Samsung says Galaxy Tab 10.1 thinner to beat iPad

Samsung Mobile executive Omar Khan in a chat late Wednesday admitted that the updated Galaxy Tab 10.1 was made thinner solely to beat Apple. Although the technology to make it thinner was already in progress, the iPad 2's launch hastened bringing that technology to the market, Khan told AllThingsD. The new model is 8.6mm thick, just 0.2mm thinner than the iPad 2 but a full 2.3mm thinner than the model Samsung showed at Mobile World Congress just a month ago.

"We went back to the drawing board," Khan said. "We will not be outdone. It accelerated some of the commercialization of technology we already had in the works."

Questions remain about how the thinness was accomplished, such as possible effects on the battery life of the Tab 10.1. The booth at CTIA has made it difficult since the company is using the thicker models and only has a comparison display to show how thinner the tablet will eventually be.

Suspicions have been raised that Samsung had advance knowledge as design changes rarely happen so quickly, the company is shipping the thicker Galaxy Tab 10.1 to Vodafone UK as an "exclusive" in the 10.1V. The design swap may have cost Samsung valuable time as it now won't ship the 10.1 or the equally thin 8.9 until the summer, months after the iPad 2 as well as rival Android 3.0 tablets like the Motorola Xoom.

By Electronista Staff

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