Samsung’s much-awaited Galaxy S10 flagship is only a couple of weeks away. The Korean electronics giant is set to hold a Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco on February 20 to unveil its new gadgets. The event will begin at 11 AM Pacific Time (2 PM ET) at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Samsung will live stream the whole thing on its website. Past reports have claimed that the Galaxy S10 pre-orders would go live just days after the unveiling. A new report indicates we won’t have to wait for days to pre-order the new flagship.
Galaxy S10 pre-orders to open soon after the Unpacked event
Twitter user Reza Naufal shared a teaser poster from Indonesia that shows the Unpacked event date as well as the pre-order date. The teaser says the Unpacked event would take place at 2 AM local time on February 21st, 2019, which is 11 AM Pacific Time or 2 PM Eastern Time on February 20.
Catat tanggalnya @samsungID pic.twitter.com/XZovh06s0C
— reza naufal (@rznaufal) February 2, 2019
According to the teaser poster, the Galaxy S10 pre-orders would start on February 22nd in Indonesia. Pre-orders traditionally go live at midnight, which means fans in the Western countries will be able to place their Galaxy S10 pre-orders on February 21, just a day after the unveiling. The new flagship is expected to hit the store shelves on March 8th.
The site GalaxyLaunchPack.com shown in the teaser is live. If you go to that link, you’ll see a countdown timer and a teaser video. Samsung is also taking registrations on the same page. People who register will stand a chance to win the Galaxy S10 for free. They will also be notified when the Galaxy S10 pre-orders go live.
What we know about the Galaxy S10
Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee has shared a video showing off the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus dummy models. Both the handsets appear to have a boxy design that reminds you of the Galaxy Note line. The standard Galaxy S10 has triple cameras on the back, an Infinity-O display with a hole to accommodate the front camera, and a curved screen. The larger S10 Plus also sports triple cameras on the back, but it has two front-facing sensors.
According to the rumor mill, there will be a third device named Galaxy S10 E for budget-conscious consumers. It would compete with devices like OnePlus 6T and Apple’s iPhone XR. While the more expensive Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus would have an in-display fingerprint sensor, the S10 E would feature a side-mounted fingerprint reader. It is said to have dual cameras on the back and a single lens on the front for selfies.
All three devices would have a punch-hole display, which should maximize the display area without adopting the notch or the slider camera mechanism. Recent reports suggest that Samsung also has a fourth device in the works called Galaxy S10 X. The S10 X would sport a gargantuan 6.7-inch display and would be the company’s first 5G phone. It is said to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 modem for 5G.
Samsung’s upcoming devices would run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 in the US and Exynos 9820 in other countries. While the S10 E could get only 4GB RAM, its more expensive siblings would offer 6GB or 8GB RAM configurations. We expect the Galaxy S10 to offer 128GB as base storage option and 1TB of maximum storage. Samsung recently began manufacturing the 1TB eUFS drives. The S10 models would retain the microSD card slot for external memory expansion.
According to Twitter tipster Ice Universe, the Galaxy S10 Plus would pack a giant 4,100mAh battery compared to 3500mAh inside the Galaxy S9 Plus. The standard S10 would get a 3,300mAh battery while the S10 E model is said to pack 3,100mAh battery. Documents spotted on the US FCC certification site suggest the Galaxy S10 phones would support reverse wireless charging at 9W. It means you’ll be able to charge your other devices and accessories using the Galaxy S10.
The same FCC documents reveal the S10 would also support the new WiFi 6 standard, which offers faster Internet even in crowded places while putting less strain on the battery. The upcoming flagship will come with Google Duo pre-installed as the default VoIP app. Thankfully, it would retain the 3.5mm headphone jack. The phones would run Samsung’s custom One UI on top of Android 9 Pie.
The UK prices of the S10 were leaked by Gizmodo UK a couple of months ago. According to Gizmodo UK, the Galaxy S10 E would start at £669 while the standard Galaxy S10 would have a starting price of £799. The S10 Plus is going to cost you £899 in the UK for the base model. The higher storage options could set you back by more than £1,000.
