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The Galaxy S10 won’t be Samsung’s first phone with an in-display fingerprint sensor

Published Sep 24th, 2018 7:11PM EDT
Galaxy S10 Release Date
Image: Zach Epstein, BGR

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Much to our surprise, Samsung unveiled its first smartphone featuring three cameras on the back a few days ago. We expected the Galaxy S10 to be the first device with a three-camera setup, and we also thought the Galaxy S10 would be the first smartphone to feature a fingerprint sensor embedded into the screen, but it looks like that may no longer be the case.

Quoting popular leakers from China, SmartPrix says Samsung made a phone for China codenamed “Phoenix.” The handset will launch in two varieties including Galaxy P30 and Galaxy P30+ and feature an LCD screen rather than OLED.

From the sounds of it, the Galaxy P30 line is supposed to be a new Samsung mid-range series. That also means the fingerprint sensor will be the optical kind rather than ultrasonic. Previous reports said the Galaxy S10 would feature an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, a component no other competing device currently has.

Assuming this Galaxy P30 series is real, we can’t but notice that Samsung seems to be going directly after one of its biggest competitors right now, and the largest smartphone vendor in China, Huawei.

The chosen name is brilliant trolling from Samsung. Huawei’s P20 Pro is Huawei’s latest flagship handset, which should be followed by a P30 version next year. By choosing Galaxy P30 as the name of this rumored China-only smartphone, Samsung might be going after Huawei’s P brand, looking to cause some confusion among buyers who aren’t necessarily tech-savvy.

It’s unclear when the Galaxy P30 line will launch, but the Galaxy S10 is going to hit stores at some point in the first quarter next year, with an announcement coming at CES 2019 at the earliest.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.