Samsung Galaxy S10 release date, price, specs and rumors

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Galaxy S10: Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming Samsung’s phone.

Not a day goes without fresh rumors on the Galaxy S10, Samsung’s 2019 flagship that is expected to feature a major design overhaul to mark the 10th anniversary of the Galaxy S series. Once in a while, Samsung executives beat the rumor mill and officially confirm some cool features coming to their upcoming flagship models. Let’s take a look at the Galaxy S10 specs, release date, and other details, some of which have been officially confirmed by Samsung execs.

An ultrasonic fingerprint sensor

Samsung is finally going to ditch the rear-mounted fingerprint reader with the next year’s Galaxy S10 flagship. The company’s R&D team has been trying to integrate the fingerprint sensor under the display for years. Speaking at an event in Wuhan, China, Samsung’s mobile business head DJ Koh told media that the company would not bring optical fingerprint solution to the Galaxy S10 because it does not deliver a good user experience.

Companies such as Vivo are selling phones with in-display fingerprint sensors, but Koh claims they don’t deliver the best user experience. If Samsung wanted to add optical fingerprint technology, it could have introduced it two years ago. Koh said the Galaxy S10 would feature an ultrasonic fingerprint reader that offers much better user experience. The same technology will also be included in the next year’s Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy A series phones.

Ultrasonic sensors have a distinct advantage over their optical counterparts in that the former would work even when the screen is dirty. With ultrasonic sensors, the entire display could act as a fingerprint sensor. They emit ultrasonic pulses to capture your fingerprint. According to Korean site The Bell, Qualcomm will supply the ultrasonic sensors for the Galaxy S10.

Galaxy S10 Specs
Image source: YouTube Video Screenshot

Galaxy S10, S10 Plus and…

And what? Reliable tipster Ice Universe said in a Weibo post that Samsung was preparing to launch three models of Galaxy S10. There will be a 6.4-inch model, a 6.1-inch version, and a smaller 5.8-inch variant. They are code-named Beyond 0, Beyond 1, and Beyond 2. The 5.8-inch Beyond 0 would be an affordable model with trimmed down specs to take on phones from Huawei and OnePlus.

The Beyond 1 and Beyond 2 will be direct successors to Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus. The Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus would get the ultrasonic fingerprint solution, but the smallest model is said to feature a side-mounted fingerprint reader similar to Moto Z3 Play. If it happens, it will be the first time Samsung would use a side-mounted fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S series. The Bell points out that the cost of ultrasonic sensors could be $15 per unit, much higher than the Galaxy S9 rear-mounted fingerprint sensor’s $2 per unit.

Galaxy S10 Plus will get a triple camera

Samsung will try to catch up with Huawei’s P20 Pro by adding a triple camera system to the Galaxy S10 Plus next year, according to KB Securities analyst Kim Dong-won. The P20 Pro is the leader in smartphone photography right now, leaving Galaxy S9 Plus, iPhone X, and Google Pixel 2 far behind.

German site AllAboutSamsung recently reported the Galaxy S10 Plus will feature a regular 12MP main lens with variable apertures, a 16-megapixel 120-degree ultra wide-angle lens with f/1.9 aperture, and a 13MP telephoto lens on the back that supports up to 3x optical zoom. The phone is also said to have dual cameras on the front, which could allow users to take portrait selfies. The rear cameras will be arranged horizontally with the main sensor in the middle, the super wide-angle lens on the right, and telephoto lens on the left.

The regular Galaxy S10 as well as the 5.8-inch Beyond 0 will both have dual cameras on the back. It would consist of a 12MP main lens with variable apertures and a 16MP ultra wide-angle lens with a fixed f/1.9 aperture.

What about their design and display?

We know the screen sizes of the three Galaxy S10 models, but there is more to them than just screen size. According to The Bell, the Korean electronics behemoth has finalized the Galaxy S10 design. Fortunately, the new phones will not have the much-maligned display notch. Instead, Samsung will dramatically reduce the top and bottom bezels to increase the screen space.

