Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite: Features | Specs

Where to buy

In the Android world, Samsung absolutely dominates in sales terms, thanks to its wide range of "Galaxy" branded phones. Its latest entry is a slightly odd one in naming terms, because it's the Galaxy S10 Lite. The Galaxy S10 range debuted just a little under a year ago, with the Galaxy S11 due to be announced in around a month, but Samsung's clearly betting on grabbing even more consumers with a high-value offering that doesn't quite carry that high-end price point.

Design

• Read more about the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite's design

  The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite effectively becomes the replacement for the existing Galaxy S10e, which was the lower-cost alternative pitched by Samsung when it first announced the Galaxy S10 series.

  The Galaxy S10 Lite features a large 6.7-inch 2,400×1,080 pixel display with a centrally located "punch hole" style camera at the front, very much in line with Samsung's established 2019 design styles. That being said, many of its 2019 phones tended to stick the punch hole camera to the sides; a centrally mounted camera gives this style similarity with the Samsung Galaxy Note10 series instead.

  At 75.6x162.5x8.1mm and with a carrying weight of 186g, it's going to be a large phone in the hand, but there's no real way of getting around that with a phone with a screen this size.

  Samsung has stated that it will produce the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite in Prism White, Prism Black and Prism Blue colours, although it's a fair bet that not every colour will be available in every market it launches the new phone into. At a guess, we're more likely to see the Black or White variants when and if the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite makes it to our shores.

Camera

• Macro, wide and ultra-wide lenses
• 32MP selfie camera

• Read more about the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite's camera

  For a phone with a "lite" suffix, you might expect dialled-back specifications from the Galaxy S10, but that's not quite what Samsung has done for the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite. Its primary wide-angle lens has a 48MP f/2.0 sensor with optical image stabilisation. It's joined by an ultra-wide 12MP f/2.2 sensor for your landscape needs, as well as a 5MP f/2.4 macro lens. The front-facing camera features a 32MP sensor for selfie-taking purposes

  It's still relatively rare to see macro lenses specifically on smartphones, although some premium models do use other lenses and add macro software modes to achieve similar effects.

  Samsung dropped a little behind its competition in camera terms in 2019, so we're very keen to see whether it can regain its place at the head of the pack with the Galaxy S10 Lite.

Performance

• Octa-core processor
• 6GB or 8GB of RAM
• One UI adds flexibility to core Android 10

• Read more about the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite's performance

  Samsung's spec sheet for the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite suggests it's running on a "7nm Octa-core processor (Max. 2.8GHz + 2.4GHz + 1.7GHz)", which most likely means that it's on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, although it's also feasible this may reference one of Samsung's own Exynos chips. Then again, Samsung could also do what it has done with previous Galaxy phones and offer both Qualcomm and Exynos variants depending on the market. It's matched up with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and again Samsung says that'll vary by market. You're not likely to be able to pick which RAM variant your country gets, with just the one 128GB storage model on sale.

  The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite will ship with Android 10 pre-installed, as well as Samsung's own "One UI" launcher. While some may prefer a pure Android approach, we've generally found One UI to be very easy to get along with, although we're less keen on Samsung's own homegrown Bixby assistant. Your own experience may of course vary.

Battery life

• Impressive 4,500mAh battery

• Read more about the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite's battery life

  Samsung rather subverts the usual expectations around what you might get out of a "Lite" phone, packing a 4,500mAh battery into the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite. To give that a little perspective, the Samsung Galaxy S10e ships with just 3,100mAh on board and that's effectively the phone that the Galaxy S10 Lite is replacing.

  Samsung hasn't yet stated whether the Galaxy S10 Lite will support wireless charging and that's perhaps a feature it may save for its more truly "premium" handsets. We'll have to wait and see.

Early outlook

• The value of the Galaxy S10 Lite will hinge on its precise price

• Read our early Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite verdict

  Samsung has announced the Galaxy S10 Lite at CES 2020, but it's yet to formally reveal exactly how much it will cost.

  That's not just how much it'll cost in Australia, that's the market price anywhere. Until we know that it's rather hard to come to any kind of early verdict. Some reports are suggesting pricing that would place it around $800–$1,000. That seems fair for what's on offer, but then again, Samsung already has plenty of its A-Series phones, such as the Galaxy A90 5G in that price bracket.

  There's also the upcoming Galaxy S11 – or possibly Galaxy S20, depending on which rumours you give credence to – to contend within a very short span of time.

  There's a compelling story to be told with the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite, but it will almost entirely hinge on the precise price Samsung puts on it when and if it lands in Australia.

Pricing and availability

Price

RRP: $1,105.00

Where to buy

Check price at eBay

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Specifications

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