Samsung has officially announced new, more budget-friendly versions of its Galaxy S10 and Note10 smartphones, with a conspicuous silence about their authentication systems.
Nor has Samsung actually stated the prices of its new devices, for that matter. That they’re cheaper can be inferred from their names – the Galaxy S10 Lite and the Note10 Lite – and Samsung has asserted that they will be offered “at an accessible price point,” though it hasn’t put a figure to either device.
In announcing the devices, Samsung emphasized the S10 Lite’s sophisticated imaging capabilities, supported by the use of wide-angel, Ultra Wide angle, and Macro cameras; and the company highlighted the Note10’s S Pen stylus and its support for Bluetooth Low-Energy connectivity. Other “premium Galaxy features” that the new devices will bring to more users include their large displays, 4,500mAh batteries, and their use of the “defense-grade security platform Samsung Knox.”
Samsung’s announcement said nothing more about security, but a recent leak of what is thought to be the Galaxy S10 Lite’s user manual suggests that this device, at least, will once again feature the kind of in-display fingerprint scanning that was supported on the original Galaxy S10. Samsung’s silence on this feature may stem from the embarrassment the company suffered last autumn when it was discovered that its fingerprint scanning system would allow unregistered users to unlock a device if it was covered with a third-party screen protector. Samsung later issued a software update designed to fix this bug.
The company also issued a software update in November enabling authentication based on facial recognition on its Galaxy S10 5G smartphone; this modality is also very much a possibility on the new S10 Lite and Note10 Lite devices, though it remains to be seen whether they will support it.
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