By Liam Tung
Ahead of next month’s unveiling of the Galaxy S10, Samsung has taken the wraps off a mid-range Galaxy phone that features the same Infinity-O ‘hole-punch’ screen that’s expected on its flagships.
The company today unveiled the Galaxy A9 Pro, featuring a tri-camera setup on the rear with the single left-side hole-punch on the front for a 2.4-megapixel camera.
Infinity-O is Samsung’s answer to the iPhone notch and could be a less intrusive way of designing space for a camera on a full screen phone.
The Galaxy A9 Pro follows Samsung’s launch of the Galaxy A9, the world’s first phone with four rear cameras.
Both devices are examples of Samsung’s promise last year to bring new features to its mid-range smartphones first to compete with cheaper phones from Chinese rivals, Huawei, Vivo, and Oppo.
The two features are expected to appear in the Galaxy AS10 models, which Samsung is set to unveil at Mobile World Congress next month.
The Galaxy S10 is tipped to have a 6.1-inch screen and possibly three cameras, while the larger S10+ could have a 6.8-inch display with up to four rear cameras.
It has been said that the choice for connectivity comes down to coverage and cost. It used to be that if you picked coverage, the cost was high. If you picked a more pocketbook-friendly alternative, your coverage suffered. Today, connectivity providers are able to present a hybrid amalgamation of cellular and Wi-Fi features, created to exploit the complementary powers of each technology.
Samsung is expected to launch a third, cheaper variant called the Galaxy S10 E with a 5.8-inch display that would go head to head with the iPhone XR.
The three rear cameras on the Galaxy A9 Pro include a 24-megapixel main camera, a 10-megapixel telephoto camera, and a five-megapixel third camera. Inside, it comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The screen is in a 19.5:9 aspect ratio.
The device will retail in Korea for 599,500 won, which converts to about $535.
