Samsung is planning to launch the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus in January, South Korean outlet The Bell reports, citing sources close to the company’s supply chain. The Seoul-based tech giant is said to have already started asking its suppliers to prepare apt component volumes that would allow it to start mass-producing its upcoming Android flagship lineup circa late 2018 and release it on a global level by the end of February, a month following its official announcement. While rumors of Samsung’s new Galaxy S-series smartphones launching in January are circulating the industry on an annual basis and are almost always wrong, the latest report on the matter provides more reasoning about the alleged development than such claims usually do.
Samsung’s first foldable smartphone is also expected to be announced in early 2019 and will most likely be debuting at Mobile World Congress in late February before hitting the market a month later, with the company being unwilling to launch it simultaneously with the Galaxy S10 lineup as it’s concerned doing so would weaken the individual impact of both offerings, as per the new report. The Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus should hence already be available for purchase by the time the foldable handset — rumored to be called the Galaxy X — is unveiled, whereas the latter is hence likely to be released by early April.
Samsung started publicly acknowledging its foldable smartphone ambitions earlier this year, suggesting it’s close to commercializing such offerings. The Galaxy S10 lineup is expected to come in the form of the company’s first 5G-enabled smartphones and could be a refinement of the Galaxy S9, i.e. Galaxy S8 formula, contrary to previous expectations which pegged Samsung to attempt another radical redesign of its main high-end mobile series. Besides 5G capabilities, the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus may also feature a 3D camera akin to that found on Apple’s iPhone X, but without a notch. Samsung’s next Android flagship release is widely expected to be coming in the form of the Galaxy Note 9 in late August, with the handset being likely to debut at Berlin-based IFA trade show.