Samsung’s Galaxy S10e is clearly a response to the iPhone XR, Apple’s new lower-cost handset. But how does it stack up?
Apple might be struggling to sell the iPhone XR, but that’s not stopping Samsung from using a similar strategy with the launch of the new Galaxy S10 line. Alongside the usual regular and plus models, Samsung has also released the S10e, which takes—nay rips out—a page from Apple’s playbook.
As with everything Apple and Samsung, the two phones are not created equal. They may both have the same $750 price tag and premium sensibilities, but the S10e plays by a different set of rules, for better and worse.
The biggest difference between the iPhone XR and XS is obviously the display. Where the XS has a brilliant HDR OLED display, the XR has a 179×828 LCD screen with a just-enough-to-be-Retina 326 ppi. The S10e, on the other hand, doesn’t skimp nearly as much on the display. Like the S10, it also has an OLED display, though with fewer pixels: it’s only full HD (1080) versus quad HD (1440) on the S10 and S10+. But it’s still a whole lot better than the XR’s, liquid retina and all.
The Samsung Galaxy S10e has a dual camera while the XR only has one.
Aside from the screen, Apple also downgraded the camera on the XR, opting for a single 12 megapixel wide-angle lens rather than the dual 12 megapixel wide-angle and telephoto array on the XS.