According to Ice Universe, the Galaxy S10 will have a screen-to-body ratio of 94%, much higher than the Galaxy S9’s 83%. It means the Super AMOLED Infinity display will cover almost entire front panel. Samsung has to keep the top bezel until it manages to incorporate the ear speaker, front camera, and other sensors under the OLED display. The upcoming phones will have an 18.5:9 aspect ratio, the same as the current Galaxy S9.

Samsung will also enhance the screen resolution with the next year’s model. Ice Universe said in a recent tweet that the Galaxy S10 would have a screen resolution of more than 600ppi.

3D sensing modules

The current Galaxy S9 comes with an iris scanner and facial recognition. The phone combines data from both of them to unlock the device. But Samsung still doesn’t consider them secure enough for financial transactions. That’s why it has kept the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor until now. The rumor mill claims Samsung could add a 3D depth-sensing module to the Galaxy S10 to take on Apple’s Face ID.

The Korean company is working with Israel-based Mantis Vision to integrate 3D sensing modules into its future smartphones. Besides enabling advanced facial recognition, the 3D sensors could also be used for augmented reality and 3D content recording.

Galaxy S10 hardware specs

Ice Universe recently posted on Chinese microblogging site Weibo that the Galaxy S10 would pack at least 6GB LPDDR5 RAM and 64GB of base storage. The smaller 5.8 Beyond 0 could get only 4GB RAM while the 6.4-inch Galaxy S10 Plus could offer up to 8GB RAM.

The phone will be powered by Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 855 or Samsung’s in-house Exynos 9820 chips depending on the market. Both the chips would be produced using the 7nm manufacturing process, meaning they would be faster and more energy efficient than their respective predecessors.

The Snapdragon variant will likely be sold in the US and China, while the Exynos model will be sold in international markets. The processors will also be tuned to handle artificial intelligence-related tasks. The phones should retain the 3.5mm headphone jack and the microSD card slot.

Galaxy S10 to support 5G technology

A recent report from Business Korea indicates that the Galaxy S10 could be Samsung’s first phone to support 5G connectivity. Telecom carriers in Samsung’s home country are preparing to roll out 5G services by March 2019, and Samsung will be ready to take advantage of the new technology.

Qualcomm’s SVP Durga Prasad Malladi recently said in an interview the first phones with 5G support will launch within a year. Samsung and Qualcomm have been long-time partners, and Qualcomm’s 5G chips will certainly find their way into Samsung’s phones. The Korean company wouldn’t want a mid-range or low-end phone to be its first handset with 5G support. We expect the Galaxy S10 to be Samsung’s first phone with 5G technology. The 5G buzz will help Samsung sell more Galaxy S10 units.

Will the new phones really be called Galaxy S10?

There is a good chance Samsung will change the naming pattern with the Galaxy S10. So, don’t be surprised if the phone debuts under a new moniker. Changing the name with the next year’s model makes sense. It will sound weird if the future Galaxy S devices are called Galaxy S13 or Galaxy S17. Samsung needs to do something about it. DJ Koh, the head of mobile business at Samsung, has told media that the company was considering changing the naming scheme with the Galaxy S9 successor.

Koh said the new device would retain the ‘Galaxy’ branding, but Samsung was taking a hard look at whether to keep the ‘S’ moniker and the numbering system. The code-name “Beyond” indicates that the Korean company wants its 10th-anniversary flagship to go beyond what has already been done in the market. For the sake of convenience, let’s call it Galaxy S10 for now.

Galaxy S10 Price & release date

We expect the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus to be more expensive than their respective predecessors. The new technologies such as ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, 3D sensing modules, triple cameras on the back, dual selfies cameras, and others will push up the cost of production, which Samsung will eventually pass on to consumers.

