A February launch event would mean the foldable phone comes later.
Samsung could launch the Galaxy S10 on Feb. 20 and put the phone on sale March 8, according to a new report from Gizmodo UK, which says it was approached by “a source at a major tech retailer”. The rumored launch date, a Wednesday, would put the Galaxy S10’s launch the week before the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show in Barcelona, Spain. March 8 falls on a Friday, a popular day to release phones. The rumor doesn’t offer insight into the location of the Unpacked event, but New York or Barcelona seem like the most likely options for those dates.
If this is true, Samsung would presumably save the launch of its upcoming foldable “Galaxy X” phone for MWC, making a big splash after the Galaxy S10 showing, not before.
The Galaxy S10 is special, and not just because Samsung is the world’s top phone-maker announcing its 10th anniversary of its mainstream line. Although it’s true that Samsung has an opportunity to wow us with features it held back from the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9, the real importance is that the S10 family is Samsung’s anchor, and Samsung is in peril.
Slow phone sales threaten every brand, but increased pressure from China’s Huawei, which ousted Apple to take the No. 2 slot, will build pressure within Samsung’s ranks. Although Huawei faces its own considerable trouble, including hostility from the US government and others, the phone-maker has increased global sales without America’s help, and has released state-of-the-art phones like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. Samsung needs to counter Huawei’s advance with everything it’s got.
More rumors and hints bubble up each day, including some fresh details of the Snapdragon 855 chip that will likely power the Galaxy S10 and other flagship Galaxy phones this year — perhaps the Note 10 and foldable phone, too. We also have new evidence of screen size, camera design and the Galaxy S10 retaining the headphone jack.
Here’s how Samsung intends to keep its place at the top, according to Galaxy S10 rumors: as a series of three phones packed to the gills with the biggest mobile trends.
Circling back on that rumor of a Feb. 20 launch and a March 8 release gives us a chance to talk about the foldable phone Samsung teased at its annual developer conference in November. Rumors suggest the Galaxy X is also rumored to appear in March. The foldable phone is all new, and risky. Releasing the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy X close together seems like a lot for Samsung to take on, and like a flood of consumer choice that could potentially lead to confusion: you’re asking Samsung buyers to choose among four phones.
But Samsung is racing LG, Huawei and likely other brands to move first on the foldable design, and it’s unlikely that customers will rally behind such a wild, untested design right away. The foldable Galaxy X will more likely than not start off as a showpiece while phonemakers test people’s appetite for a truly new design.
Announcing the Galaxy S10 first makes a certain amount of sense. A foldable phone would quickly overshadow the Galaxy S10. If Samsung doesn’t announce the Galaxy S10 before MWC, we’d bet that, based on Samsung’s release patterns, an MWC reveal of the Galaxy S10 would be the next-lkely outcome, with a teaser video for a Galaxy X launch event held later in March in New York. Samsung could have a busy spring.
The Galaxy S10 is rumored to come in three configurations:
Galaxy S10: Possibly code-named Beyond 1. A standard model about the same size as today’s Galaxy S9, but with even slimmer bezels. This is expected to have a 6.1-inch screen, one front-facing camera and no 5G support.
Galaxy S10 Plus: Possibly code-named Beyond X or Beyond 2. Similar to today’s Galaxy S9 Plus. This would have the largest screen (could be 6.
