Industry insider Ice Universe recently shared new alleged images of the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite, along with renders of a clear case designed specifically for the handset. The leak details the design features of the rumored smartphone which separates the product from the more expensive variants of the upcoming Android flagship family. While the costlier variations of the Galaxy S10 will reportedly sport in-display fingerprint sensors, the latest leak indicates that the Galaxy S10 Lite will feature a side-mounted scanner sitting on its right side. The Galaxy S10 Lite will also feature a flat display, as per the same source. In contrast, the pricier variants of the Galaxy S10 will reportedly sport curved displays, similar to those used by Samsung’s other flagships releases over the last several years. The new leak further shows that the rear panel of the device will contain a horizontally aligned dual rear camera setup, LED flash, and a heart rate monitor.
Background:Previous leaks already provided details about the design and specifications of the Galaxy S10 Lite and the newest one largely corroborates that info. A design element common to all three models of the Galaxy S10 is the use of a display hole to accommodate the front-facing camera. The display hole of the three devices is located in the center-top part of the screen, with the Galaxy S10 Plus being expected to feature two display holes due to its use of a dual-camera setup on the front. The Galaxy S10 Lite will reportedly feature a 5.8-inch display and the handset will be available with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal flash storage, previous reports suggest.
Like previous Android flagships from Samsung, the Galaxy S10 Lite will likely ship in two hardware configurations that differ in terms of chipsets. The model of the Galaxy S10 Lite that will ship to the United States and a handful of other countries is expected to feature the Snapdragon 855 system-on-chip from Qualcomm using an octa-core Kryo 485 CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. On the other hand, the international variant of the Galaxy S10 series will reportedly include the Exynos 9820 chipset, which sports Samsung’s custom CPU cores and the Mali-G76 MP12 GPU. Other rumors state that the Galaxy S10 will ship with Android 9 Pie pre-installed, although the latest iteration of Samsung’s proprietary Android implementation, known as One UI, will likely be part of the upcoming mobile package. According to another rumor, the Galaxy S10 Lite will have a price tag ranging from $650 to $750, and it is expected that Samsung will launch the handset at the Mobile World Congress scheduled to take place in late February.
Impact: The decision not to include an in-display fingerprint sensor and curved display into the Galaxy S10 Lite should reduce the cost of production of the Samsung device, which will presumably translate to a lower price compared to the other members of the upcoming Android flagship family. Faced with mounting pressure from competitors, offering somewhat cheaper handset options in the high-end segment could serve as an effective strategy for Samsung to regain lost market share in this particular price bracket.
