The Galaxy S10 will finally introduce an in-screen fingerprint sensor in a Samsung phone, at least in two of three versions planned, according to a new report today.
The normal-sized Galaxy S10 and larger Galaxy S10 Plus are supposed to use a Fingerprint On Display (FOD), as it's technically called, says Korean site The Bell.
Samsung's 10th anniversary smartphone series is also thought to include a new entry-level model, so far unnamed and simply referred to here as Beyond 0. The S10 and S10 Plus are codenamed Beyond1 and Beyond 2, respectively.
What's interesting is that the FOD-lacking basic Galaxy S10 is reportedly moving the fingerprint sensor to the side frame, like we've seen on the Moto Z3 Play and several Sony Xperia phones.
The cheaper Samsung Galaxy phone for early 2019 is expected to include specs like a 5-inch non-dual-edge screen and a single-sensor camera, notes PhoneArena. It's shaping up to be the S10 without all of the fancy bells and whistles.
Like old times
You may soon be unlocking your Samsung phone by touching the front of the phone like old times. It's a welcome changed for long-time Samsung users, especially Galaxy S7 Edge owners who have been holding out on upgrading.
The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S9 series had rear fingerprint sensors and, in particular, the off-set rear sensor in the S8 and Note 8 were almost universally hated. Samsung centered the sensor pad on the S9 and S9 Plus, and is expected to do the same on the Note 9.
FOD will return the unlocking action to the front of the phone, something we've seen on Vivo phones in 2018, including the new Vivo Nex. But Samsung is thought to be using very different ultrasonic fingerprint sensor technology from Qualcomm, whereas the Vivo phones use reflected light for fingerprint recognition.
The trio of Samsung Galaxy S10 phones is likely to launch at MWC 2019 in February 2019, while the foldable Samsung Galaxy X is rumored for a CES 2019 debut one month sooner in January.
