The Galaxy S10 series is at the tail end of its shelf life, with the next generation Galaxy S20 set to be unpacked in less than two weeks’ time. That isn’t stopping Samsung from delivering yet another model in its flagship Galaxy S line-up—the Galaxy S10 Lite, the fifth under the banner. Like the Galaxy S10e, the Galaxy S10 Lite offers many of the key flagship-level features of the S10 and S10+. What’s interesting is that it brings several enhancements of its own. Seeing that it’s offered at the same pricing as the Galaxy S10e, it may prove muddling for consumers.
Which should you pick?
The Galaxy S10 Lite or the Galaxy S10e? Let’s have a look.
The Galaxy S10 Lite is a considerably bigger phone than the S10e, but aesthetically they follow a common design language. The most obvious difference is found on the back—the triple-camera array on the S10 Lite is arranged vertically and placed on the top left; as opposed to the dual-camera horizontal array found on the S10e.
Colour offerings are different too: the S10 Lite gets Prism White, Prism Black and Prism Blue; the S10e has Prism White, Prism Black, Prism Green, Prism Blue, Canary Yellow and Flamingo Pink.
One key difference is one that you can’t see: IP-rating. The S10 Lite is not IP-rated, unlike the rest of the S10 family, which tout IP68 dust- and water-resistance.
The S10 Lite is also made of “glasstic”—a glass-like plastic body wrapped around a metal frame. The S10e, on the other hand, is full-on premium glass on metal.
Because of a substantially bigger battery, the S10 Lite is heftier at 186g compared to the S10e’s 150g.
The new 6.7-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED Plus packs slightly less pixel density than the 5.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED display on the S10e but they both offer HDR10+ and supports Samsung’s Always-on display.
You’ll notice the placement of the punch-hole camera on the S10 Lite emulates the Note10 series, centralised at the top. Meanwhile, the S10e’s placed on the top right-hand corner.
Under the hood, both models don’t disappoint, featuring last year’s top-of-the-line SoC—Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 (the S10e also gets the 8nm Exynos 9820 depending on markets).
Both share 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage and offer microSD expansion.
The camera department is where it gets interesting. In my opinion, it’s not a question of which one’s better, but more of what kind of shots you like to take.
Looking back, the S10e offers dual-camera setup: a 12MP f/1.5-2.4 variable aperture wide-angle main camera with Dual Pixel PDAF and OIS. Complementing this is a 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera with Super Steady Video.
The S10 Lite, on the other hand, gets the benefit of an additional camera—a 5MP f/2.4 dedicated macro camera. This is coupled with a 48MP f/2.0 wide-angle camera with PDAF and Super Steady OIS and a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera.
Comparing the two, the S10e should come out better at low-light conditions thanks to its faster lens and bigger pixel size sensor. That said, the S10 Lite will offer bigger resolution and possibly better detail.
In the selfie side of things, the S10 Lite whips the S10e in terms of resolution—32MP vs 10MP. However, if you read between the lines, the S10 Lite has a slow f/2.2 aperture lens and smaller 0.8-ultra-pixel pixel size compared to the S10e’s f/1.9 aperture lens and 1.22-ultra-pixel.
Another key difference is that the S10 Lite features an under-display optical fingerprint scanner, while the S10e packs a side-mounted scanner. Which is better? You be the judge.
Finally, the S10 Lite integrates a massive 4,500mAh battery that supports 45W fast-charging. The S10e is soundly beaten here with just 3,100mAh and 15W fast-charging. The S10e, however, supports fast wireless charging and reverse wireless charging while the S10 Lite does not.
Tech specs compared
| Galaxy S10 Lite | Galaxy S10e | |
| Display | 6.7-inch, Super AMOLED Infinity-O, 2400×1080 pixels, 20:9, HDR10+ certified | 5.8-inch, Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O, 2280×1080 pixels, 19:9, HDR10+ certified |
| Processor | Snapdragon 855 octa-core (up to 2.84GHz), 7nm, 64-bit | Exynos 9820/Snapdragon 855, octa-core, 8nm/7nm, 64-bit |
| RAM | 8GB | 8GB |
| Rear Camera | 48MP, OIS, autofocus, 4K video recording, f/2.0; 12MP super wide-angle, 123-degree FOV, f/2.2; 5MP macro, f/2.4 | 12MP, OIS, Dual Pixel autofocus, 4K video recording, f/1.5-2.4; 16MP super wide-angle, 123-degree FOV, f/2.2 |
| Front camera | 32MP, f/2.2 | 10MP, f/1.9, Dual Pixel autofocus |
| Storage | 128GB, microSD slot (up to 1TB) | 128GB, microSD slot (up to 512GB) |
| Software | Android 10, One UI 2.0 | Android 9 Pie, One UI |
| Battery | 4,500mAh, super fast wired charging (25W) | 3,100mAh, fast wired and fast wireless charging, reverse wireless charging (PowerShare) |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, LTE Cat.11, MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, ANT+, USB Type-C, NFC, GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, LTE Cat.20, MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, ANT+, USB Type-C, NFC, GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou |
| Other features | Under-glass fingerprint sensor, Samsung Pay, Bixby, face recognition, AR Emoji, Dolby Atmos | AKG earphones, stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos, AR Emoji, Bixby, Samsung Pay, IP68 dust & water resistance, face recognition |
| Dimensions | 162.5 x 75.6 x 8.1mm, 186g | 142.2×69.9×7.9mm, 150g |
Pricing and availability
The Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy S10e retail at MYR2,699.
You can pre-order the Galaxy S10 Lite starting 3 February until 5 February. Stocks will be available nationwide starting 7 February 2020 onwards.
Pre-order and get a Galaxy Fit (worth MYR369) for free.
Verdict
Similarly priced, both the Galaxy S10 Lite and S10e offer impressive amounts of kit. There are key similarities and differences.
Which is better, you ask? It’s a tough question to answer.
In the end, it is going to boil down to your personal preference. The reason why the S10e was popular among some consumers was because of its size. Not everyone wants a big phone.
Now, with the S10 Lite, Samsung is catering to those who want an even bigger screen than the S10+.
The S10 Lite loses a couple of non-essentials (in my opinion) but gains a couple of features that truly matter, like a bigger battery and faster charging.
The S10e still holds its own if you can tolerate the weaker battery life.
What do you think? What’s your pick and why?
