How the Samsung Galaxy S10 stacks up to Chinese smartphones

Great specs, but might be too expensive for Chinese consumers

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The S10 has a 93.1% screen-to-body ratio. (Picture: Samsung)

Published: 9:13pm, 21 Feb 2019Updated: 8:53am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

The Samsung Galaxy S10 series is finally here. The four phones look stunning and pack the most advanced specs. But with so many Chinese Android handset makers pumping out flagship models right now, how does Samsung's latest compare?

In-display fingerprint scanner

One of the biggest new features in the S10 series is the in-display fingerprint sensor, which allows you to unlock the phone by pressing on the display. The feature first appeared on a Vivo prototype at the beginning of last year, and has been adopted by a number of Android devices throughout 2018 -- including the OnePlus 6T, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, and phones from both Vivo and Oppo.

One area Samsung definitely loses is with these color names. Slapping

But Samsung is using a different technology for the sensor than most of its competitors. While most Chinese phones use optical scanners, the S10 and S10+ use an ultrasonic scanner. An ultrasonic reader detects the 3D ridges and valleys of your fingerprint, while an optical reader captures a 2D image, which is far less secure. And it does appear to work better than the other phones with the feature, according to a hands-on article by The Verge.

Camera

Like most Android phones out there, the Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+ have triple cameras on the back -- a 12MP telephoto camera, a 12MP wide-angle camera and a 16MP ultra wide camera. But that’s doesn’t seem to stand out particularly, since 48MP cameras have appeared on other phones -- the Honor V20 and the Mi 9. (Of course more pixels doesn’t always mean better pictures, but in some cases they can do more things.)

And the S10’s cameras may soon be left behind, once Huawei’s next flagship comes out in March: A teaser picture on Weibo suggests that the Huawei P30 Pro will have a quad-camera system.

Look and feel

Many people find the S10 looks quite stunning compared to other Android phones. We saw people say that it also feels great in the hands -- because for a big phone, it’s surprisingly light. The S10 weighs 157g and the S10+ weighs 175g -- both lighter than most of their competitors. For example, two recent smartphones with the slider design, Honor Magic 2 and Mi MIX 3, both weigh more than 200g (We’ve tried the 218g Mi MIX 3 -- it’s really heavy).

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