Samsung Galaxy Tab A9 Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ Tablet - 11" WUXGA - Review

It's a $200 couch screen for Netflix and kids. That's all it is, and that's all it's good for. Don't expect more.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ is the tablet you buy when you just need a big screen for the couch. It's not fancy, it's not fast, and it's not trying to be your laptop. But for $200, it gives you an 11-inch display to watch videos, play casual games, and keep the kids occupied. That's really the whole pitch. If you're looking for a competent workhorse or a premium media machine, look elsewhere. This is a budget-friendly family screen, and that's okay.

Our testing shows the Snapdragon 695 chip and 8GB of RAM land in the 41st and 72nd percentiles, respectively. That mismatch tells the story. It has enough memory to juggle a few apps, but the processor is a definite bottleneck. Don't expect buttery smoothness in demanding games or heavy multitasking. It's fine for streaming and light browsing, but you'll feel it chug if you push it. The 90Hz display is a nice touch, but the processor often can't keep up to fully utilize it.

At $200, it's hard to complain too much. You're getting a functional big screen and speakers that are good enough for Netflix in bed. The value is entirely in its role as a disposable media consumption device for the family. It's not an investment, it's an appliance.

This sits in a weird spot. It's not as polished or powerful as the base model iPad (10th gen), which costs more but will last years longer. It's also not as purpose-built for media as the Amazon Fire Max 11, which is cheaper and more locked into the Amazon ecosystem. Against the Lenovo Idea Tab Pro, you lose screen quality and multitasking features. The A9+ wins on price and brand familiarity alone, not on specs.

If you need a tablet for anything resembling work, skip this. Its productivity score is a dismal 19.8. Also, skip it if you care about screen quality or gaming performance. For the same basic use case but even cheaper, look at an Amazon Fire tablet. For actual versatility, find a used older iPad.

We can only recommend the Galaxy Tab A9+ with very specific conditions. If your budget is absolutely locked at $200, you want a Samsung, and your needs are strictly video streaming, web browsing, and kids' games, it'll do the job. For anyone else, especially if you think you might want to do real work or play better games, saving up for a more capable tablet is a much smarter long-term play. This is a placeholder device.