Countless months of rumors, reports, and leaks have all led to this moment, as Samsung prepares to take the stage for its annual Galaxy Unpacked event. Unpacked 2019 will take place in San Francisco, California on February 20th at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET, and in celebration of the tenth anniversary of its smartphone line, Samsung will reveal the Galaxy S10 and its variants, which include the larger S10+, the cheaper S10e, and a 5G model.
Samsung has also repeatedly hinted at the appearance of its first foldable smartphone (which we expect to be called the Galaxy Fold), but it’s unclear how much we’ll actually see during the event. After all, the focus of this Unpacked show will be the flagship Galaxy S10, and Samsung likely doesn’t want to distract consumers.
If you’ve somehow missed the torrent of leaks that have found their way online over the past several months, we think we know pretty much all there is to know about the new phones before Samsung ever takes the stage.
The highlight of the Galaxy S10’s design changes will be its Infinity-O display, which Samsung first unveiled during its developer conference last year. The key feature of the display is its hole-punch camera, which eliminates the need for a notch. Samsung will also introduce an in-display fingerprint sensor on the S10 and S10+, as well as a triple camera on the back, which many other Android phone makers have begun to include as well.
The S10e won’t have all the bells and whistles of its larger counterparts, but should rival the iPhone XR (and the other major smartphones in that price range) while retaining the same design as the S10. And then there’s the 5G Galaxy S10, which likely won’t begin shipping until 5G service begins to roll out to the general public.
This is going to be the most dramatic smartphone refresh Samsung has ever done, but the question is whether or not it will be enough to combat the seemingly unending wave of Chinese rivals that are taking market share left and right. We’ll have to wait and see what the reaction is in the coming weeks.
