Samsung has won a lot of people over with the Galaxy series of phones. Those fans were hard-won and cost billions in court fees and losses, not to mention goodwill.
They seemingly started out by copying every detail of the iPhone from hardware to software to packing. Several court cases and embarrassing revelations later, they decided to be known as innovators. Samsung wanted you to believe that the features in any upcoming iPhone were already too late to market.
“The next big thing is already here.” That became their mantra.
Still obsessed with the iPhone, their strategy became to do the opposite of whatever Apple was pushing with the iPhone. Whatever Apple did, Samsung would mock it and show it as a weakness and point of differentiation. There is no better example of this than with Apple’s removal of the headphone jack in the iPhone 7.
Now, Forbes is saying that a “Galaxy S10 Leak ‘Confirms’ Samsung’s Nasty Surprise.”
“In a major exclusive, Bloomberg has confirmed the biggest details we already knew about the Galaxy S10. But it also revealed there is truth to a nasty rumour which leaked earlier this month: Samsung is ‘toying’ with removing the Galaxy S10’s headphone jack.
“ Bloomberg says the jack-less Galaxy S10 is currently at the prototype stage and it is indicative of a wider change that the company ‘may follow Apple in going completely wireless with its devices.’”
If true, this would prove to be a major shift, not only with regard to the headphone jack removal but with Samsung’s current strategy of counterprogramming Apple’s every move. It also brings into question why Samsung would have pursued commercials showing the iPhone’s lack of a headphone jack this year.
https://youtu.be/-O_MjXbX3VA
That said, there is still reason for Samsung loyalists to not lose heart. The great headphone jack battle could still rage on another year. For one, this was all fueled by a Bloomberg report. This is a moment when Bloomberg may not be taken seriously with regard to unsubstantiated reporting on tech companies.
Two, Samsung has been rumored to be getting rid of the headphone jack every year since Apple did it. And it hasn’t happened yet. Finally, this is a prototype. All of these companies prototype everything. It should never be considered a certain indicator of what they are about to release.
We don’t know what the Galaxy S10 will be until we see it on stage at an unveiling event. Industry analysts agree that it is inevitable that Samsung will have to remove it at some point for all the reasons Apple removed it. The S10 seems like a good candidate. But it is equally possible that Samsung will not want to make this significant anniversary edition a target for cheap criticism. We will know for sure soon enough.