In any given year, Samsung’s usual smartphone lineup starts with two Galaxy S-series phones, its most popular devices, followed by a Galaxy Note phone in August. This year’s different. It’s the 10-year anniversary of Galaxy phones, and Samsung’s trying something new. The Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus are joined by a new member of the family — say hello to the Galaxy S10e.
The Galaxy S10e is the cheapest phone of the three … and by cheap I mean slightly less expensive. In fact, it’s more expensive than last year’s Galaxy S9, but compared to the $900 and $1,000 prices of its big brothers, $750 is a little easier to stomach. The strategy is akin to what Apple did in 2018, unveiling a lower-cost iPhone XR alongside the iPhone XS and XS Max.
Want to learn more about the new Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus? Check out our hands-on review.
Flat display, compact design
This is the first flagship Samsung smartphone to ship without an Edge display since the 2016 Galaxy S7. That type of screen has sides that curve towards the edges of the phone, and it’s a design aesthetic that’s now iconic to Samsung’s handsets. But the S10e is going back to a more traditional look with just a “flat” screen.
The Samsung S10 (left), larger S10 Plus (middle), and more compact S10e.
In doing this, Samsung has allowed for a uniform bezel around the display, and these edges are thicker than those you’ll see on the S10 and S10 Plus. It’s why I was immediately reminded of the iPhone XR when I laid eyes on the S10e; Apple’s cheapest new iPhone also has slightly thicker bezels around the screen, despite having a similar screen design. That being said, the S10e does differentiate as it doesn’t have an unsightly notch.
But that’s not the only similarity the S10e shares with the iPhone XR. The phone comes in a Canary Yellow color option, and the XR is one of the few smartphones in recent memory to come in such a color. Hey, whaddaya know — they’re priced exactly the same too.
Similarities aside, the S10e may be a welcome change for those who find Samsung’s Edge screen difficult to use. And while the “flat” display doesn’t look as futuristic, the S10e also has an Infinity-O hole-punch camera screen like its more expensive siblings, so it can hold its own. The hole-punch camera takes up space next to the notification bar, but I didn’t find it distracting, and it doesn’t impact the interface greatly, though more testing is in order to make sure.
In a win for your eyes, the S10e’s screen also reduces blue-light exposure by 42-percent.
The S10e has Samsung’s all-new Dynamic AMOLED screen, and it’s HDR10+ certified. That means more accurate colors and sharper image quality, but the S10e differs from the S10 and S10 Plus with only a Full HD+ resolution, as opposed to WQHD+. It’s a smaller 5.8-inch screen though, so you’re still getting a higher pixel density than the S10 Plus (522 pixels-per-inch versus 438 pixels-per-inch). It looks colorful — not oversaturated but just right — and sharp; I didn’t notice any immediate differences in quality between the S10e’s screen and the S10’s.
The new screen also reduces blue-light exposure by 42-percent, which offers me a little more peace of mind as taking in blue light at night can be harmful for sleep, which in turn can affect your health.
We’ll put them all through their paces, but I expect the S10e’s screen to be more than satisfactory for everyone. It’s certainly better than the screen on the iPhone XR, which has a lower resolution, meaning it’s not as crisp when looked at closely.
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
While the front looks like the iPhone XR, the glass back of the phone is a blast from the past. It’s the slightly darkened module surrounding the dual-camera system that looks dated, and makes the phone look a little cheap. This may vary depending on the color of the phone, but I’m not fawning over the yellow S10e like I was with the yellow iPhone XR. The S10 and S10 Plus undoubtedly look better, though all three phones feel exceptionally well-built in the hand.
Where the S10e wins out is size: The 5.8-inch screen means it’s perfectly compact, and easy to grip and use with one hand. It’s a nice change of pace from gargantuan phones that might not fit in your pocket.
The S10e does skip out on one of the cooler pieces of technology in Samsung’s Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus — the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor that sits under the glass of the display. Instead, there’s a capacitive fingerprint sensor on the right edge of the phone, and it’s slightly indented.
The dreadful Bixby button that activates Samsung’s virtual assistant is still present.
Sony and Motorola have dabbled in fingerprint sensors on the sides of their phone for some time now, but it’s surprising to see Samsung go this direction. It’d have been nice to have the same fingerprint sensor tech in all three phones — like Apple has with Face ID on all its latest iPhones — but if that spiked the price of the S10 and S10 Plus, then it’s understandable (though I’d still have preferred a sensor on the back).
