Samsung Galaxy S10: Qualcomm Might Have Confirmed Major Specification The iPhone Likely Won’t Have
The Samsung Galaxy S10 will likely kick off the coming calendar year for the South Korean tech giant as its new flagship smartphone for 2019, and with the Galaxy Note 9 having arrived earlier this month, it would seem that the 10th anniversary Galaxy S phone is poised to become the center of the rumor mill’s attention for the next few months. With that in mind, a new report suggests that chipmaker Qualcomm might have quietly confirmed one key specification on the Galaxy S10 well ahead of the phone’s launch.
In a statement published earlier this week, Qualcomm announced its latest mobile chipset, and while no official name has been given to the upcoming system-on-chip, Forbes noted that it might end up being called the Snapdragon 855. Qualcomm also promised that the coming chip will be noteworthy for its first-of-its-kind ability to bring 5G connectivity to “premium tier” smartphones. No phones were mentioned in the company’s statement, but Forbes pointed out that the Galaxy S range is usually the first major smartphone to get new Qualcomm chips out of the box.
While Qualcomm’s statement seems to point to the Samsung Galaxy S10 coming with 5G support, the company added some important details on the manufacturing process used for the new processors. As Qualcomm will be employing a seven-nanometer (7nm) process for the new chips, this should allow the Snapdragon 855 to pose less strain on a device’s battery and operate at cooler temperatures. According to Forbes, this is the same procedure Apple will be using in the A12 chipset expected to power this year’s new iPhones.
This is the Samsung Galaxy S10 video you've been waiting for | https://t.co/ZMjDzODf4R pic.twitter.com/CQYE2qzeXy
— T3.com (@T3dotcom) August 21, 2018
In recent years, smartphone makers have mostly relied on hardware finishes and software features — as opposed to fundamental core specifications such as rear camera clarity and pixel density as well as the number of cores in the processor — to sell their devices.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 may not be an exception, yet Forbes added that the phone’s potential 5G support could give the device an important advantage over this year’s iPhone X releases. As the Snapdragon 855 is designed to work with Qualcomm’s X50 modem, the iPhone X might not come with 5G connectivity, given Apple’s recent decision to stop using Qualcomm as a modem supplier.
According to TechRadar, the Samsung Galaxy S10 is expected to launch at next year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which will be taking place in late February as usual. The publication also suggested that the Galaxy S10 could come with a bezel-free design in front, multiple screen sizes — including a 5.8-inch variant and another measuring 6.2 inches — and an in-screen fingerprint scanner among its other key specifications and features.
