Everything we know about the phone so far

With the Galaxy Fold up in the air, attention is now shifting to Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10, which is expected to arrive sometime towards the end of summer.

The Note 10’s a Galaxy Note, so we’re expecting it to come with an S-Pen stylus, a huge battery, and flagship specs. But for the phone’s eighth version (Samsung skipped the Note 6 and scrapped the Note 7 after its disastrous launch), the company might have bigger plans in store like — gasp — the lack of a headphone jack.

Samsung’s always used its Galaxy Note to showcase its latest mobile innovations. Whereas its Galaxy S phones are designed for most “regular” consumers, the Note phones tend to cater towards users who require more productivity features.

This year’s Note 10 should be no different. 

1. Note 10 and Note 10 Pro

In past years, Samsung’s stuck to releasing one version of the Galaxy Note. For the Note 10, there might be multiple models. 

Back in April, we heard Samsung might be considering four different versions of the Note 10. These models might still be in the plans, but an in-depth leak from prolific phone leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka @OnLeaks) and Pricebaba strongly suggests there will be at least two versions: a Note 10 and Note 10 Pro.

The two Note 10’s should look identical: same glass and metal “sandwich” designs, same S-Pen support, and same performance. The difference will reportedly be in the details, though.

2. No headphone jack

After years of resisting Apple’s “courage” and refusing to follow other Android phone makers (like Google) in removing the venerable 3.5mm headphone jack, Samsung’s expected to kill the audio port from the Note 10.

Image: zlata ivleva / mashable

It’s not clear why Samsung’s going to remove the port — the entire Galaxy S10 family still have the jack — but it could be to make room for other components. Companies such as OnePlus have justified removing the headphone jack in order to include features such as an in-display fingerprint reader and improved speakers.

Other possibilities for the death of the headphone jack: a larger battery, 5G, and periscope camera system. All of these features would require more internal space.

3. Centered hole-punch

Samsung wasn’t the first to release a phone with a “hole-punch” display, but it definitely helped popularize it with the Galaxy S10 phones.

On the S10 phones, the hole-punch for the selfie camera is located in the upper right corner of the screen. Other phones such as the Honor View 20 have the hole-punch in the upper left. But if the rumors are right, the Note 10 will have a hole-punch that’s center-aligned at the top of the screen; unlike the S10+ which has a double hole-punch to house two cameras (selfie camera and 3D depth camera), the Note 10’s hole-punch will only have room for one.

It’s debatable whether or not a center-aligned hole-punch is visually superior than a “teardrop” notch like the one on the OnePlus 6T and 7. But one thing is for sure: it’s different.

4. Bigger curved display (Note 10 Pro)

Every Galaxy Note has come with a larger display than the one before, but this time Samsung might be switching things up.

The Note 10 is said to sport a smaller 6.3-inch display compared to the Note 9’s 6.4-inch screen. Meanwhile, the Note 10 Pro is said to have a 6.75-inch display — the largest on a Note.

For comparison, the Galaxy Note 9 and S10+ both have a 6.4-inch screen and the S10 5G has a 6.7-inch display.

The display will (as always) spill over the left and right sides and curve into the body’s metal rail. Phone @OnLeaks claims the Note 10’s “chin” bezel will be one of the thinnest there is, measuring at 4.1mm.

So if you hate thick bezels, there’s at least that to potentially look forward to on the Note 10.

5. Tons of cameras

Samsung went camera crazy on all of its Galaxy S10 devices. The S10e has two rear cameras: a main and ultra-wide camera; the S10+ has three cameras: main, ultra-wide, and telephoto; and the S10 5G has four rear cameras: main, ultra-wide, telephoto, and time of flight (ToF) depth camera.

@OnLeaks claims the Note 10 will have the same triple-camera system as the S10+. The Note 10 Pro will likely have the the S10 5G’s quad-camera system. Instead of being arranged horizontally, the cameras will be aligned vertically, similar to the shooters on the iPhone XS/XS Max and Huawei P30 Pro.

There’s no word on whether or not Samsung will bump up the resolution on each of the cameras or continue using the same 12-megapixel sensors for the main and telephoto cameras and 16-megapixel sensor for the ultra-wide camera.

6. No Bixby button?

Image: raymond wong / mashable

The Bixby button is arguably the most hated feature on Samsung’s Galaxy phones. Nobody likes it. It would be great if Samsung removed the button altogether.

With two Note 10’s, Samsung might be granting half of our wish. The Note 10 will reportedly still have a Bixby button, but the Note 10 Pro might not.

It’s possible the rumors are wrong and Samsung might include or remove it from both models. We say kill the Bixby button with ???!

7. Beefy specs

What would a Galaxy Note be without monster specs, right? @OnLeaks and Pricebaba‘s report says the Note 10 phones will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 chip (no-brainer) or Samsung’s Exynos 9820 chip, include up to 12GB of RAM, and come with a 4,500 mAh battery with faster wired charging thanks to a 45-watt charger.

Assuming Samsung also sticks by the foundation of features that make a Galaxy phone a Galaxy phone (headphone jack notwithstanding), the Note 10 should also come with tons of storage (maybe even as much as the S10’s 1TB of storage), microSD card slot, and fast wireless charging.

It’s also safe to assume the Note 10 will run on Android 9 Pie with Samsung’s revamped One UI customization; launching with Android Q would be even better.