Samsung’s new Android tablets are so popular they’ve had to put pre-orders on hold

Do people like Android tablets? Here is such a bizarre world presented to us by the latest news from Samsung. The company made the Galaxy Tab S8 line available for pre-order last week, and now Samsung says the tablet is so popular that it had to stop accepting pre-orders.

XDA Developers noticed that pre-orders for some models were closed and received the following statement from Samsung:

We are thrilled with the consumer response to our new Galaxy Tab S8 line. Due to overwhelming demand over the past 48 hours, we are suspending pre-orders on Samsung.com for the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S8. We work quickly to meet consumer interest and demand. Please stay tuned

Samsung launched three S8 models last week: the base Tab S8, Tab S8+, and Tab S8 Ultra. Only the Tab S8+ is still listed for sale, with the $699 Tab S8 and $1,099 Ultra model listed as “sold out.”

The Ultra made headlines as a gigantic 14.6-inch tablet with a unique thin-bezel design and Macbook Pro-style front camera cutout. Other models have a more traditional tablet design. The Tab S8 lineup comes with flagship specs: Snapdragon 8 Gen-1 SoC, 8GB RAM, high-resolution screens, and aluminum chassis.

There’s no obvious reason for the Tab S8’s sudden popularity. Aside from the camera notch, the Samsung Tab S8 line doesn’t look much different from the Tab S7 line released in 2020. Samsung decided not to update the Tab S line in 2021, assuming it wasn’t in high demand. The company says the shortage is due to higher sales, but it could just be normal supply chain issues. According to IDC, Samsung is the second largest tablet maker behind Apple with a 20% market share.

Google is hoping for a resurgence in Android tablets with the launch of Android 12L in March and more tablet apps. We haven’t seen the results of this in the market yet, but many OEMs, including Samsung, are showing a renewed commitment to Android tablets.