It’s been nearly six months since the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus were released, but the smartphone manufacturer is already hard at work on its 2019 update. What will the Samsung Galaxy S10 look like? What features should we expect for 2019? Here’s everything we know about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10.
While the Samsung Galaxy S9 is one of this year’s most beloved Android smartphones, work on its replacement, the Samsung Galaxy S10, is well underway. What should we expect from Samsung’s next flagship?
Whether it’s an even more advanced camera, jaw-dropping good looks, or — in Samsung’s most potentially radical move — increased battery capacity, we’ve gathered all the rumors, leaks, and news into one place so you can quickly find out everything you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy S10.
At an exclusive corporate event in China, Samsung showed off a number of new technologies that could allow for a groundbreaking new design for the Galaxy S10. Notably, it looks like the device could possibly be the first with a true edge-to-edge display, while still retaining a fingerprint sensor, front-facing speaker, and front-facing camera.
The leak comes from Ice Universe, who noted that Galaxy S10 will feature what Samsung calls “Sensor Integrated Technology” — which is basically an AMOLED display with four functions embedded inside the display. The most interesting is the “Under Panel Sensor,” which will allow the front-facing camera to basically see through the display when needed, eliminating the need for a notch. It’s currently unclear how Samsung has achieved this.
On top of that, the device will also incorporate Samsung’s “Finger-on-Display” sensor, which reads fingerprints through ultrasonic pulses rather than any optical technology. In theory, this should help make the device much more secure, and it lines up with previous rumors we heard about the use of an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor.
Next up is the Sound on Display technology, which is how Samsung can achieve a front-facing speaker inside the Galaxy S10. To do this, the device basically vibrates the entire screen to emit sound, allowing you to easily hear music without a traditional front-facing speaker.
Last but not least is Haptics on Display. At the presentation, Samsung noted that this technology will basically trick your fingers into thinking that they’re pressing buttons, when in reality there are no buttons being pressed. This is done through haptic vibration.
It’s entirely possible that not all of this tech will end up being used in the Galaxy S10, or that it might all eventually end up in a different phone, like the Galaxy S11, or Samsung’s upcoming foldable phone.
Samsung’s Galaxy S range of smartphones are known for their trend-setting looks, so how will the Galaxy S10 move things along? It looks like things will be remarkably different for the Galaxy line up in 2019.
In September, Samsung CEO DJ Koh reported the upcoming Galaxy S10 lineup will sport radical changes. He also noted that the upcoming flagships will come in an “amazing” array of color options.
It looks like there may also be three versions of the Galaxy S10, according to multiple inside sources speaking to The Bell. Referred to under the code name Beyond; the Beyond 1 and Beyond 2 are likely the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus. Both models will reportedly feature fingerprint-on-display (FOD) technology as well as AMOLED screens. This news was further corroborated by well-known TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says that there will be one model with a 5.8-inch display, one with a 6.1-inch display, and one with a 6.4-inch display, and that the two higher-end models will have Samsung’s FOD.
The sources also refer to the Beyond 0, which is possibly a Galaxy S10 Mini — a budget version of the flagship apparently with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. Samsung often releases a tough version of its latest Galaxy S phone, so the Beyond 0 may also refer to a Galaxy S10 Active.
How about the screen size? Reports vary. According to ET News, the Galaxy S10 will feature a 6.2-inch screen, while The Bell has echoed an earlier report suggesting the S10 will have a 5.8-inch screen and the S10 Plus a 6.3-inch screen. The panels are expected to be AMOLED, like previous Galaxy S phones.
The bezels around it may shrink due to the introduction of a sound-emitting OLED display, says ET News. Instead of using a traditional speaker, bone conduction and vibration will transmit sound directly through the display. Such technology will mean even smaller bezels on the Galaxy S10 since a top-firing speaker cutout will no longer be necessary.
Previous news of a patent approved in March 2018 shows a phone with a screen-to-body ratio of 99 percent, and no visible speakers, front-facing camera, or fingerprint sensor. While creating this phone isn’t outside the realm of possibility — the front-facing camera could be under the display, as could the fingerprint sensor — it now seems more likely that such a radical redesign is not intended for the Galaxy S10.
Another earlier patent granted by the World Intellectual Property Organisation reveals that Samsung is working on phone designs that are as close to bezel-free as possible, with fingerprint scanners placed beneath the display tech — this could also be linked to the long-rumored foldable Galaxy smartphone .
The Samsung Galaxy S9’s camera is a great leap ahead from the Galaxy S8; but what about its plans for the Galaxy S10? At the moment it’s seeming more and more likely that Samsung will continue to take a leaf out of Huawei’s book, and seek to increase camera performance by adding more lenses in a similar vein to the Galaxy A7 .
According to a report dug up by Sammobile, the Galaxy S10 will come with three camera lenses on the back. The main lens will be the same 12-megapixel variable aperture lens that we saw on the Samsung Galaxy S9, but it will be joined by a 16-megapixel wide-angle lens with a 123-degree field of view, an f/1.9 aperture, but no optical image stabilization or auto-focus. The third lens seems to be the same one we saw on the S9 Plus — a 13-megapixel lens with a much smaller f/2.4 aperture, likely equipped with a 2x telephoto zoom.
The report also suggests that only a larger Galaxy S10 Plus would be equipped with the full three lenses — the smaller S10 would likely have just two lenses, and it’s not immediately clear which lens would be left out.
This report matches earlier rumors from The Bell. That article claims the S9 Plus’s dual-lens camera will return on the S10 Plus, but with an additional 16-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens. Most importantly though, the Bell claims the S10 will also come with a dual selfie camera like the system used on the Samsung Galaxy A8 — presumably with key improvements representative of the Galaxy S-range.
How will you unlock and secure the Galaxy S10? While the S9 has Intelligent Scan tech to take a hybrid image of your face, as well as iris data, it’s not secure enough for purchase verification and a far cry from the highly advanced and secure Face ID introduced on the Apple iPhone X. Samsung may change this for the S10 by introducing a new fingerprint sensor.
In September, Korean tech site ETNews reported that Samsung will use Qualcomm’s third-generation ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensors in its upcoming Galaxy S10 handsets. Qualcomm’s technology can capture 3D fingerprint data, allowing for higher accuracy and better security.
Earlier this year, a patent by Patently Mobile showed Samsung was actively working on an in-display fingerprint sensor. This new sensor would reportedly use ultrasound instead of images to map out one’s fingerprints. While Samsung may be planning to use this secure technology in all of its upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10 models, it may also be honing its sensors for a future handset.
These alterations may push Samsung to drop iris scanning from the Galaxy S10, but only if it can master the in-display sensor to accompany a new secure face-recognition system. According to South Korean publication The Bell, prototype samples of the S10 have not been ordered with iris scanners, a decision that may also help offset costs if the two new security systems are being included.
Earlier rumors said Samsung had teamed up with 3D-camera startup Mantis Vision to provide 3D-sensing camera tech for Samsung’s upcoming smartphones, and those rumors have seemingly been confirmed by a report that the Galaxy S10 will include a full 3D camera, potentially equaling the iPhone X experience.