You can use the fingerprint sensor to access sensitive apps and authenticate payments through Samsung Pay, but it doesn’t have the same level of anti-spoofing technology as the in-display sensors on the S10 and S10 Plus.
The dreadful Bixby button that activates Samsung’s virtual assistant is still present. The service lags far behind the competition, and I often feel no desire to use it (instead, I just call up Google Assistant whenever possible). New for the S10e and other Samsung phones is a feature called Bixby Routines. These are different modes you can configure the phone for, such as a Driving Mode and a Work Mode.
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
Bixby will present relevant apps and make sure they’re ready to go when these modes are triggered. It sounds handy, but because I rarely find the need to use the Bixby service, I probably won’t ever use Bixby Routines either.
It’s good to see Samsung still supporting the headphone jack for those holding onto 3.5mm earbuds and headphones. There’s no need for dongles here, and you can always stick with wireless earbuds if you want. The phone is also IP68 water resistant, so you can take it 1.5 meters underwater for up to 30 minutes.
Stellar performance, clean One UI
The Galaxy S10e may cost less than the S10 and S10 Plus, but it has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor inside, so you’re getting similar, fantastic performance. It may edge out over the S10, considering there’s a lower resolution screen on the S10e, but it likely won’t beat out the S10 Plus, which has a special vapor-chamber cooling system to keep the processor cool when playing intensive games.
Samsung’s new One UI interface is a marked improvement over the previous software designs.
The base model comes with 128GB of storage and 6GB of RAM, which is still plenty for multitasking, but an 8GB RAM and 256GB storage option is also available. A MicroSD card slot means you can crank that storage space up to 512GB.
Swiping through Android 9 Pie is fast and smooth, and Samsung said the phone will offer faster app launch times the more it learns your habits: The Galaxy S10 family will pre-load apps when the phone thinks you’ll want to use them. Expect this phone to handle anything and everything you throw at it.
Samsung’s new One UI interface is layered over Android, and it’s a marked improvement over the company’s previous software designs. It looks good! My eyes are grateful for the darker themes throughout the OS, and many critical buttons and tools are placed on the bottom half of the screen, making everything easy to reach.
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
But it’s impossible to talk about One UI and Android Pie without mentioning the fact that Samsung’s unlocked Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus only just got the Pie update in the U.S., which Google released six months ago. It’s embarrassing that Samsung can’t deliver faster updates. Phones from manufacturers like Google, OnePlus, Apple, and HMD Global are among the few that do get fast version and security updates.
Connectivity-wise, you may have heard a lot of hoopla about 5G phones this year. 5G is the next generation mobile network following 4G LTE, and U.S. carriers are in the process of deploying it. It brings faster speeds and lower latency, but it’s going to take a long time before we see any kind of nationwide coverage in the U.S. like we have with 4G LTE. Phones this year will have modems capable of connecting to 5G networks – but the Galaxy S10e is not one of them.
Instead of the triple-lens setup on its bigger brothers, the S10e makes do with a dual-camera system.
Neither is the Galaxy S10 or S10 Plus. Instead, a special Galaxy S10 5G will arrive in the middle of the year and will be the only phone of the four that can connect to 5G networks. That depends on whether there are 5G networks to connect to, so don’t feel as though you need to buy a 5G-ready phone anytime soon. Not to mention the S10 5G will cost well over $1,000, which is a little absurd.
Thankfully, you do get some future proofing on the S10e. There’s support for Wi-Fi 6, which means the S10e will be able to enjoy the benefits of the new standard as it becomes more prevalent throughout the year. There aren’t a lot of Wi-Fi 6 routers yet, but the new standard promises 4 times faster access, a 20 percent speed bump over the last Wi-Fi generation, and a more secure connection, among other features.
Two cameras, double the fun
One area where the S10e differs is the camera. It has the same front camera as the S10, a 10-megapixel lens with an f/1.9 aperture (it can record video in 4K UHD). On the back, however, there’s one less camera. Instead of the triple-lens setup on its bigger brothers, the S10e makes do with a dual-camera system.