The 5.8-inch Beyond 0 model could have a more affordable price tag considering it would lack the triple camera, ultrasonic fingerprint, and a few other features. It will likely compete against devices such as OnePlus 6, so we expect it to cost between $500 and $600.

As for the release date, Samsung refreshes the Galaxy S series around the Mobile World Congress (MWC). There have been speculations that Samsung could introduce the Galaxy S10 earlier than usual, probably at Consumer Electronics Show in January, to accommodate the upcoming foldable phone. But Ice Universe reported recently that the Galaxy S10 will be unveiled at the MWC and the foldable device will debut at the CES.

PREVIOUS UPDATES ON GALAXY S10

May 18, 2018 Update – While we still don’t have much news as to what is coming with the Samsung Galaxy S10, we’ve now seen the release of the Galaxy S9 and it didn’t do nearly as well as the Korean tech giant had hoped.

While the S9 did feature a significant upgrade both in camera specifications and in the power of the device, that just wasn’t quite enough to warrant an upgrade from those that were happy with their Galaxy S8.

The iPhone X was also likely a detractor from the Galaxy S9’s success, offering innovation where Samsung offered iteration. With the Samsung Galaxy S10, however, the company has the chance to correct the errors of their ways and deliver something spectacular – and they certainly have an incentive to do something different with this upcoming launch.

With that said, we do have some new news about the Samsung Galaxy S10 in one major area: the display.

Samsung devices have long been renowned for their excellent screen quality, and the S10 will be no exception. In fact, it will feature the highest-quality screen we’ve seen on a smartphone to date with a pixel density of 600 ppi – a massive increase over the iPhone X and its 458 ppi.

The tip comes from Twitter user IceUniverse who has been known to release reliable information about smartphones. The news also comes just a week after he suggested that we’ll see a screen-to-body ration of 93% – meaning that the Samsung Galaxy S10 will perhaps have slimmer bezels than we’ve ever seen before.

In terms of power, the Samsung Galaxy S10 will definitely not disappoint, with the Snapdragon 855 processor that has yet to be released to the public as well as at least 6GB of RAM.

It’s also expected that the Galaxy S10 will feature an in-display fingerprint scanner – a feature many were desperate for as bezels continued to shrink, and one which will unfortunately probably be absent at the launch of the Note 9 later this year.

Most of the news we’ve received regarding the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10 has been based on the system specifications, but are we going to see anything new in terms of features? A large portion of why the iPhone X was so successful was due to the innovative new FaceID technology – something that Samsung has yet to match.

At this point, it’s looking like the Galaxy S10 may be one of the most premium devices on the market. But are high-end specs and nothing else enough to attract the attention of buyers? It certainly looks more robust than what we saw with the S9, but if there’s nothing else on the table it could potentially be another lackluster performance from Samsung.

We’ll have to wait and see over the next few months whether the Korean tech giant has something else up their sleeves. They’ve proven that they’re no stranger to innovation with the ongoing development of the foldable Galaxy X, but whether we’ll see that same sort of drive and passion ported over to their main line of devices remains to be seen.

It may seem a little premature to talk about the Samsung Galaxy S10, after all the Galaxy S9 has yet to appear on the market. But rumors about the next-next generation Samsung flagship are already emerging, with the likelihood that this will be a significantly more ambitious unit than the imminent S9.

Before going any further, it is worth noting that the Samsung Galaxy S10 will probably appear in February 2019. Samsung seems to have settled into a regular device window for what is its flagship device. And it is unlikely that the Korean company will digress from this policy next year, particularly as it makes sense with regard to processor arrangements.

Galaxy S10 Release Date, Price
Image source: YouTube Video Screenshot

It has been reported that Samsung has signed an exclusivity deal for the Snapdragon 845, which will drive the Galaxy S9 in several geographical locales. So the earlier in the calendar year that Samsung can release the Galaxy S10, the more likely it is that such an exclusivity deal can be agreed for the next generation Qualcomm chip.

