The Ativ Tab was announced on August 29, 2012 at IFA 2012, incorporates a dual-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, and runs the Windows RT operating system.

Mike Abary, senior vice president of Samsung's U.S. PC and tablet businesses, also stated that the company was unable to build the Ativ Tab to meet its target price point—considering that lower cost was intended to be a selling point for Windows RT devices.

[3] Samsung has also reportedly planned to pull the Ativ Tab from Germany and other unspecified European markets for similar reasons.

[2] Whilst demoing the device at IFA, TechRadar praised the Ativ Tab's "crisp" screen, lightweight design, and the ability to expand its functionality and storage with its USB port and MicroSD card slot.

"[7] Anandtech said that despite not being the best substitute for an actual notebook due to the lagging performance of ARM-based processors and the rushed nature of the OS, the Ativ Tab was "well executed" for a first-generation Windows RT device.