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
The standard 12-megapixel lens with an f/1.5 to f/2.4 variable aperture is paired with a new ultrawide-angle, 16-megapixel lens with an f/2.2 aperture. It’s missing the telephoto lens found on the S10 and S10 Plus, which offers 2× optical zoom. This makes the camera very similar to LG G-series phones, like the LG G7, which also has a standard lens paired with a wide-angle one. Whether you prefer the 2× optical zoom or a wide-angle lens is subjective, but I’d say the latter is one that would see more use. You’d never need to stand further back to take a group picture — just swap to the ultra wide-angle lens.
There are a few improvements to the camera app to help you be a better photographer, and to improve the look of your photos. Shot Suggestions offers advice when the camera app thinks you need it. For example, if you are tilting the phone, it will offer a line that matches with the horizon so you don’t need to straighten the photo later, saving you a step.
Being the smallest Galaxy phone in the new range, the S10e has the smallest battery capacity at 3,100mAh.
Then there’s Scene Optimizer, which uses artificial intelligence to memorize the ideal version of certain scenes — like sunsets — and tweaks your photos to look like it. This isn’t a new feature, but Samsung has added 10 more scenes for it to recognize, ranging from dogs and cats to babies and shoes. Really. These are small improvements, but I appreciate them all the same as they can be genuinely helpful.
Video recording-wise, the S10e can capture 4K UHD content on the rear camera in HDR10+, and the phone also supports super steady video, meaning videos should look smooth and stable rather than janky — especially if you’re moving while you film.
More time is needed with the camera to see how it stacks up to competitors in this price range like the Google Pixel 3 and the iPhone XR, but the S10e is already a more versatile tool than last year’s single-camera Galaxy S9.
Share your battery
Being the smallest Galaxy phone in the new range, the S10e has the smallest battery capacity at 3,100mAh. While it’s slightly bigger than the battery on last year’s Galaxy S9, I expect it will keep the phone powered for just about a full day, and no more.
A USB-C port is on the bottom so you can juice it back up, but disappointingly there’s only support for Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 — a dated fast-charging technology. Many Android phones use Quick Charge 3.0 (and some are even on Quick Charge 4+), which helps recharge the battery incredibly fast, but Samsung is still stuck in the past here.
Naturally, you can also wirelessly charge the phone with a Qi-enabled charging pad, and Samsung supports Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 so it should juice up just as quickly as using the cable.
The S10e, like the S10 and S10 Plus, can also wirelessly charge other Qi products through a new feature called Wireless PowerShare that Huawei debuted on the Mate 20 Pro last year. In essence you just need to place a device that supports Qi wireless charging — like the Pixel 3 or the iPhone XR — on the back of the phone, turn on Wireless PowerShare, and it will start drawing power from the S10e.
Samsung Galaxy S10e Compared To
Sirin Labs Finney
Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro
Huawei Mate 20 X
Red Magic Phone
Motorola MOTORIZR Z3
Jitterbug Dial
Samsung SCH-u620
LG VX9400
Sony Ericsson K790a
Nokia N93
Blackberry 8700c
Blackberry 8700g
Nokia N90
Palm Treo 650
Motorola RAZR V3c
It likely won’t deliver a ton of power and will be slow, if Huawei’s Reverse Wireless Charging is anything to go by, but it can be extremely handy in situations where a friend’s phone is dangerously close to being dead.
Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds come in a case that supports wireless charging, so you can place the case on the S10e to recharge the earbuds back up if they’re low on power. It’s a small but helpful feature that will only be applicable to a few, specific instances. It’s a shame the pre-order bonus of a free pair of Galaxy Buds doesn’t include the S10e, but only the S10 and S10 Plus.
Price and availability
The Galaxy S10e costs $750, making it the cheapest flagship Galaxy smartphone of the 2019 lineup, though it’s still a little more expensive than the original price of the unlocked Galaxy S9. It comes with 128GB of storage, though you can pay a little more for the 256GB option (which also adds more RAM).
Pre-orders are available starting Feb. 21, and the phone ships on March 8. The Canary Yellow color seen here sadly won’t be coming to the U.S. — instead you’ll have to choose from black, blue, pink, and white. You can check our guide on how to buy the Galaxy S10e to learn about carrier pricing and deals.
The price for the S10e is sensible. You’re still getting powerful specs and a dual-camera array, but the lack of an in-display fingerprint sensor is disappointing. Imagine if Apple didn’t include Face ID on the iPhone XR? The design isn’t as sharp as the S10 or S10 Plus, but if you’re eyeing a Samsung phone and don’t want to shell out close to $1,000, the S10e is shaping up to be a great option. Stay tuned for a final verdict.