The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 was a big hit with us when we reviewed it last year. With its wonderfully sharp screen and top-class design, we described it as the iPad Pro's best competitor.

And now it appears that Samsung is giving this tablet the Lite treatment, as Sammobile has found evidence that the company is working on a new mid-range tablet that will eventually be named the Galaxy Tab S7 Lite or Galaxy Tab S8e

The site is also in the works for a new tablet, which will be named the Galaxy Tab S8e.

According to the site's sources, the Tab S7 Lite (or whatever it will eventually be called) will come in three possible configurations: model numbers SM-T730, SM-T735, and SM-T736B/SM-T736N.

Sammoblie also notes that Samsung will likely cites more unspecified evidence that it may be planning to make a version of the tablet with the Plus or XL designations, with both a larger battery and more screen area, as seen in the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus.

This is all the details provided, but if past form is anything to go by, we need not wait too long to find out more. Samsung's Galaxy Tab S6 Lite came out in April 2020, so it would not be at all surprising to see a cutback version of the S7 this spring.

Speaking of the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, this tablet may give us a hint about Samsung's plans to make the Galaxy Tab S7 Lite a bit more affordable. Internally, Samsung has changed the SoC from a Snapdragon 855 to its own Exynos 9611 chip and cut the RAM from 8/6GB to 4GB.

The screen was reduced from a 2,560 x 1,600 AMOLED display to a 2,000 x 1,200 LCD panel, the camera megapixel count was reduced on the front and back, and an in-screen fingerprint reader was nowhere to be seen.

It also lacked a first-party keyboard cover and was not DeX-compatible, which put it at a productivity disadvantage. Still, the Tab S6 comes bundled with an S Pen, which is huge compared to its iPad rivals that require a separate purchase of an Apple Pencil.

Of course, just because this is the route Samsung has taken in the past with its "Lite" tablets doesn't mean it will be the same this time around. And perhaps a Plus or XL model of the Tab S7 Lite means that there is a bit of choice about how much things will be reduced. We'll just have to wait for more details to emerge in the coming months.