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Galaxy S10+ leak shows the screen alone will be as big as the entire Galaxy Note 7

Published Dec 26th, 2018 10:11AM EST
Galaxy S10 Plus vs. Galaxy Note
Image: Weibo

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The hallmark feature of the Galaxy Note phones was screen size when Samsung launched its first-generation phablet back in 2011. Since then, every Galaxy Note handset that followed featured a bigger display than the Galaxy S models that preceded them. Samsung has since developed new screen technologies that have allowed the company to reduce the side bezels of the phone by curving the display. The top and bottom bezels were trimmed as well, as Samsung moved features like the fingerprint sensor from the front of the phone to the back.

Fast-forward to 2018 and the Galaxy S9+ with its huge Infinity Display is almost as big as the Galaxy Note 9. Come next year, the Galaxy S10 will be made available in up to four sizes, each one of them featuring even better screen-to-body ratios than their predecessors thanks to a new Infinity-O screen design. And now a new leak tells us that the Galaxy S10+ display alone will be as big as the entire Galaxy Note 7

Launched in 2016, the Galaxy Note 7 enjoyed short-lived success, as the phone came with a significant unwanted side-effect: overheating batteries that would cause explosions and fires. The phone featured a curved 5.7-inch Super AMOLED screen with 1440p resolution, but it also had huge top and bottom bezels. That was the norm back in 2016 when it came to smartphone design.

The Galaxy S10+ will have a curved 6.4-inch screen, rumors say, with minimal top and bottom bezels. The following images, shared on Twitter by Samsung insider Ice Universe, show an allegedly legitimate Galaxy S10+ screen protector laid on top of the Galaxy Note 7.

As you can see, the Galaxy S10+’s display alone will be as big as the entire Galaxy Note 7 phone, which is a remarkable accomplishment for Samsung. In a matter of just a few years, the Note 7’s bezels have been killed. The screen protector reveals that only a tiny speaker cutout and two camera holes remain from the old top bezel design. The fingerprint sensor and physical buttons that were once part of the bottom bezels are also gone. The Galaxy S10’s fingerprint sensor will reside under the display, and the navigation buttons will appear on the screen as virtual buttons.

The Galaxy S10+ won’t even be the biggest Galaxy S10 version next year. The 5G phone is tipped to feature a 6.7-inch screen and a similar design. With that in mind, the Note family doesn’t even seem necessary at this point, considering that the Galaxy S can already deliver the huge screen size user experience that Samsung originally imagined for the Note years ago. In fact, we stopped using the term “phablet” a long time ago, since all current phones feature much larger screens than any of their predecessors.

But that doesn’t mean Samsung will stop making new Notes in the future. After all, these devices do have one additional iconic feature, the built-in S Pen stylus and all the software tricks that go along with it. The Note 10 is already rumored to feature a 6.75-inch screen, which will be barely larger than the biggest Galaxy S10 screen.

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.