of 19hrs 6mins are suspiciously good for a 13in tablet, so take it with a grain of salt, but I ran the test twice and both were in this ballpark.
The battery size and charging speed are identical to the non-FE model so it’s no surprise to see the charging time being around the same. You can hit 50% after 36 minutes, but a full charge takes around 85 minutes.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus: Verdict
There are a few key features of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus that won’t find on any other tablet at this price. The six years of software support, microSD card slot and robust IP68 rating are all excellent inclusions and set this tablet apart.
The problem is that there is another model that offers all these things and it starts £150 cheaper. I’m yet to review the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE but my initial instinct is that it will be more worth your while. The specs are nearly identical, barring a smaller 10.9in display and 8,000mAh battery, and those same shortcomings are easier to bear with a £499 starting price.
With a competitor like that in play, I can’t recommend the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus; it’s generally solid and well-rounded but it simply doesn’t justify its high price.
