All of my cheaper chinese devices without 3.5mm do support it though. It is only this premium tablet that I paid triple what I'd normally spend on which does not work.

Just buy the $9 Apple adapter and you will have a better setup than those old Chinese cheap tablets.

And your point? Samsung is likely more adherent to the USB-C spec than cheap Chinese devices. Audio Accessory Mode (the technical term for the analog audio mode in USB-C) was removed as an optionally supported mode from the specification last year. Adoption among flagship phones was basically nil for years. It's basically the worst of all worlds in terms of complexity: you still need a DAC/ADC in the phone AND you need a muxing switch to switch between data pins and analog audio.

For context on why it was removed: it was replaced with a moisture detection functionality, which can be used to monitor and protect the USB-C port against shorts from moisture ingress into the charging port.