Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE review: Is a stylus enough?

Price When Reviewed

From $499.99

You won’t find a better-specced premium Android tablet than the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra, but it’s simply too much of everything for most people. Fortunately, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE should prove more than enough.

It packs a decent 10.9-inch display, a high-quality flat metal design, and enough performance to do the everyday stuff well. Samsung even bundles in an S Pen stylus with every unit, making it a great choice for creativity.

Of course, I could have written that exact last paragraph about last year’s Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE. In fact, I’ve just checked my review, and I pretty much did.

So what does Samsung have to show us that’s actually new? You’d hope that there’s been some sort of progress, given the £50/$50 price bump to £499/$499 for the latest Fan Edition slate.

We’re largely talking nips and tucks here, and while the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE is another good mid-range tablet option, you should certainly look around before deciding. Here’s why…

Design & Build

• Familiar flat metallic design
• IP68 certification
• S Pen bundled in

What does the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE look and feel like? That’s an easy one: it looks and feels exactly like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE.

Before you accuse me of lazy journalism, just click on that link above and compare the pictures of the two tablet generations. I’ve even been sure to capture most of the same angles for easy comparison. Suffice to say, Samsung really is leaning into its iterative approach here.

Improvements have been made, but they’re almost imperceptible

Improvements have been made, but they’re almost imperceptible. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE has exactly the same 254.3 x 165.8mm footprint, but it’s half-a-millimetre thinner at 6mm.

With a weight of 497g, it’s a whole 26g lighter. It still feels like a premium bit of kit, however. The kind of creak-free all-metal build goes a long way to making this feel more expensive than it is.

So too does the provision of IP68 certification. Even the £999 iPad Pro M4 doesn’t give you that level of water resistance, making it a far better bet for bath time and poolside use.

Here’s another thing the much-vaunted iPad Pro doesn’t give you: a bundled stylus. Every Galaxy Tab S10 FE, on the other hand comes with an S Pen in the box. When not in use, it attaches to the back of the tablet using nice strong magnets.

Samsung’s stylus implementation is the best in the business. You can ignore the S Pen is there right up until you want to use it, at which point scrawling a quick note is only a button hold and double screen tap away.

Press and drag to highlight text, or jump into Samsung’s powerful Notes app and scribble away with a range of pen types. The writing experience is fluid and assured, and Samsung’s handwriting recognition and auto-justification are as fantastic as ever.

Once again, there’s a fingerprint sensor stashed behind the power button on the top edge. This works well when you find it, but I often find such tablet provisions a little tricky to locate in the first place. Apple’s secure Face ID system really should be more widely used within the tablet space.

The colour options are predictably drab. Samsung only gives you Silver, Gray, and Blue – and the latter colour largely applies to the antenna and logo accents, with only a vaguely blueish tint to the body. Would you even guess that the device tested here was the Blue model if I didn’t tell you? Exactly.

I understand that the tablet form factor is now mature, and there’s only so much you can do with a big slab of metal and glass, but once thing you can surely do is offer some pronounced and appealing colours. Maybe next time.

Screen & Speakers

• 10.9-inch IPS LCD
• 90Hz refresh rate
• Stereo speakers
• Decent, but falling behind the opposition on all counts

I’m a little surprised that Samsung sent this particular model of the Galaxy Tab S10 FE through for review, because by far the most interesting addition to the FE roster for 2025 is the option of a larger 13.9-inch Plus model.

As things stand, there’s little to say about this smaller model’s screen that hasn’t already been said. It’s another 10.9-inch IPS LCD with a 1440 x 2304 resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. Can you really expect more for £500/$500?

I have no complaints about the Galaxy Tab S10 FE screen’s quality

Yes, I think that you can. The OnePlus Pad 2 also gives you an LCD panel rather than an AMOLED, but it’s a larger 12.1-inch variant with a considerably more fluid 144Hz refresh rate and a sharper 2120 x 3000 resolution. The Honor Pad V9 offers an 11.5-inch 2.8K 144Hz panel for just £399.

With all that said, I have no complaints about the Galaxy Tab S10 FE screen’s quality. It’s bright enough, sharp enough, and outputs nice natural colours once you activate the default ‘Vivid’ screen mode in the Settings menu.

