Samsung’s current-generation flagship phones are less than four months old at this point, but they’re already all but forgotten by many smartphone fans. With the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, Samsung chose to reuse last year’s Galaxy S design. That might not have been such a big deal if the company added some exciting new features to the phones in order to encourage people to upgrade, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Instead, they merely feature incremental improvements compared to last year’s Galaxy S8 and S8+, and sales have been very slow as a result. The S9 and S9+ saw their prices slashed at three of the top four wireless carriers in the United States within a month of their release, and they dragged down Samsung’s otherwise impressive second-quarter earnings as well. Fortunately, Samsung has a thriving components business to help offset the impact of slow flagship phone sales.
The Galaxy Note 9 set to debut at a press conference on August 9th is expected to be more of the same, featuring last year’s Galaxy Note 8 design with a new S Pen and better specs. Fortunately for Samsung fans however, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and it grows brighter with each passing day. The Galaxy S10 is shaping up to be the most exciting new smartphone Samsung has created in years, and a fresh leak on Monday morning reveals new details about one of the Galaxy S10+ model’s most intriguing new features.
Samsung’s Galaxy S10 lineup is perhaps the mostly hotly anticipated smartphone series of 2019 at this point. That’s a bold statement to make considering we’re expecting several redesigned iPhone models to be released next year. We don’t really know anything about Apple’s 2019 iPhone lineup at this point though, so there’s no reason to be excited about them yet. Meanwhile, each day brings us closer and closer to having a clear picture of Samsung’s next-generation Galaxy S10 lineup.
Just as Apple plans to release three new iPhone models this coming September, we’re expecting three new Galaxy S10 models to debut early next year. According to rumors there will be a main Galaxy S10 model, a lower-cost entry-level Galaxy S10, and then a larger Galaxy S10+ phablet to round out the trio. And as you might expect, it’s the Galaxy S10+ that’s expected to be the most exciting of the bunch.
The Galaxy S10+ is rumored to have a bunch of great new features in common with the smaller Galaxy S10 model, such as a new Infinity display design with smaller bezels and an optical fingerprint sensor embedded underneath the screen. But the star of the show on the Galaxy S10+ is expected to be the camera setup, which will help set the phablet apart from the pack and likely also help justify a sky-high price tag.
We had heard in the past that the Galaxy S10+ will feature a new triple-lens camera system on the back of the phone, but it was unclear exactly what the third sensor would bring to the table. Now, a new report from Korean-language business news site The Bell might finally shed some light on the Galaxy S10+ unique rear camera setup. On top of that, the report suggests that the phone will have dual front-facing cameras as well, bumping up the phone’s camera count to a total of five.
Around back, the report states that the upcoming Galaxy S10+ will feature a dual-lens system that’s similar to the one currently included in the Galaxy S9+, but it will add a new ultra-wide-angle lens to the mix. Specifically, The Bell says we can expect a 12-megapixel wide-angle sensor, a 12-megapixel telephoto sensor for optical zoom and Portrait Mode photos, and a new 16-megapixel ultra-wide-angle sensor. The report notes that the main wide-angle camera has a 77-degree lens, while the new ultra-wide-angle camera will have a 120-degree angle of view.
According to the report, the front-facing camera setup on the new Galaxy S10+ will be similar to what we’ve already seen on Samsung’s Galaxy A8 smartphone. It’ll apparently feature a standard camera sensor and a secondary telephoto sensor that will enable Portrait Mode selfies with a blurred background similar to what you would see in photos captured with a DSLR. It’s the same effect that was first introduced by Apple on the iPhone 7 Plus in 2016, and we’ve seen it replicated on dozens of Android phones since then.
Samsung’s new Galaxy S10 lineup will reportedly be unveiled sooner than expected next year. In fact, the phones may debut at a special press conference that will take place during CES 2019. Samsung’s new Galaxy S phones typically debut in late February at the annual Mobile World Congress trade show, but the company is reportedly introducing a third new flagship phone series in Barcelona next year, the foldable Galaxy X line.
