With just days to go, new rumors — about support for WiFi 6, the Galaxy S10 E and a leaked video teaser — continue to emerge.
With just about two weeks to go until Samsung’s Feb. 20 Unpacked event, we know a few things for sure. The forthcoming flagship will be called the Galaxy S10. It will run the company’s One UI on top of Android. And Samsung desperately needs it to be a hit.
The company made the Galaxy S10 name it official in a statement released on Wednesday that also outlined a dramatic drop in sales and profits. And though companies often predict that next-generation products will bolster sales, according to the rumors, Samsung’s forthcoming Galaxy S10 (and its siblings) have a legitimate chance to capture both popular attention and market share with a handful of distinctive features and breakthrough technologies.
It’s looking increasingly likely that the company may use the upcoming event to debut its first foldable phone, possibly called the Galaxy X, Galaxy Fold, Galaxy Flex — or, um, the Galaxy F. According to the Wall Street Journal, Samsung will have a foldable phone on hand that’s «fully functional» on Feb. 20. If true, it may help the company head off competitors like Xiaomi, which recently posted a video of what it says is its own foldable phone, and Huawei, which will unveil its own at Mobile World Congress next month.
As usual, we have a persistent stream of leaked images and renders — including a number that show variations of the phone’s rumored hole-punch camera. And then there’s the rumors from CES, where Samsung showed off a 5G prototype phone capable of connecting to the next-generation cellular network.
Whether or not the foldable or 5G phones actually make an appearance then, Samsung has a lot riding on the 10th edition of its flagship Galaxy S series. And based on the known facts and the rumors, it may well live up to the hype.
The Snapdragon 855 chipset that will power Samsung’s next flagship looks like an absolute beast. Our preliminary benchmarking results suggest it will be a speedy performer that leaves the Galaxy S9 and LG V40 in the dust.
Read: Galaxy S10 chip kills last year’s in our early Snapdragon 855 benchmarking tests
Performance aside, the analysts, pundits and leakers are painting a picture of a Galaxy S10 jam-packed with potentially extraordinary features, including an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, the company’s own take on Face ID, an Infinity-O display and computer-sized amounts of storage capacity. If even some of these rumors are accurate, Samsung could have a hit — and secure its place at the top of the smartphone heap.
If not, the road ahead could be difficult. The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, introduced in February last year, haven’t sold particularly well. Slowing phone sales are now a threat to every brand. And China’s Huawei, which ousted Apple to take the No. 2 slot, is putting increasing pressure on Samsung. Despite its own problems — which include growing hostility from governments in the US and around the world — Huawei continues to drive sales on the strength of innovative products such as the Mate 20 Pro. In the final days of December, in fact, Huawei announced that it sold 200 million phones in 2018.
The stakes are high, and with less than four weeks to go until the big unveiling, new rumors and hints continue to bubble up. We’ll continue to collect and evaluate them here, so check back often.
Read: Smartphones in 2018: The biggest winners and losers
Samsung interrupted CES 2019 with the announcement of the launch date and location for its next Unpacked event and we now know that the forthcoming flagship will be called the Galaxy S10. The event will take place Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 11 a.m. PT at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. CNET will be on the ground to cover the announcements live.
Though we had thought that Samsung would save the launch of its foldable «Galaxy X» phone for MWC the following week, the company may offer at least a sneak preview of it at the Feb. 20 event, according to the Wall Street Journal. Regardless, the flagship Galaxy S10 will likely start shipping in March, according to the Journal and an earlier report by Gizmodo UK.
The Galaxy S10 is rumored to come in three configurations:
Galaxy S10: The name is official but nearly everything else remains a rumor. This model is said to be the same size as today’s Galaxy S9, but with even slimmer bezels. It’s expected to have a 6.1-inch screen and, perhaps, according to Twitter leaker Ice Universe, a total of three cameras .
Galaxy S10 Plus: Possibly code-named Beyond X or Beyond 2, this will be the successor to the Galaxy S9 Plus. It will have the largest screen — perhaps a 6.4-inch display — and up to four rear cameras, two front-facing cameras and a big battery. Ice Universe claims that the Galaxy S10 Plus will be 7.8 mm thick and have a 4,000-mAh battery.
Galaxy S10 E: Formerly known as the Galaxy S10 Lite, and possibly code-named Beyond 0. Modeled on the iPhone XR, this could be a smaller, less expensive device with a 5.8-inch display and fewer hardware embellishments. Other rumors include straight edges instead of two curved sides, no fancy in-screen fingerprint reader and no headphone jack.
The Feb. 20 event may also feature Samsung’s first foldable phone, according to the Wall Street Journal. This would likely be a more developed version than the prototype Samsung teased at its annual developer conference in Nov. 2018. Rumored to be called the Galaxy X, Galaxy F, Galaxy Fold or Galaxy Flex, the company’s foldable phone is slated to arrive in the first half of 2019.