Speaking of which, smartphone leaker Roland Quandt recently provided information suggesting that the Snapdragon 855 processor will be a 7nm chip. Quandt pointed to data on the business-driven LinkedIn social media platform that seemed to confirm this. Considering that Samsung continues to have a favourable relationship with Qualcomm, it seems highly likely that the 855 will appear in the Galaxy S10.

Another recent report suggests that the Galaxy S10 could be compatible with the 5G wireless standard. It is certainly early to be making this assertion, as this system is yet to launch. 5G is expected to arrive, though, in the first half of this year, promising broadband speeds of up to 100 times faster than the existing 4G networks.

And infamous Weibo user ‘Ice Universe’ suggest that the Galaxy S10 will be the first mobile to support the 5G standard, even though units from other manufacturers will arrive in the stores first. For example, the next generation Apple iPhone should appear with 5G Internet available.

However, it seems that Samsung has placed a particular emphasis on delivering 5G connectivity in the future, particularly considering the strategic relationship agreement that has been announced between the Korean company and Qualcomm. This document specifically notes that the transition to 5G will be important for both developers, meaning that Galaxy S10 users could be the first to benefit from in the ultra-fast Internet speeds that 5G promises.

The same tipster also recently commented on the screen to be included in the Galaxy S10, suggesting that it could deliver an incredible screen-to-body ratio of 93 per cent (the S8 is currently 83.6 per cent). This would mean a virtually bezel-free device, and one that would be particularly striking aesthetically.

It will be interesting to see whether Samsung utilizes this extra screen proportion to deliver a larger display, or instead looks to reduce the size of the overall unit. Certainly such a design suggests that the screen size could be increased over previous releases, and this would make particular sense if the 6.5-inch mobile from Apple that has been rumored recently indeed appears this year.

A larger display size could motivate Samsung to increase the screen resolution of the Galaxy S10 over the forthcoming S9. While it is generally believed that the Galaxy S9 will retain the quad HD+ resolution of the previous generation, the S10 could push forward to the 4K resolution standard. This would be particularly logical if Samsung releases its first 4K mobile in the shape of the Galaxy Note 9 later this year.

Ice Universe also suggests that the Galaxy S10 will include a Neural Processing Unit. This innovation would not be unique to the Samsung mobile, though, as a similar device can already be found on the Huawei Mate 10 Pro. The intention of this unit is to handle any complex artificial intelligence and 3D processing required, ensuring that the central processing unit can deal with everyday tasks unencumbered.

Another aspect of the Galaxy S10 which could become more clear in the next few weeks is the prospect of an embedded fingerprint scanner. This has been strongly linked with the imminent Samsung flagship, yet recent reports have suggested that it will ultimately be excluded from the design.

Both Samsung and Apple have been attempting to deliver an in-screen sensor, yet there have been technical and logistical difficulties encountered in doing so. This has meant that both of the mega-corporations have been forced to shelve plans related to fingerprint scanners, and this could impact on the makeup of the Galaxy S10. It is possible that this innovation will instead appear in the 2019 version of the Samsung flagship.

Interestingly, it has also been suggested that the Galaxy S10 could be branded differently to other devices in the series. While the 2019 smartphone release would remain the central product of the Korean Corporation, Samsung could choose to name the device as Galaxy X as opposed to the Galaxy S10 moniker.

Another leaker, Tekz24, has made this particular suggestion, indicating that industry researchers and analysts have spilled the beans on this topic. The Galaxy X branding will be used in order to simplify the naming scheme for what is the most important product of the Korean manufacturer. There will also be an obvious parallel drawn with the Apple iPhone X, perhaps resulting in a head-on assault in 2019.

Finally, the pricing of the Galaxy S10 is possibly the hardest aspect of the smartphone to predict. We can reasonably expect it to be more expensive than the forthcoming Galaxy S9, although it should be well under the psychologically important $1,000 mark. Perhaps a recommended retail price in the region of $799-849 is realistic for the Galaxy S10.

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