Samsung Galaxy S10 to Get a More Expensive 5G-Capable Variant: Report

Samsung Galaxy S10 will be the South Korean smartphone maker's tenth anniversary flagship offering, expected to launch in the first half of 2019. Considering this is a big landmark for Samsung, it will probably have something unique planned for its fans. A new report has now surfaced that suggests that one variant of the upcoming Galaxy S10 will include support for 5G connectivity. Furthermore, the model is expected to be released close to the March 5, 2019 date, which is around the time when telecom operators globally will start commercialising 5G operations.

This development comes to us from South Korean blog The Bell that has been known to reveal authentic information around Samsung in the past. The report claims that Samsung could release the variant after the official launch, considering it has done something similar with the Galaxy S4 LTE-A in the past. Apart from that, the production of this 5G-capable Galaxy S10 variant could be as low as 2 million units per year.

The report reveals that the phone will be a derivative of Beyond 2, which is the most expensive model, i.e, Galaxy S10+. Beyond 0 is the cheapest variant and Beyond 1 is the codename for the Galaxy S9 successor. Because of the initial cost of installing 5G technology, this Galaxy S10+ variant could be the most expensive of the lot. The 5G antenna system on the smartphone would most likely be supplied by Samsung Electronics' wireless division and domestic communication chip maker Giga Lane.

While 5G is reported to be made available with Samsung's next flagship range, it will not be the first Samsung smartphone with 5G support, according to Samsung mobile chief DJ Koh. In fact, another phone will be launched by the phone maker before the Galaxy S10, which will come with 5G capable antennas. This could just be the foldable phone that has been rumoured numerous times.

As for other rumours, the Galaxy S10 is reported to launch in three variants - two with in-display fingerprint sensors and a cheaper one with the physical fingerprint sensor. At least one of these models is expected to get a triple camera setup at the back, and shipments have reportedly been ramped up to 40 million units with Samsung expecting high demand next year.