For weeks now, we kept hearing two different types of rumors about the Android phones set to launch in the second half of the year. On the one hand, a Samsung insider kept teasing some revolutionary handset designs from several top vendors, including Samsung and Huawei. On the other hand, the same leaker revealed the Galaxy Note 10 would not be a Galaxy S10 replica, featuring a couple of important changes. This brings us to the latest Galaxy Note 10 rumor that tells us the phone will deliver a few radical changes that we didn’t see coming. But the rumor is already being disputed.
Earlier this week, we looked at leaks and renders that said the Galaxy Note 10 will have a triple-lens camera on the back placed vertically on the left corner and that the hole-punch selfie camera will have a central position.
Since then Android Police shared a different rumor after speaking with a source familiar with Samsung’s plans, suggesting that some radical design changes are in the works for the phone.
According to the source, the Note 10 will not have a headphone jack, which would mark a huge departure from Samsung’s well-known stance on the audio connector. Ever since Apple removed the 3.5mm port from the iPhone 7, Samsung made it clear with each new flagship launch that the port isn’t going away from Samsung phones, mocking Apple on some occasions. Everyone else in the business, including Samsung’s main Android competitors have also ditched the connector. Companies like Google, Huawei, and OnePlus, to name just a few, already sell Android flagships that offer USB-C and wireless audio. The Note 10 will join them if this report is accurate.
More interesting is the other detail from the rumor, that Samsung is looking to replace all physical buttons, including the power, volume, and Bixby buttons, with capacitive ones. Samsung supposedly wants to ditch buttons and further improve the build quality of its devices. By removing the button, Samsung would eliminate the cutouts from the phone’s chassis, which could lead to improved water resistance and durability. We’ll also point out that a very recent Pixel 4 rumor said that Google also wants to remove buttons from its upcoming smartphone.
Finally, Android Police says that Samsung is indeed making two Galaxy Note 10 sizes, as other rumors have said.
Note10 pursues stability and maturity. In the first version, Note10 did not have physical buttons. It was very radical but it did not pass Samsung's rigorous testing, so the final version of Note10 still retains physical buttons.
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) May 31, 2019
This brings us to Ice Universe’s remarks on Twitter that followed the report. According to him Note 10 “pursues stability and maturity,” so it won’t get a radical design. The leaker says the phone didn’t have physical buttons in its first versions, but it did not past “Samsung’s rigorous testing,” so the final version will get them.
As for the headphone jack, it is not optimistic. pic.twitter.com/BY2FWzK68m
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) May 31, 2019
However, he did say that things aren’t “optimistic” for the headphone jack.
Ice is the leaker who teased exciting smartphone designs for the second half of 2019, and who offered the first design details about the new Note. While he’s been an accurate source of leaks, especially concerning Samsung phones, it goes without saying that his predictions can’t be confirmed until Samsung unveils the phone.
The Note 10 series should be launched in early August and hit stores later that month.