Again, though, the lack of Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support isn’t a good look when the OnePlus Pad 2 has been offering such things since 2024.

Samsung’s tablets (like most Android tablets) are much wider than any iPad, with a 16:10 aspect ratio. This is a double-edged sword, meaning that the Galaxy Tab S10 FE feels way more comfortable when consuming content in landscape orientation than in portrait.

Sound output isn’t quite as impressive as some of its mid-priced rivals either. You still get a solid pair of solid stereo speakers with nice separation, but the OnePlus Pad 2 gives you a more immersive six-speaker set-up, while the Honor Pad V9 gives you a whopping eight.

Specs & Performance

• Exynos 1580
• 8 or 12GB RAM
• 5G option

Perhaps the most meaningful improvement with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE (after that Plus option) relates to its performance.

In supplying its latest mid-range tablet with an Exynos 1580 chip, it essentially enjoys a two-generational jump over the Galaxy Tab S9 FE.

It’s not that this is a particularly impressive processor – it’s the same chip that powers the Samsung Galaxy A56 phone – but it’s fast enough to provide fluid navigation and little in the way of stutter.

It doubtless helps that Samsung has nudged the memory provision up a little, with either 8- or 12GB of RAM. I always feel that Android starts to purr once you hit that 8GB mark.

For all that progress has been made, the OnePlus Pad 2 hands out another chastening with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. That’s an ageing flagship, but a flagship chip nonetheless, and it handily trounces the Galaxy Tab S10 FE across the usual benchmark tests.

We haven’t finished putting the Honor Magic V9 through its paces, but its MediaTek Dimensity 8350 also looks to be a much more capable chip on paper. And the Xiaomi Pad 7 (review also coming very soon) has a decent Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3.

It’s another case of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE being good in isolation, but slipping behind the standard set by its more ambitious mid-priced rivals.

At this point, I should issue a shout-out to Samsung and its Apple-like market saturation, which means that you can specify your Galaxy Tab S10 FE with or without 5G connectivity. That’s an option neither of those aforementioned rivals can offer.

Cameras

• 13Mp rear camera captures barely adequate shots
• Ditto the 12Mp ultra-wide selfie cam
• Supports 4K video at 30fps

Samsung has swapped the solitary 8Mp main camera of the Galaxy Tab S9 FE out for a 13Mp alternative.

It’s a nominal upgrade, but we’re still talking about an extremely limited camera that you’d only want to capture images with as a last resort. Pretty much any halfway decent smartphone camera will do a better job.

Samsung’s expert image processing, together with those extra pixels, will ensure a basic level of competence in ideal lighting. But we all know by now that you shouldn’t rely on your tablet for photography.

That applies doubly so to the 12Mp ultra-wide front camera, which should really only be employed for video calls. It’ll take selfies, but there’s a general lack of clarity and depth to these shots.

On the video recording front, 4K/30fps support is welcome, but again, you wouldn’t want to rely on the Galaxy Tab S10 FE as anything but a last resort. The lack of OIS (optical image stabilisation), for one thing, rules out steady footage, and there’s no 60fps support at 1080p.

Battery Life & Charging

• 8000mAh battery
• 45W charging support
• No charger in the box

At first glance, Samsung hasn’t brought anything new to the table when it comes to stamina. However, the gains made by the much newer and more efficient Exynos 1580 are quite noteworthy.

While the Galaxy Tab S9 FE’s 8000mAh battery makes a return alongside the same 10.9-inch display, the Galaxy Tab S10 FE lasted much longer.

Samsung’s new tablet managed to score 13 hours 28 minutes in our usual PC Mark Work 3.0 battery test, which simulates a mixed workload. That’s a startling three hours longer than its predecessor, and about the same length of time as the OnePlus Pad 2 with its significantly larger battery.

you can expect it to last through several days on a single charge

If you’re using the Galaxy Tab S10 FE as intended, for light web browsing, note taking, and media consumption tasks, you can expect it to last through several days on a single charge. It should also last you a full working day of light productivity tasks with room to spare.

