It’s official: Samsung will show off its newest flagship on February 20 at an event in San Francisco.
The invite doesn’t reveal much other than the number ’10,’ which surprises no-one, but the image does seem to be alluding to the thin bezels we can expect from the new phone. As the 10th in the Galaxy series though – and after last year’s solid-but-iterative S9 – we’re expecting the biggest update to the S family in years
The biggest aesthetic change will be with the front-facing camera. Samsung has so far decided to forego an iPhone-like notch, sticking to a slightly thicker bezel for a cleaner look. But all rumors indicate the company will instead shift to a hole-punch display, which if you ask me, is the best of both worlds. It occupies minimal screen real estate and is arguably less distracting than a notch.
Samsung Galaxy S10 "Beyond 1," in the wild. pic.twitter.com/EMquh59Kln
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 3, 2019
Unfortunately for Samsung, it won’t be the first, but then, Apple wasn’t the first to the notch either. Chances are Samsung will be the most prominent proponent of the hole-punch display for some time, giving it an aesthetic advantage over Apple’s chunky notch. It appears Samsung is abandoning the iris scanner in order to accommodate a smaller cutout, but chances are the company will replace it with an in-display fingerprint reader as seen on the OnePlus 6T.
Rumors point to three form factors: an S10, S10+ and an S10 ‘Lite’ of sorts. We’ve heard varying reports on display sizes, but one rumor points at a 5.8, 6.1, and 6.4-inch screens for the S10 Lite, S10, and S10,+ respectively. It’s also not clear if the S10 Lite will be significantly less powerful (and cheaper) than the other models, or simply smaller. Tthe current S9 is 5.8 inches, though, with the smaller bezels on the upcoming models, Samsung will be able to accommodate a larger screen in a similarly-sized chassis.
With all the leaks and rumors – sure to ramp up in the coming weeks – I hope Samsung still has something left to truly surprise us by February 20. Of course, we’ll be covering the news come showtime, so stay tuned to TNW for more.
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