The Samsung Galaxy S10 is up for another round of leaks, as new information surrounding the Android flagship lineup’s alleged launch date, specs, and pricing was shared recently by Gizmondo who’s citing industry sources. The report suggests that the Samsung Galaxy S10 series will be officially introduced during a Samsung Unpacked event set to take place on February 20 before Mobile World Congress opens its doors to the public. Prospective buyers will be able to pre-order the flagship on that day and can expect the device to hit the shelves on March 8. The same source also reconfirms that the Korean OEM’s upcoming flagship series will include three models, but unlike most other rumors in the past, this time the source claims that one of the Galaxy S10 variants will have a flat screen as opposed to an Infinity panel featuring curved edges. As far as specifications go, the flat model will reportedly have a 5.8-inch panel and feature 128GB of storage, while the standard Galaxy S10 with curved display edges will have a 6.1-inch diagonal and will be offered with 128GB and 512GB of memory. Finally, the so-called Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus will share the storage configuration with the standard model while adding a third variant into the mix featuring 1TB of storage, and will employ a larger 6.4-inch display.
Background: The Samsung Galaxy S10 series has been the subject of numerous rumors so far, and most of them boil down to more or less the same vision. All the smartphones in the series will have an ultrasonic-based in-display fingerprint scanner, and according to recent preliminary sketches, they will all have circular cutouts at the top of the screens to accommodate the front-facing cameras. Now, there is a possibility that the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus will have two of these circular cutouts for a dual front-facing camera setup while the other models will have a single unit. There’s also a different rumor circulating and claiming that there will be a fourth Samsung Galaxy S10 model coming later down the line, which will be retailed as the most premium variant yet. It’s rumored to have an even larger 6.7-inch panel closing in on the 7-inch tablet territory, and a total of six cameras, four of which would reside on a ceramic back panel. However, in the recent report, Gizmondo was unable to shed more light on this rumored variant.
Finally the source reveals some details about the OEM’s alleged plans in regards to pricing in the UK, as follows: the 5.8-inch model with a flat display will cost £669 ($876) while the standard 6.1-inch Galaxy S10 with curved edges will cost £799 ($1,002) and £999 ($1,253) for the 128GB and 512GB variants, respectively. Lastly, the 6.4-inch Galaxy S10 Plus with 128GB of storage will allegedly cost £899 ($1,128) and the 512GB model would carry a price of £1,099 ($1,378) but the more ambitious 1TB variant would apparently set customers back a whopping £1,399 ($1,755).
Impact: All of the preliminary specs surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S10 series sound quite exciting and it will be interesting to see if the OEM will expand its flagship series to include more than two variants concomitantly. On the other hand, if these pricing details are correct then it looks like Samsung is only extending the series towards the market’s upper limit, arguably pushing the price ceiling even higher than it already is. The price of the entry-level model with a flat screen would be higher than numerous other flagships currently on the market. There’s also the question of whether existing Samsung Galaxy S9 owners who would want to upgrade to the new model using a similar budget would be willing to switch back to a flat screen in favor of an in-display fingerprint sensor. But as always, leaks and rumors are subject to change and only time will tell what Samsung has in store for its February unveiling event.