We’re mere hours away from Samsung’s 2019 Galaxy Unpacked event, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Pacific (4 p.m. Eastern) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Samsung is all but certain to announce new flagships in its long-running Note series, but there might a few surprises in store.
The Galaxy Note10 is no mystery — indeed, Samsung launched an early access reservation system in select countries last week, including the U.S. (It’s offering up to $450 off the asking price with the trade-in of eligible phones.) Moreover, countless leaks over the past several months have painted a pretty good picture of what to expect from this afternoon’s press conference.
We’ll be in attendance to cover the news as it happens, and Samsung is hosting a livestream on its website. Follow along with us here and on Twitter: @VentureBeat.
Galaxy Note10 series
Samsung is expected to debut two Note-branded smartphones instead of one this time around: the Note10 and Note10+. They reportedly feature Samsung’s Infinity-O design, with circular cutouts to accommodate the front-facing cameras, and they might have triple rear cameras — one with a variable aperture, one with a telephoto lens, and one wide-angle sensor.
Those won’t be the Note10 series’ only headlining features. Leaked promo materials suggest that at least one model will be able to rapidly charge with 45W chargers via a feature Samsung is calling Superfast Charge. And both forthcoming Note10 phones can reportedly capture live video bokeh, which blurs out backgrounds while focusing in on foregrounds.
Novel S Pen features are a safe bet too; the stylus that has shipped with Note models since the series’ inception might gain air gestures. As for the chipset, it’s likely to be the Exynos 9825 in at least a few regions internationally, which Samsung detailed yesterday.
Word on the street is that the Note10 and Note10+ won’t have 3.5mm headphone jacks or removable storage. In something of a consolation prize, they might boast higher RAM and storage capacities and come in a wider range of colors, and one variant could be compatible with 5G.
In other news, the pair of new Note10 phones could pack larger batteries (up to 4,300mAh) and bigger screens (up to 6.8 inches) fully compatible with HDR10+. They’ll also probably feature thinner bezels than their predecessors, and they could be a good deal lighter and thinner than last year’s Note9.
The prices remain a mystery at press time, but it shouldn’t be long before all is revealed. Hold onto your hats.
