That’s all she wrote, folks. The curtain is up and the stage is being swept clean. Galaxy Unpacked is over again — at least, until Samsung’s next major smartphone needs to be revealed.
But if you were watching along, then you know we were treated to a true smorgasbord of technological advances during the show. If you weren’t watching along — well, then you’ve come to the right place. From incredible folding smartphones to the newest flagships to reverse wireless charging a bunch of new wearables, here’s everything we saw at Galaxy Unpacked 2019.
Samsung Galaxy Fold
It kicked off the show and it’s likely to be the biggest takeaway most people had coming out of the event. Samsung’s folding smartphone is here, and it’s a beauty. Named the Samsung Galaxy Fold, Samsung’s foldable smartphone uses an innovative new hinge system to open and close like a book, seamlessly switching between the outer 4.6-inch screen and the inner 7.3-inch tablet-like screen.
But though the folding tech is impressive, the Galaxy Fold dazzles inside, too. It comes with an unnamed 7nm processor, an astounding 12GB of RAM, and 512GB of onboard storage. Two batteries mean a battery capacity of 4,380mAh, and you can be sure the huge screen will be a huge power draw. That huge display can be put to good use and you’ll be able to use three apps in the split-screen mode for the first time. There are three camera lenses on the back, joined by two on the front, and another single lens on the cover, too — making six lenses.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold will come in LTE and 5G versions and it will launch on April 26. But it’ll cost you to get a hold of this tech; the price starts at a stunningly high $1,980.
Read more about the foldable Samsung Galaxy phone
Samsung Galaxy S10 range
This one was no surprise. Samsung’s offices have been like a leaky sieve for the last six months, so by the time it arrived on stage, we knew exactly what we were going to see. But all three models in the S10 range — the Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10 Plus — all still took our breath away.
The new Infinity-O displays are absolutely the star of the show for the S10 range. Using a laser-cutting method, Samsung carefully sliced a hole out of its AMOLED displays, making a peephole for the selfie camera — or the two on the front of the S10 Plus.
They’re not all style and no substance, though. All three models in the range — from the huge S10 Plus to the cheaper, smaller S10, are powered by the powerful new Snapdragon 855, promising next-gen levels of power. The cameras have been revamped, and the S10 and S10 Plus both sport triple-lens camera suites with a wide-angle, telephoto zoom, and variable aperture lenses. The S10e only has two rear lenses, but with the variable aperture main lens and a wide-angle lens, it should still take some impressive photos. All three phones can even charge another device wirelessly, thanks to PowerShare.
The displays use Samsung’s impressive new Dynamic AMOLED screen tech, but the really impressive stuff lies below. Samsung incorporated in-display fingerprint scanners on the S10 and S10 Plus — but these are a little bit special, too. They’re ultrasonic — the first in smartphone tech — and they provide an extra layer of strong security not possible with regular fingerprint scanners.
All three phones are up for pre-order on February 21 and will ship on March 8. If you pre-order a Galaxy S10 or S10 Plus from now until March 7, you’ll get Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds for free (they cost $120 separately).
Read more in our Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus hands-on review and our Galaxy S10e hands-on review.
Samsung Galaxy S10 5G
You thought three S10 models were enough? Well, you thought wrong. Samsung is leaning hard into 5G with another model of the S10 — the Galaxy S10 5G.
It’s best to think of this as a supersized version of the Galaxy S10 range — the Galaxy S10 5G packs a massive 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED display, the Snapdragon 855, 8GB of RAM, and a 4,500mAh battery. It comes with a fourth camera lens: A Time-of-Flight sensor used to detect the distance between objects for accurate 3D mapping.
But it’s the network connection where this phone will really shine. It’s built to work with 5G, the world’s newest and fastest mobile internet connection. It’s very much in its early stages at the moment, but expect to see more of this as it starts to roll out across the U.S.
But like the Galaxy Fold, don’t expect this new tech to come cheap. Pricing isn’t currently known, but expect it to be well over the $1,000 it costs for the Galaxy S10 Plus. It’ll likely be coming in the second quarter of 2019 and be sold first on Verizon exclusively, before coming to Sprint, Spectrum Mobile, Xfinity Mobile, T-Mobile, and AT&T later in the same quarter.
Read more about the Galaxy S10 5G
Samsung Galaxy Watch Active and Galaxy Fit
But Samsung’s not all about phones — it cares about keeping us fit, too. In order to stop us all getting fat while staring at our new smartphones all day, Samsung introduced two new fitness-focused wearables — the Galaxy Watch Active and the Galaxy Fit.
Both of these devices are smaller, sleeker devices than we’ve seen from Samsung in a while. The Galaxy Watch Active is a smartwatch in the Galaxy Watch‘s style, while the Galaxy Fit revives Samsung’s classic line of fitness bands. Both run Samsung’s Tizen operating system, and both will be able to track an impressive number of exercises. The Galaxy Watch Active is especially impressive, though — it’s going to be the first Samsung wearable to be able to track blood pressure.
The Galaxy Watch Active will start at $200, and be available for pre-order from February 21 and will release March 8. Pricing isn’t known for the Galaxy Fit yet, but rumors say it will release in the second quarter of 2019.
Read more about the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active and Galaxy Fit
Galaxy Buds
We had been waiting for a new version of Samsung’s Gear IconX earphones for a while, but it seems the Galaxy Bids may have been worth the wait.
Wireless headphones in the truest sense of the term, the Galaxy Buds come with a charging case that can be recharged wirelessly — and from your Galaxy S10, no less — and though there’s no noise cancellation, it comes with some more special features to help hear your ambient surroundings if you’re out jogging while listening to music.
They’re not packed with features — and not waterproof, unfortunately — but at $129, these may be priced well enough to earn some fans. Best of all, Samsung is throwing them in for free with every Galaxy Fold, S10, and S10 Plus pre-order. Otherwise, they’re available from March 8.
Read more about the Galaxy Buds
Updated on February 20, 2019: We’ve updated the article to include everything that was announced at Galaxy Unpacked 2019.
