Samsung Could Launch Three Galaxy S10 Phone Variants, Here's What We Know So Far
As we reported earlier this morning, Galaxy S9 sales haven't exactly been through the roof for Samsung. While the Galaxy S9 remains a strong seller in the Android smartphone market, it wasn't exactly a quantum leap in design or features over its predecessor: the Galaxy S8.
Samsung is looking to make a much bigger splash with next year's Galaxy S10, which is being developed under the codename "Beyond". A new report suggests that there will actually be three smartphones under the Galaxy S10 moniker in 2019 instead of the usual two. The models are currently designated Beyond 0, Beyond 1 and Beyond 2.
Beyond 0 would be a new, entry-level model with a fingerprint reader mounted on the side of the device. This is a a rather interesting design decision given that Samsung traditionally placed the fingerprint sensor in the home button (on the front of the device) before relocating it to the rear starting with the Galaxy S8.
Things get a bit more interesting with the Beyond 1 and Beyond 2, which will replace the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ respectively. Both of these smartphones are tipped to include Fingerprint on Display (FOD) technology. We've seen smartphones from Vivo incorporate this technology, and Samsung appears to be the latest to tackle this new trend in biometric authentication.
According to The Bell, the FOD module will cost Samsung $15, which is seven times the price of the rear-mounted fingerprint module used in the current Galaxy S9 family. With those increased costs, it makes sense that Samsung might want to introduce a cheaper model to appease budget-conscious customers (this is something that Apple also has in mind with its 6.1-inch LCD iPhone that is on track to arrive this fall).
The Galaxy S10 will also reportedly be available with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 or Samsung Exynos 8920 SoC (both 7nm), 2Gbps LTE modem, and dual cameras (as introduced on the Galaxy S9+). A recent patent filing also suggests that the Galaxy S10 will feature a Face ID-esque 3D facial camera up front.
