Alleged official Galaxy S10+ render leaks; get a clear look ahead of Unpacked

Samsung’s Galaxy S10 series of phones – rumoured to include standard S10, S10+ and S10 “E” editions – are expected to launch at Unpacked in San Fransisco in a few weeks’time. Today, 91Mobiles has published what it says is the official press render of the S10+, obtained from a reliable source. It’s giving us a clear look at how Samsung will present it’s biggest flagship phone to the world, and a few hints about what to expect in the wee hours of February 21.

The first thing that grabs us in this image is the rear colour treatment of the phone. The industry has been experimenting with colour and materials for the last couple of years, and while Samsung killed it last year with the purple variant of the S9, it was unfortunately quickly overshadowed by others

Samsung’s bringing it’s a-game on finish and materials here, with 91Mobiles referring to this as “Prism White” – and it looks gorgeous.

The finish looks like it borrows a little from Oppo’s Radiant Mist playbook on the R17 Pro, with a more complicated look than just a top-to-bottom gradient – we can see blue, white and even a rose tint on the back of the phone. The S10 series is set to be a family of lookers.

Triple Threat

The next biggest detail to note is the triple-camera array on the rear of the phone. Samsung’s been playing with triple- and even quadruple-camera setups in its midrange phones for the last few months, and it looks like they consider this one ready for the big time.

The exact specs of the S10+ cameras are of course unknown, but it’s reasonable to assume standard, wide-angle and zoom lenses in front of those sensors.

While it’s become common to bash Samsung’s camera performance over the last year or so, it’s worth remembering that the company dragged Android cameras kicking and screaming into a new era of competition just a few years ago with the Galaxy S6, and we’ve all benefited from the competition in the intervening years. I wouldn’t discount the company’s ambition to get itself on top of the benchmarks.

One-Two Punch

Of course it’s not just the cameras on the back that we’re interested in – it’s the two cameras on the front peering at us through what’s now become known as the “hole punch” display.

Samsung’s not ready to join the notch generation just yet, and nor should it. We first saw the company propose cutting a hold in the display for the front-facing camera last year, finally presenting three new “Infinity” display types for consideration.

“Infinity O” sees the hole cut in the display for the cameras, and it allows Samsung to go nearly full screen with clean edges. Much has been made of this approach in recent weeks, but with the company clearly reluctant to join the notch ranks, this seems like a good alternative – it will certainly help the phone stand out in a crowd.

As for the cameras themselves? We’re expecting a standard and wide angle lens, similar to Google’s Pixel 3.

Other Details

Button placement seems standard for a Samsung phone, but there’s no Bixby button evident in this render – maybe cause for enjoyment at the end of the cat-and-mouse will-they/won’t-they battle if you liked to make that button do something else.

Finally, there’s the date on the screen. Friday March 8 is a good two weeks after the company’s expected showing of the device, and that makes it a likely on-sale date for the phone.

Samsung’s made no bones about the S10’s appearance at Unpacked, with the “10” featuring prominently on the event announcement. We are also expecting to see a foldable phone, with hints and teases appearing in Paris. Whatever the future holds, we don’t have long to wait – Unpacked takes place on February 20 (morning of the 21st for us here in Australia).