Rumors about Samsung’s 2019 flagship smartphone plans have been flying around for many months now, but until today, it was pretty hard to separate the credible from the overly fanciful and outright implausible.
Enter Bloomberg’s generally rock-solid inside sources, who’ve shared such a wealth of information with the news organization that the Galaxy S10 might as well be out already. Of course, some of this intel could still be inaccurate or subject to last-minute change, so you may want to keep that salt shaker within reach.
That said, it’s almost etched in stone now that Samsung has three variants of its anniversary flagship in the pipeline. Call it the iPhone XR effect if you will, but one of the three should be significantly more affordable than the other two, lacking among others the signature screen curves of the company’s recent high-enders and, possibly, the in-display fingerprint recognition of the Galaxy S10 and S10+ too.
By the way, embedding the biometric sensor into the dual-curved screen of a Samsung hero device is finally happening after years of mass production struggles, but today’s report mentions nothing about the 3D face scanning technology pioneered by Apple and recently mimicked by Huawei.
On the bright side, the S10 is expected to feature a “visible” front camera “tucked under the screen”, as well as a triple rear-facing shooter setup. On the not so bright side, Samsung is purportedly also “toying” with headphone jack-killing prototypes. Oh, well, at least there’s no mention of a possible notch, with the “standard” S10 described as sporting “round-shaped corners and almost no bezel at the top and bottom.”
That sounds positively dreamy, and the same goes for plans to release the Galaxy S10 with 5G support for the largest wireless service provider stateside. Forget about Korean exclusivity, as Samsung is currently “in talks” with Verizon to develop a product meant to rapidly popularize the next-gen cellular technology. Of course, this is not a done deal yet.
The design and functionality of the company’s long-in-the-works foldable device are apparently not finalized either, which obviously means a live demo of an actual prototype at next month’s Samsung Developer Conference in San Francisco is out of the question.
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Instead, a “detailed conceptual image of the phone, its features, and user interface” are likely to be presented by DJ Koh and a “team of engineers”... as soon as a decision is made regarding the type of foldable phone to be commercialized next year.
Two possibilities are still being explored in the “final stretch”, with both devices opening “from side and side”, but one ending up longer horizontally and the other vertically when unfolded. Likely to weigh over 200 grams, either product is said to lack an in-display fingerprint sensor, possibly also having to reduce battery size to stay relatively thin and light.
One interesting final tidbit is that a “special version” of Android might be jointly developed by Samsung and Google for this pioneering foldable device, which is just one of the key reasons why its commercial launch could be delayed until Q2 2019.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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