Business

The date for Samsung’s next Unpacked event just leaked (again)

Yes, the event for the Galaxy S10.

by
Joe Rice-Jones
January 10, 2019

galaxy s10 teaser with galaxy print on black background

Image: SamMobile

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Just before the holidays, we saw a report from Gizmodo’s UK arm that pointed at the date Samsung would reveal the hotly-anticipated Galaxy S10 and end the perpetual rumor mill. That date was the 20th of February, and it also pointed out that Samsung would be doing a special Samsung Unpacked event, skipping both CES 2019 and MWC 2019.

CES 2019 is almost over and no whisper of a word to do with the Galaxy S10 has come, lending validity to that earlier reporting. At least, no word from Samsung itself. We do have a couple of new reports that back up that February 20th date and also call out the location of the event – San Francisco.

Serial leaker Ice universe sent a super quick tweet earlier today to just mention the February 20th date, adding that it will be in San Francisco and an emoji blown kiss.

https://twitter.com/UniverseIce/status/1083294133328826368

More about the date and event

Both the Wall Street Journal and The Korea Herald also reported that date and place earlier, so Ice might have just been reiterating their reporting, or possibly had his own source. None of the reports talk about preorder dates or physical launch dates, although the S10 is rumored to be in stores by March 8th. UK Mobile operator, EE, already has an interest check up on their website, so the launch is obviously imminent.

With the Galaxy S10 marking Samsung’s 10th anniversary of Galaxy handsets, the Herald mentions that Samsung is doing things a little differently this time around. Unveiling just before MWC 2019 in Barcelona should give Samsung’s handset a bit of breathing room before competitors release their flagships at the event. Huawei is ever-closer to nipping at Samsung’s heels, and with its own foldable phone rumored to be shown off in Barcelona, Samsung needs any head start they can get.

Samsung and the foldable phone

The only important handset news coming out of CES 2019 for Samsung is confirmation that the foldable handset will be available in the first half of 2019. That would make MWC 2019 a perfect time to unfold it fully, without interfering with the hype around the Galaxy S10. Pricing for the foldable phone has been reported at anywhere between around $1,300 and $2,400; the Herald’s own reporting says a price in the middle of that, at $1,788.

The reporting in the Wall Street Journal also corroborates the February 20th, San Francisco event. However, they also say that a fully-functional foldable phone will be shown off at that event. I have to wonder at the naming Samsung will use. Galaxy 20? Galaxy S10²? If the Note is named after a notebook, maybe the foldable phone will be Fold, after a folder?

I guess we’ll know soon enough, as invites to the launch event can’t be that far away. A Galaxy S10 launch teaser appeared online, which was noticed by SamMobile.

What do you think? Excited for the Galaxy S10 announcement? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.