You know how we all expected Samsung to launch two Galaxy S10 models next year featuring new designs? Well, you can scratch part of that rumor. It’s not two, but three different Galaxy S10 versions that are coming early next year, and it’s pretty easy to understand why Samsung is doing it. The phones will offer a bunch of novel new features that have never been seen on a Samsung smartphone before, and now we have some new details about all three upcoming Galaxy S10 models.
Korean business news site The Bell has it from multiple unnamed sources that Samsung is developing samples for three Galaxy S10 devices referred to internally as Beyond 0, Beyond 1, and Beyond 2, which are codenames we’ve seen several times before.
Beyond 0 is an entry-level model, so it’s probably a “Mini” variant of Samsung’s upcoming new flagship phone. The handset is expected to feature a fingerprint sensor on the right side, where your thumb would rest. Therefore, the phone will not have a Fingerprint On Display (FOD) fingerprint sensor like its bigger siblings.
The Bell reiterates what many other rumors have claimed in the past, that the Beyond 1 and Beyond 2 — Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+, respectively — will have FOD screens.
FOD is supposed to be one of the most significant innovations coming to Samsung’s tenth-anniversary Galaxy S phones. The other feature, of course, is the triple-lens camera that will be a Galaxy S10+ exclusive. But with the Beyond 0, Samsung wants to make sure no Galaxy S10 version will have a fingerprint sensor on the back.
The FOD module is more expensive to make. Priced at $15, that’s more than seven times the price of a regular rear-facing fingerprint sensor. Qualcomm will be the supplier of optical fingerprint sensors used in Samsung’s new phones, while Chinese camera module maker O-Film will also supply key components. Samsung Display will then attach the FOD module to the OLED screen.
The specs of the Galaxy S10 have reportedly not been finalized, with the Beyond 0 having been added to the mix only recently. We’re sure that decision has nothing to do with news that Apple plans to launch three new iPhone models later this summer, including a new entry-level model.
