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Surprise: The Galaxy S10 sold in the US is more powerful than the version sold elsewhere

Published Feb 28th, 2019 9:24AM EST
Galaxy S10 Review
Image: Zach Epstein, BGR

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Samsung fans now have just over one week to go until the company’s hot new flagship smartphones finally hit store shelves. They were officially announced just last week, but the wait seems so much longer since details surrounding the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+, and Galaxy S10e began leaking months ago. We knew just about all of the important details long before Samsung execs took stage at the company’s first Unpacked event of 2019, but fans will still be pleasantly surprised at how impressive these phones are when you actually get your hands on one.

We published our in-depth Galaxy S10 review just yesterday, and you should definitely check it out if you’re considering picking up any of Samsung’s new Galaxy S10 phones for yourself. We don’t want to spoil too much, but suffice it to say we were very impressed. Samsung needed a win after releasing three of the most boring flagship phones we’ve ever seen in 2018, and the Galaxy S10 series is indeed destined to be a big win. As if Samsung’s overhauled design and all of the S10’s nifty new features weren’t enough, there’s now even more good news for future Galaxy S10 owners in the United States.

When we review upcoming smartphones, we aim our analyses toward the average consumer. Anandtech, on the other hand, is aimed squarely at tech geeks. The tech blog is known far and wide for its deep dives into all things technical, and it just published a great comparison of the Galaxy S10 for the US and the international model.

Samsung uses two different chipsets to power its flagship smartphones. In the US and China, it uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors. Then in other markets, Samsung’s phones are powered by its own Exynos processors. In the past, Exynos-powered phones have often outperformed their Snapdragon-equipped counterparts, though performance has always been pretty close. Can the same be said of the Galaxy S10, which packs the Snapdragon 855 SoC in the US and Samsung’s new Exynos 9820 chip?

Android fans in the US are apparently in store for something of a treat in 2019, because it turns out that they’ll have the edge this time around. As shown in Anandtech’s extensive testing, a Galaxy S10+ powered by the Snapdragon 855 chip outperforms a Galaxy S10+ equipped with the Exynos 9820 in every benchmark test that matters. Here are a few examples, and you’ll find more over at Anandtech:

The Snapdragon 855’s apparent performance edge can be attributed in part to the fact that it uses more advanced process technology. In a nutshell, the Snapdragon 855 is a 7-nanometer chipset that packs more transistors into a smaller amount of space than the 8-nanometer Exynos 9820. There may be other factors at play as well, but the bottom line is that US consumers finally have bragging rights over other markets.

The Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10+ are currently available for preorder from Samsung and all major US wireless carriers, and they’re set to be released next Friday, March 8th.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.