As we head on into the new year with the 2020 smartphones on the horizon, leaks and rumours have started to ramp up. However, Samsung is ahead of the game as the smartphone manufacturer has unveiled its two latest smartphones right as they started to leak out. Called the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite and Note 10 Lite, the two phones will extend the S and Note lineup from last year.
The Galaxy S10 Lite and Note 10 Lite, as the name suggests will sit below the main flagship lines and will serve as a bridge between Samsung’s flagships and mid-range smartphones. However, the news doesn’t just end there. While the two smartphones are very interesting and we’ll surely be hearing more about them later, Samsung has also teased another big secret that it will unveil at CES 2020.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite
Before we get into other CES rumours though, lets dissect the details released today in Samsung’s official press release. The first phone, called the Galaxy S10 Lite is a lower-powered variant of last year’s Galaxy S10. However, apart from the similar names, the phones are different in virtually every regard.
The design of the Galaxy S10 Lite, for example, is unlike the Galaxy S10 and resembles the new Samsung design language of centralized punch-hole camera. Furthermore, the curves are gone and with them, you get a flat display much like the S10E. In addition to that, the camera arrangement has been switched at the back too and looks like the one on Samsung’s latest mid-ranger, the Galaxy A51.
The Galaxy S10 Lite, therefore, is pretty much a Galaxy A51 with one less camera, from the outside at least. However, in classic Samsung fashion, the phone still exhuberates class and doesn’t look like a ‘Lite’ phone at all. Instead, if Samsung said that this is the new Galaxy S11, people would probably accept it.
Under the hood though, things get a lot more interesting. The Galaxy S10 Lite comes with a blazing fast Snapdragon 855, meaning the best mainstream flagship processor out there right now from Qualcomm. In addition to that, you get a massive 6.7 inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED Display which, considering Samsung’s displays, would probably be exhilarating to look at.
In terms of camera hardware, we have three cameras at the back: A 48 MP F2.0 primary sensor with Super Steady OIS, a 12 MP ultra-wide and a specialized 5 MP macro camera that has become a staple of Samsung smartphones of late. At the front, you have another beastly 32 MP selfie cam, topping off what we presume would be a very capable camera machine.
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For memory, we have a choice between 6 GB and 8 GB of RAM depending on the variant with a standard 128 GB of storage capacity. However, all of this gets rounded up by an absolute behemoth of a 4,500 mAh battery. So, the S10 Lite is not so much of a ‘lite’ phone at all. Instead, it has flagship specs all around with a massive battery pumped into it making it arguably one of the best phones you can get, on paper at least.
Sadly, Samsung has not announced the price for the new smartphone and we’ll have to wait until CES for further details. It would be interesting to see where this phone is priced though because if the S10 Lite is cheaper than the Galaxy S10E, this phone would become an absolute steal considering the punch that it is packing.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite
The other smartphone that Samsung revealed today was the Galaxy Note 10 Lite which, as the name suggests, is a bogged down version of the Note 10 Lite. Interestingly enough though, unlike the S10 Lite, the Galaxy Note 10 Lite feels much more like a Lite phone than the former with some significant downgrades as compared to its big brother, the Note 10.
For instance, the Galaxy Note 10 Lite does not come with a flagship Snapdragon 855 processor like the S10 Lite. Instead, Samsung has opted for the older Exynos 9810 chip, which was used on the Exynos variants of the Galaxy S9. Don’t get me wrong, the Exynos 9810 is still an extremely capable chip and would destroy most mid-range chipsets out of the water but it is still not a flagship chipset like the one in the S10 Lite.
However, the strange decisions end there as in terms of design, the Note 10 Lite is as good as it gets. Sporting the same new Samsung design language with the punch-hole camera at the front, the Note 10 Lite also looks almost identical to the Galaxy S10 Lite. The display is flat and the bezels are minimal. In fact, even the screen size is exactly the same as the S10 Lite with a 6.7 inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display.
The only difference in design between these two phones is the slightly different camera arrangement and, obviously, the S Pen. Let’s talk about the cameras first though. With a 12 MP Dual Pixel F1.7 primary sensor, a 12 MP Telephoto and a 12 MP Ultrawide lens, the Note 10 Lite’s camera arrangement is much more similar to its older brother than Samsung’s newer A series phones or the S10 Lite.
Both the primary sensor and the telephoto come with OIS and we lose the specialised macro lens. at the front though, the 32 MP camera remains intact and this entire package is rounded off by a massive 4,500 mAh battery. Additionally, we also get the added touch of that ever-useful S Pen, making it a true Galaxy Note experience.
While the Note 10 Lite does not seem as impressive on paper, especially when compared to the S10 Lite, it still has a ton of potential to be an absolute beast in terms of real life usage. Just like the S10 Lite, however, Samsung hasn’t revealed the price for the Note 10 Lite either so we’ll have to wait until CES for that as well.
We cannot wait to get our hands on both of these devices so keep an eye out for a future review.
The big CES surprise
Apart from revealing the two smartphones, Samsung has also teased a big surprise for the upcoming CES show. Called ‘Neon’, the project seems to be some sort of Artificial Intelligence. But wait, doesn’t Samsung already have an AI assistant in the form of Bixby? Yes, but after Bixby’s failure, Samsung is hoping to replace it with something much bigger and better.
While the details for Neon are still hazy, many leaks have suggested that it will be running on its own operating system and would use different AI elements to create a virtual persona. However, all of that could just end up boiling down to Samsung’s own version of animojis so, take everything with a pinch of salt for now. CES is just around the corner though and all will be revealed at the convention including the price for both the S10 Lite and the Note 10 Lite.