GoKawiilJoe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR The Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra could deliver a sizeable performance boost, according to an early Geekbench 7 result.
Samsung appears to be switching from the Tab S11 Ultra’s Dimensity 9400 Plus to the standard Dimensity 9500, but the newer chip is clocked significantly higher.
The S12 Ultra keeps 12GB of RAM in the tested configuration, while Android 17 will be preinstalled out of the box.
We already had a good idea of what Samsung was putting inside the upcoming Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra after an earlier APK teardown uncovered references to MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500. And now a Geekbench listing gives us a clearer idea of the raw performance this newer chip could bring to one of this year’s best Android tablets.
The Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra (SM-X940) has appeared on Geekbench 7 with 2,760 points in single-core and 9,291 in multi-core (spotted via GSMArena). The test unit has 12GB of RAM and runs Android 17, while its processor is identified as MediaTek’s MT6993. Its CPU configuration includes one core at 4.21GHz, three at 3.50GHz, and four at 2.70GHz.
Those specifications point to the standard Dimensity 9500, rather than a faster Plus variant. That is particularly interesting because the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra launched with the Dimensity 9400 Plus. Its prime core tops out at 3.73GHz, compared with 4.21GHz on the newer chip.
In other words, Samsung appears to be moving from a Plus-branded chip to a non-Plus successor, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the S12 Ultra is taking a performance step backward. Quite the opposite: the newer Dimensity 9500 is a generational upgrade, and its substantially higher peak clock speed alone illustrates how much more headroom MediaTek’s newer platform brings.
The benchmark numbers appear to back that up. A comparable Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra (SM-X930) Geekbench 7 result with the same 12GB of RAM scored 2,281 in single-core and 8,005 in multi-core. That puts this Tab S12 Ultra result roughly 21% higher in single-core and 16% higher in multi-core.
There is an important caveat, though. The Tab S12 Ultra test runs Android 17, while the S11 Ultra result uses Android 16. Google’s newer operating system could contribute to the improved scores through platform and scheduler optimizations, so it would be premature to credit the entire difference to the Dimensity 9500. Still, the newer chipset is clearly the bigger hardware change between these two test units.
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