Foldable phones might be around the corner – literally – but if you’re upgrading now, the class of 2019 is already full of flash new contenders

SAMSUNG S10+ THE RETURNING CHAMP

SONY XPERIA 1 THE WIDESCREEN WONDER

NOKIA 9 PUREVIEW THE CAMERA FREAK

XIAOMI MI 9 THE CHINESE UPSTART

LG G8 THINQ THE VEINY ONE (UGH)

WILD CARDS THE UNCONVENTIONAL ONES

SAMSUNG GALAXY S10+

Price from £899 / samsung.com

The Samsung Galaxy S10+ is one of the most important phones of the year; probably one of the best too. But can it match its rivals for sheer impact?

There’s curved Gorilla Glass on the front and back, and a band of shiny aluminium between. Dual front cameras demand a bit more space, so the display cut-out is much wider than in its lesser siblings (see below); but if you can ignore that black blip, this Samsung has the most all-screen front of any non-slider phone.

Still wired for sound

You still get a microSD slot and a headphone port, which is becoming rarer by the month. It also has an IP67 water-resistance rating and at least 128GB of storage.

The S10+’s ultrasonic fingerprint scanner is one of its tech selling points. A bunch of phones now have in-screen fingerprint scanners, but this one uses ultra-high-frequency sound waves. The scanner itself works fairly well, but it’s a bit weird… and the pad doesn’t light up – you have to guess where it is.

The all-screen look is fantastic, but the chunk of display eaten by those cameras is obvious if, say, you watch a movie. It’s even more obvious in apps with white backgrounds. And it’s much bigger than that of the Galaxy S10 or the Honor View 20.

Here be no ‘dragons

The S10+ has an Exynos 9820 CPU, in the UK at least, and performance is fab. Better than last year? Or the Pixel 3 XL or Huawei Mate 20 Pro? Not really. Those phones are fast, and there’s actually not a huge performance boost here over the main rivals. It does have a punchier graphics chipset than the Mate 20 Pro, though, with two extra cores. And you can play processor-melting games such as Ark Survival Evolved maxed out with no problems.

It shoots, it scores

The three rear cameras are fantastic for all kinds of photography, but is the array better than the Mate 20 Pro’s? We’d have to say no, but video is a jaw-dropper, with Super Steady mode particularly awesome.

Tech specs

● 6.4in 3040x1440 AMOLED ● Exynos 9820 ● 8GB/12GB RAM ● Android 9 ● 12MP + 12MP + 16MP rear, 10MP + 8MP front ● 4100mAh ● 128GB/512GB/1TB ● 158x74x7.8mm, 175g

STUFF SAYS Big, brilliant, dripping in tech, but not exceptional ★★★★

GET IT NOW

SAMSUNG GALAXY S10

The standard S10 features a 6.1in HDR10+ OLED Infinity-O display with a 93.1% screen-to-body ratio. Front-facing camera tech is squeezed into that tiny punch-hole, while on the back are 12MP f/1.5 main, 16MP f/1.9 ultra-wide and 13MP f/2.4 telephoto triple lenses. Reverse wireless charging lets you lend power to others, and there’s a beefy octa-core chip at its heart from £799

SAMSUNG GALAXY S10 E

Keen to jump on the Galaxy bandwagon, but unsure your bank account can cope? Put some of those worries to bed with the S10 E, a cheap and cheerful alternative to the full-fat S10. The E version is smaller than its premium sibling and comes with one less camera lens on the back. Crucially, though, it’s a lot less expensive while retaining that 19:9 OLED display and wireless power-sharing. £669