Samsung Galaxy S10 vs Samsung Galaxy S9: What's New and Different?

Samsung's Unpacked 2019 event was a grand affair with new Galaxy Fold, the Samsung Galaxy S10 series, and Galaxy Buds launched. The Samsung Galaxy S10 is the successor of the Galaxy S9 launched last year, and also marks the company's ten-year anniversary for its 'Galaxy S' series. Because of the ten-year milestone, the Samsung Galaxy S10 is touted to be a major upgrade and is seen to sport a triple rear camera setup, an Infinity-O Display panel, and an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner. The phone comes with Adobe Premiere Rush integration for video editing, and an Instagram mode inside the camera app as well for better social sharing.

We pit the Samsung Galaxy S10 with the Samsung Galaxy S9 to see whether the new entrant is a worthy enough upgrade on paper.

Samsung Galaxy S10 vs Samsung Galaxy S9 price

The Samsung Galaxy S10 price starts from $899.99 (roughly Rs. 63,900), and will be available in Prism Black, Prism Blue, Prism Green, and Prism White colour variants. Shipping in the US is said to begin from March 8 with pre-orders already underway. Its India pricing and availability hasn't been revealed yet.

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The Samsung Galaxy S9 was launched last year in India starting at Rs. 57,900 for the 64GB model, and goes up to Rs. 72,900 for the 256GB variant. It later launched the 128GB variant in India at Rs. 61,900 as well. The phone is offered in Coral Blue, Polaris Blue, Lilac Purple, and Midnight Black colour options. The US launch price of the Samsung Galaxy S9 started at $719.99 (roughly Rs. 51,500).

Samsung Galaxy S10 vs Samsung Galaxy S9 specifications

Comparing the specifications, the Samsung Galaxy S10 runs on Android Pie-based One UI out-of-the-box, but the Galaxy S9 runs on Android Oreo-based Samsung Experience 9.0. However, the latter has received the One UI update recently. The Galaxy S10 features a 6.1-inch QHD+ Curved Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O Display with 19:9 aspect ratio. The Samsung Galaxy S9, on the other hand, features a 5.8-inch QHD+ Curved Super AMOLED 18.5:9 display.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 is powered by the 7nm octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC (2.8GHz+2.4GHz+1.7GHz) in some regions, and the 8nm octa-core Samsung Exynos 9820 SoC (2.7GHz+2.3GHz+1.9GHz) in other regions such as India. It features 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM. In comparison, the Galaxy S9 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC in US and other select markets, while in other regions (including India), it is powered by the Samsung Exynos 9810 SoC. It packs 4GB of RAM.

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There is a triple rear camera setup on the Samsung Galaxy S10, and the setup consists of a 12-megapixel 77-degree lens wide-angle camera coupled with 2PD autofocus, a variable aperture ranging from f/1.5 to f/2.4, and OIS; a 12-megapixel 45-degree lens telephoto (0.5x and 2x optical zoom) camera with autofocus, an f/2.4 aperture, and OIS; apart from a 16-megapixel 123-degree ultra-wide lens camera with fixed focus and an f/2.2 aperture. The setup also provides up to 10x digital zoom. On the front, the Samsung Galaxy S10 uses a single selfie camera - a 10-megapixel sensor coupled with 2PD autofocus, an f/1.9 aperture, and 80-degree lens.

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The Samsung Galaxy S9 just bears a single rear camera setup with a Super Speed Dual Pixel 12-megapixel autofocus f/1.5-f/2.4 sensor with OIS. Up front, there is an 8-megapixel (f/1.7, 1.22-micron) selfie sensor as well.

The Galaxy S10 comes in two inbuilt storage variants - 128GB and 512GB - both of which are expandable via microSD card (up to 512GB). The Galaxy S9 comes in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB storage options with the option to expand further using a microSD card (up to 400GB).

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The Samsung Galaxy S10 packs a bigger battery at 3,400mAh, while the Galaxy S9 only packs a 3,000mAh battery. The Samsung Galaxy S10 is surprisingly lighter and slimmer than the Galaxy S9 measuring at 149.90x70.40x7.80mm and weighing 157 grams. The Galaxy S9 measures at 147.70x68.70x8.50mm and weighs 163 grams.

Samsung Galaxy S10 comes with Wi-Fi 6 compatibility, as well as 2Gbps LTE speeds, up from 1.2Gbps LTE speeds found in the Galaxy S9 last year. Wi-Fi 6 on the Galaxy S10 works four times faster in crowded areas, and offers 20 percent faster speeds than the Galaxy S9, or so the company touts. Of course, Wi-Fi 6 routers aren't so commonly used right now, and it'll be a while before users start seeing the benefits of this feature. Lastly, Samsung Galaxy S10 also features reverse wireless charging, something that isn't available on the Galaxy S9.

With Galaxy Fold, has Samsung kicked off a revolution in smartphone tech? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.