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Samsung W2019 'leak' shows no headphone jack: Is this a test-run for Galaxy S10?
- Images of the Samsung W2019 have purportedly appeared on Weibo.
- The pictures show a clamshell phone without a headphone jack.
- Samsung has previously brought features to the W series before flagship phones received them.
The Samsung W series is probably the company’s quirkiest smartphone range, offering clamshell designs and ludicrous price tags. We’ve heard murmurings of a Samsung W2019, and it seems like the first images may have appeared online.
The pictures were posted by a Weibo user (h/t: GizChina) and show a clamshell smartphone with what appears to be Samsung branding at the top of the screen.
One of the biggest takeaways is that the phone doesn’t appear to have a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top or bottom. The top understandably hosts the clamshell hinge, but we only see a speaker grille and USB Type-C port at the bottom of the device (as seen in the main image).
Samsung has been one of the biggest proponents of the headphone jack in the first place, so omitting the standard would be a sea-change for the company. This could also be indicative of Samsung’s 2019 flagship plans. Last year’s W2018 offered a dual-aperture camera before the Galaxy S9 grabbed the feature, so Samsung could conceivably be testing another “feature” before bringing it to the next flagship.
The news comes a week after Bloomberg claimed Samsung has a Galaxy S10 prototype without a headphone jack. This doesn’t necessarily mean a final decision has been made, so there’s still hope for fans of the standard.
Other than the missing headphone jack, there isn’t much else to know about the clamshell device. We have a screen on the outside (much like previous W series devices), a dual-camera arrangement on the back, but no rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. This could mean there’s an in-display fingerprint sensor or a scanner on the keypad.
The images don’t show the inside of the phone or the UI, which would’ve gone some way to showing that it’s indeed the real deal. But Samsung usually reveals its new W series phone in the last few months of the year, so we won’t have to wait too long to find out. Just don’t expect to buy the W2019 outside China, because the series is usually a regional exclusive.
What do you make of these images? Would you buy a Samsung phone without a headphone jack? Give us your thoughts in the comments below.
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