Samsung Galaxy S10: Release date, specs, price, latest news and rumours
The Samsung Galaxy 9 is one of the best smartphones of 2018, but tech being the unstoppable force it is, we’re already looking ahead to next year’s Galaxy S10. Here’s everything we know so far, including the Galaxy S10’s release date, rumoured specs, and price – plus all the latest Galaxy S10 news, leaks and images.
Following the launch of the Galaxy Note 9 this autumn, Samsung’s next flagship smartphone launch will be the Galaxy S10 in 2019 – assuming the near-mythical Galaxy X foldable smartphone doesn’t magically appear in the next couple of months.
And while it might seem to be light years away, the S10 rumours are already flooding in. Let’s take a look at the absolute latest.
Galaxy S10 Latest News: Could Samsung kill off the headphone jack?
According to the most recent leak, Samsung might be ready to follow in the footsteps of Apple, Google and OnePlus. Bloomberg, which cites “people familiar with the matter”, has reported that three versions of the S10 are in development, and that Samsung is “toying with” a prototype that doesn’t have a headphone jack.
The report also claims that the standard Galaxy S10 will feature a 5.8-inch OLED screen that’s curved on both sides, almost no bezel at the top and bottom, an in-display fingerprint sensor, triple rear cameras, and a front-facing camera sensor camera that’s visible but “tucked under the screen”.
That’s rumoured to launch alongside a Galaxy S10 Plus and a cheaper S10 model that features a flat screen and no in-display fingerprint scanner − almost certainly to keep pricing under control.
We’ve also gotten wind that the Galaxy S10 could be the first handset to ship with the new Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 3.0 standard.
During a presentation at Qualcomm’s 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong on Wednesday, October 24, Samsung head of mobile product planning, Jay Oh, confirmed that the company’s first wave of UFS 3.0 product will be launched in H1 2019 – which means it’s perfectly primed to feature on the S10, which we expect to see launched at or around the time of MWC 2019 in Barcelona.
USB 3.0 will be compatible with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB phones, as well as being 5G-ready, so it should slot nicely into Samsung’s flagship lineup as a new feature. This also adds further fuel to speculation the S10 will launch with a 5G chipset, as despite also nodding to 4G technology, next-gen 5G connectivity was very much the headline act of the Qualcomm conference.
Prior to this, a recently published Samsung patent that hints at the Galaxy S10 featuring an on-display fingerprint reader. The WIPO filing, which you can see below, was first spied by Dutch Samsung blog Galaxy Club and published on October 18.
If the connection between the patent and the S10 is accurate, it would mean we don’t have to wait until the Galaxy Note 10 (likely to be announced in August or September 2019) for a Samsung phone that features an integrated scanner.
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Image Credit: WIPO / Galaxy Club
Prior to this, we heard rumours from another Samsung fan blog, SamMobile, which concerned the Galaxy S10’s camera.
According to the October 2 report, the S10 will be kitted out with a triple-camera system that will retain the S9’s 12-megapixel f1.5/2.4 lens as its primary sensor. Alongside this, there will apparently be a “super wide-angle” 16-megapixel snapper (f/1.9 aperture with a 123-degree field of view), plus a 13-megapixel f/2.4 lens to complete the picture.
That’s the good news for Galaxy series fans who love their premium camera specs.
The bad news? This tri-camera configuration might only be available on the higher-end Galaxy S10+, while the plain ‘ol Galaxy S10 could be pitched as an ‘affordable’ alternative with a dual-camera setup.
Prior to this, we had some juicy Galaxy S10 gossip via The Bell on September 6. It claims that while the S10 will support 5G, the next-gen connectivity won’t be a feature of every model (H/T). Instead, it seems like a 5G Galaxy S10 variant will be made available in select markets.
Samsung’s home turf of South Korea is the obvious choice here, as the country’s three largest mobile carriers have all said they’ll launch 5G networks in March 2019 – right around the time we’re expecting the Galaxy S10 to launch.
Mobile tipster ‘Ice universe’ has also thrown their weight behind the rumour.
Prior to this, the same site reported that the S10 won’t feature an iris-scanner. Instead, it’s said to feature a face-recognising 3D-sensing camera (a la Face ID on the iPhone X) and an in-display fingerprint sensor.
Rumours about that in-display fingerprint sensor have been swirling around for some time now, and Samsung is believed to have struggled to get it right. However, the firm might finally have cracked the formula and be preparing to equip its top S10 models with ultrasonic scanners, while trickling down a cheaper optical scanner to a more affordable model.
The report also backs up earlier rumours that the S10 will have a 5.8-inch screen, with the larger S10 Plus measuring 6.3-inches. We’ve also heard murmurs out of South Korea that one S10 model might come with a dual front ‘selfie cam’,
Galaxy S10 Rumours: S10 spied in photo leak?
We may now have our first look at the Galaxy S10 – or at least an alleged prototype − too.
Mobile leaker ‘Ice universe’ tweeted the image you see above on June 20, and while it doesn’t explicitly reference the Galaxy S10, ‘beyond’ is believed to refer to the codename Samsung is developing the phone under.
You can also potentially see a physical Bixby button on the side of the phone, which aligns with previous rumours about the S10. Here’s the tipster’s social media share in full:
Prior to this, we had some not so great news out of South Korea.
Those of you thinking that the Note 9 might be Samsung’s first flagship to feature an in-demand fingerprint scanner might want to look away now, because a new report from South Korea’s Chosun Economy has it all going down differently, claiming that we’ll see this particular killer feature for the first time when the S10 and S10 Plus come out − and no earlier.
Better tidings came to us from South Korean publication The Bell, however, which says that Samsung is instructing its partners to have components ready to hit the production line in November. Building on this, it says that the Galaxy S10 will be launched in early-2019 – as apparently will the near-mythical foldable Galaxy X phone.