The charging provision is the same as before, with support for Samsung’s 45W charging (much like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra). You don’t get this charger in the box, but I had one to hand.

Using this official charger, I was able to charge the S10 FE from empty to 27% in 15 minutes, and to 49% in 30 minutes. A full charge took exactly 1 hour 30 minutes.

Software & Apps

• Android 15
• One UI 7
• Seven years of software updates

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE runs on the company’s current One UI 7 interface, with Android 15 running underneath. Samsung’s software in 2025 is a relatively easy on the eye, extremely powerful and customisable, but also just a little bit congested and even annoying for someone who likes their Android to be as close to the Google ideal as possible.

The positives are fairly overwhelming, however. Samsung’s icons, widgets, and menus have never looked as crisp and appealing as they do in One UI 7.0. It’s no great departure from previous versions, but it’s a nice take on the company’s familiar house style.

One UI is also extremely flexible and fully featured. Samsung DeX optimises the UI for keyboard and mouse use, turning the Galaxy Tab S10 FE into a lightweight laptop of sorts. The multitasking/app switching menu makes good use of the extra screen space, and split screen app use is a doddle to use here.

I’ve already talked about S Pen implementation, but it really is the best in the business. Navigating with Samsung’s stylus is always a pleasure, with a sub-UI always there just behind the scenes to help you but you never feel strong-armed into using it.

The Air Command menu offers you the ability to quickly write on the screen, create a note, or enter AI select. The latter lets you turn videos into GIFs or extract text from whatever’s on screen with a simple circle.

I mentioned the powerful Samsung Notes app, but you also get PenUP for helping to explore your artistic side with colouring-in projects, as well as works shared by other users.

Samsung has promised six years of OS and security updates, which is one of the best you’ll find in any tablet, regardless of price

Samsung-flavoured irritations include the way you have to fiddle around to get Google Password Manager working unlike every other Android device where it just works out of the box. There’s also a general sense of clutter, with a number of Samsung’s own apps and a Settings menu that sends me to the Search function more than any other.

I’m not a huge fan of Samsung’s decision to join the trend for splitting the notification and shortcut toggles menus, but it seems to make more sense here on the big screen than it does on smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S25.

Samsung has promised six years of OS and security updates, which is one of the best you’ll find in any tablet, regardless of price.

Price & Availability

The Samsung Galaxy S10 FE is available to buy now in most territories, including the UK and US. You can buy directly from the Samsung website, as well as from Amazon and a whole host of retailers both major and minor.

Pricing starts from £499/$499.99 for the 8GB/128GB entry model. That represents an unfortunate £50/$50 price hike over the Galaxy Tab S9 FE. I know that prices have risen across the board, but the lack of meaningful advancements still makes such a hike stick in the craw somewhat.

Step up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and you’ll be paying £599/$569.99. That’s a much bigger £100 price hike for the UK compared to $70 for the US. Last year’s step up model came with a £70/$70 premium, by way of comparison.

Naturally, you’ll pay more for 5G connectivity, starting from £599/$599.99 for the 128GB variant.

Check out our list of the best tablets for more options.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE?

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE is yet another accomplished mid-range tablet from the company, with an excellent (and now slightly lighter) design and the best bundled stylus in the game.

Performance has taken an appreciable step forward, while the new Exynos 1580 chip also appears to have nudged battery life in the right direction.

All of these tweaks and changes feel a little like fiddling at the margins, however. This is still, to all intents and purposes, the same device as the 2023 Galaxy Tab S9 FE.

Iteration is expected, to some extent, especially in the tablet market. However, with an accompanying price bump and some very strong competition, this lack of advancement sees Samsung’s Tab FE range slipping back in the pecking order.

Specs

• Android 15
• 10.9in, 1440 x 2304, IPS LCD, 90Hz
• Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Exynos 1580
• 8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM
• 128GB/256GB storage
• 13Mp, f/2.0 main camera
• Up to 4K @ 30fps rear video
• 12Mp front-facing camera
• Stereo speakers
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e
• Bluetooth 5.3
• 8000mAh battery
• 45W charging
• 254.3 x 165.8 x 6mm
• 497g
• Launch colours: Silver, Gray, Blue