Samsung Galaxy Tab S3: Rumoured tablet undergoing evaluation in India, could be released in 2017

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, the rumoured flagship tablet which may be released in 2017, has been spotted on an Indian import tracking site where it is believed to be headed for testing and evaluation. Over the past few years, Samsung has been testing its unreleased phones and tablets at its R&D facility in Bengaluru in southern India.

According to SamsMobile, multiple units of the Galaxy Tab S3 LTE variant (SM-T825) have been imported into India for evaluation purposes. Along with the LTE version, there have been reports of a Wi-Fi-only (SM-T820) version as well, but there is no word on the latter version at present.

Both the Wi-Fi only and LTE variants have earlier been spotted with 9.7in and 8in screen sizes. Indian import-export tracker website Zauba had earlier listed similar imports related to the Galaxy Tab S3, which indicated the tablet may be powered by an Exynos 7420 processor and 4GB RAM.

Not much is known about the specs of the tablet as of now, but it is most likely to be Samsung's first tablet to come pre-installed with the Android Nougat OS. It is also expected to showcase Samsung's Iris recognition technology, which the company introduced through the Note 7 and has previously been used on the non-commercial Galaxy Iris tablet.

Although there is no clarity on when the tablet will be launched, SamMobile has claimed that the Galaxy Tab S3 is expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2017. Prior to that famed tipster Evan Blass had given a peek into how the upcoming tablet would look via a tweet. The tablet's leaked image showed a premium back along with what appears to be a front camera flash, which many commentators indicate could also be a dual-camera module.