At an event in Wuhan, China, Samsung Mobile head DJ Koh confirmed a few things about its upcoming smartphones. Firstly, he said that the S Pen coming with this year's Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will come with a lot of new features, hinting at an overhaul. He also added that the company was to bring optical fingerprint technology to the Galaxy S10 next year, but instead, it is now bringing another solution, which creates a much better user experience. The same technology is also expected to arrive in the Note 10, and the Galaxy A series smartphone launches next year.
Koh confirmed (via Ice Universe) that the Samsung Galaxy S10 slated for next year's release will have an under-display fingerprint scanner. He noted that the company was to integrate an optical fingerprinting solution, but that does not create a good end experience. Thereby, the company is set to integrate the ultrasonic fingerprint tech instead.
Ice Universe also cites analyst Guo Mingxi to say the same technology will be used in the Galaxy Note 10 and on the Galaxy A series slated for next year. This means that the Galaxy A series slated to launch at the end of 2019 will see ultrasonic fingerprint tech, and not the series expected to launch early next year. Mingxi added that the Galaxy S10 will be launched in three display variants - 5.8-inch, 6.1-inch, and 6.4-inch, and the latter two variants will only sport an in-display scanner, while the smallest variant will not. What the 5.8-inch variant will sport hasn't been mentioned, but previous reportage points to a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
Furthermore, Koh also said that the S Pen slated for this year, alongside the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, is said to come with a lot of improvements, especially related to gaming. Recent reports suggest that it will come with Bluetooth connectivity for more flexibility. The smartphone is set to launch on August 9, and come with a price tag of PLN 4,299 (approximately Rs. 79,500) for the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage configuration. If we believe the recent leaks and rumours, the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will feature a 6.4-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED Infinity Display with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio and will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC or Samsung Exynos 9810 SoC, coupled with up to 8GB of RAM. The handset is also said to have 512GB of onboard storage and include a dual rear camera setup.
Catch the latest from the Consumer Electronics Show on Gadgets 360, at our CES 2026 hub.