Why is there no Chrome Omnibox available on my Galaxy Tab S3?

[Android Central Question]

I have Android Nougat on my S2 and Oreo on my S3, and the exact same version of Chrome on both (current update 67.0.3396.87), but on my S3 the Chrome page is like on my old phone (Lollipop 5.1.1) - very basic - on the Navigation bar there are no new or multiple tabs able to be shown together in the same window (new tabs open as separate pages), no back, forward, or refresh/stop buttons (no long press to show previous/next recent history), no toggle icon between regular and incognito modes, no bookmarks star icon, etc. On my S2 I have all of that on the nav page, but on my S3 all I have is the home button, then the address bar, then an icon that shows the number of pages that are open (and can be accessed only by pressing said button) and then the menu button. That's it, so it is slow and frustrating to use as a browser. Basically, I do not have the Omnibox available in Chrome, but when I use Firefox on my S3 its omnibox shows up and works fine. So what gives? I recently updated to the S3 and I use Chrome a lot so if I can't fix this I am seriously thinking of returning my S3 and purchasing some other tablet. Is this usual on all Tab S3s or is something just wrong with mine?