Samsung unveiled Galaxy Tab S, its thinnest and lightest tablet to date, accompanied by high praise from the manufacturer’s IT and mobile division CEO. “With the launch of the Galaxy Tab S, Samsung is setting the industry bar higher for the entire mobile industry,” said JK Shin.

He went on: “It will provide consumers with a visual and entertainment experience that brings colours to life, beautifully packaged in a sleek and ultra-portable mobile device.”

The Galaxy Tab S comes in two sizes: 10.5-inch and 8.4-inch. They both offer expandable storage up to 128GB and run on Android KitKat 4.4.

They run on Samsung’s own Exynos 5 Octa, an octacore mobile CPU comprising a 1.9GHz quadcore processor and 1.3GHz quad-core processor.

Both devices feature ‘super amoled’ screens (2,560 x 1,600 pixels). It’s the first time super amoled technology has been used on Samsung tablets.

The South Korean manufacturer claims the  displays have more than 90 per cent of Adobe RGB colour coverage – “expressing more colours than ever before” – as well as 100,000:1 contrast ratio, which provides deeper and more realistic images (by making blacks darker and whites brighter).

Content, adds Samsung, can be seen clearly outdoors, even in bright sunlight through the use of “advanced outdoor visibility technology”.

And the devices are indeed slim, with a width a mere 6.6mm for both versions. The 8.4-inch version weighs just 294g and the larger 10.5-inch weighs 465g.

Due to ship in early July in selected markets, CNET reports the larger device will retail in the US for $500 and the smaller 8.4-inch version for $400 respectively (and £449 and £349 in the UK market).

Australian prices have yet to be announced, but the US price tags convert to AU$530 and AU$425 respectively.

Two colours are available: ‘Titanium Bronze’ and ‘Dazzling White’.