An in-display fingerprint reader, true 3D facial scanning technology and design improvements to cut away its front bezels even further! That is what we already know of the new Samsung flagship, the Galaxy S10. Credit for the discovery goes to popular Korean site The Bell, which reveals Samsung has finally perfected mass production of the new flagship.
The new S10 pair will be slightly larger than the current S9 generation, by 0.03 and 0.08 inches, further slimming down the top and bottom chins on the front of the device, in favour of more display.
Earlier in March, Samsung filed documents to the Chinese patent office which show off a smartphone that features its very own Apple iPhone X style top notch on the front of the handset. A second patent, schematics of which were shared by Mobielkopen, shows a Samsung phone with no top notch, no front buttons (Bixby button), no speaker, no sensors... nothing in fact: just pure screen. Samsung releasing a TV advert that directly ridicules Apple’s notch and the new leak of Galaxy S10 suggests a truly revolutionary flagship, round the corner. Samsung seems to have found a way to stride beyond the iPhone X’s weak point—the intruding notch.
The Samsung Galaxy S10, as WinFuture's Roland Quandt pointed out, will feature a new iteration of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip, probably the Snapdragon 855. Samsung has sunk USD 5.6 billion into a foundry for the rumoured 7mn chipsets. These are likely to be put to use in the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 phones, Samsung's 2019 flagship launches.
Weibo user 'Ice Universe', who has a pretty good track record when it comes to leaking sensitive Samsung treats, has revealed that the Galaxy S10 will host the next-gen 5G technology. The recently announced 'strategic relationship' agreement with Qualcomm and Samsung, specifically mentions the “transition to 5G”. Galaxy S10 users should, then, be able to benefit from the faster internet speeds that 5G will provide. A Neural Processing Unit (NPU) is highly likely to be included, capable of handling all of the complex AI and 3D processing.
As per the source, the 3D facial scanning module is currently under joint development by Israeli 3D camera solution company Mantis Vision and camera-maker Woodgate and the in-screen fingerprint sensor is being developed with Qualcomm, Synaptics, and Aegis Tech.
The phone won’t be getting the foldable AMOLED screen that is much talked about, but it will be bezel-less—without even a mini-bezel. Xiaomi’s sound wave-based earpiece under the display wasn’t good enough. It remains to be seen if Samsung has come up with a solution to tackle the problem. And Samsung finally seems to have gained “courage” to do away with the 3.5mm audio jack.
Samsung will want to respond to the recent camera features seen on smartphone like the Huawei P20 Pro. More lenses, more control over the aperture, wider apertures and better low light performance could be expected to be on-board the 2019 Galaxy S10.
The Galaxy S10 or the Galaxy X could be the first Samsung flagship to feature LPDDR5 memory, leading to better battery life for the user. Also UFS 3.0 storage is probably going to be employed on the flagship, delivering greater bandwidth and consuming less power in the process. Another feature to be expected is the 4K 60FPS video recording capabilities, without the 5-minute recording limit. Employing the use of substrate-like PCB will help reduce the size of the logic board aiding the freedom to house bigger batteries.
While the device has been tentatively named the ‘Galaxy S10’, there’s no knowing what Samsung’s next flagship will be called. Some early rumours point that Samsung will be looking to ditch some of its longstanding branding. Most money would be likely to go on “Galaxy X”, marking the 10-year anniversary of the Galaxy series. Since Apple has already claimed that for the iPhone X, and long-running rumours of a foldable flagship called the Galaxy X continue to persist, going with Galaxy 10 is unlikely. Still, a lot can change between now and the actual release.
While the South Korean giant launched the Galaxy S9 at MWC 2018, the Galaxy S8 was launched at its own “Unpacked” event in 2017. It’s only fair to assume that Samsung will choose to reveal its newest phone at its own special event. With MWC 2019 kicking off on 25 February, it's only a sensible bet that the Galaxy S10 is going to get its grand unveiling on February 24. The plus variant of flagship is expected to be prized above USD 950 and the regular variant somewhere between USD 800-830.