Samsung Galaxy S10e vs S10: Is Affordable Good Enough?

Introduction

Samsung's Galaxy S10e and Galaxy S10 started selling in March of 2019.

With this article, you'll be able to compare every feature of the Galaxy S10e and the Galaxy S10. Then, you can decide what model better suits your needs. Let's start.

If you have the time, click here to skip the spoilers and continue to the full comparison.

These phones have similar prices, but generally, the Galaxy S10e is more affordable. That's something you should keep in mind when comparing them.

For each featured section, there's a "Tek-Score" for you to check. For a quicker analysis of how far they are from each other, we'll consider all their specifications. You'll also have a global comparison rate if you aren't sure about these two.  ? 

Our Tek-Score is based on a study done by Globalwebindex.com about the most wanted features from people looking to buy new smartphones. But you can fine-tune the global score depending on what matters to you. You can check it out here or just keep reading until you get there.

For additional information regarding our smartphone comparisons, check this FAQ.

You'll also see a progress bar underlining some features. It's there for you to better understand how they sit side by side with equivalently priced phones.  ? 

You can click here:  i  to view the ones we're comparing to, but basically, we've excluded every smartphone that's not within a 20% (above or below) price range.

Some items are underlined, and you can tap to access several top 10 tables for every budget.

Price*			vs.
Device	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10
Release Date	2019, March	2019, March	0y.
OS Updates	3 years	3 years	0y.
Security Updates	4 years	4 years	0y.

*Reference: 100: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

Which One Has The Best Performance?

On the multicore portion of Geekbench 5, which measures overall performance, the Galaxy S10 was, on average, 4% quicker while finishing its tests. Basically, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.  ? 

We can classify both of them as upper mid-range.

Both come with the Exynos 9820, so this actually isn't a speed race.

This also isn't a GPU battle because they all have a Mali-G76 MP12.

They all were released with the Android 9 (Pie) and OneUI OS.

PS: Both the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 (with the Adreno 640 GPU) and the Exynos 9820 (with the Mali-G76) are market-dependent. Click here for more info about the Galaxy S10e or click here for more info about the Galaxy S10.

There's a performance increase of about 17% on the 855 for both of them.

Performance*			vs.
Features	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10
SoC	Exynos 9820	Exynos 9820
Graphics	Mali-G76 MP12	Mali-G76 MP12
Geekbench 5 Score	2077	2153	76
OS	Android 9 (Pie) and OneUI	Android 9 (Pie) and OneUI
Tek-Score	5.5	5.6	0.1

*Reference: 100: Apple iPhone 12.

Which Phone Has The Best Display?

The Galaxy S10 is the title-holder here, but it shouldn't be that noticeable.

While the Galaxy S10 got a 6.1-inch AMOLED display, the Galaxy S10e got a smaller AMOLED display with 5.8-inches. It all comes down to personal preferences for both the display type and size. AMOLED has perfect contrast and viewing angles, but its whites do hurt the battery life.

Do you despise big screens? Then, there aren't many devices to consider besides the Galaxy S10e. Other similarly priced smartphones just aren't that short.

The Galaxy S10 has a higher-resolution 1440x3040 Quad HD display, and the Galaxy S10e makes do with a 1080x2280 Full HD panel.

The Galaxy S10 sets itself apart from most smartphones in its class: Its high DPI display.

It's better to be safe than sorry, so you need to know about their glass protection. The Galaxy S10e has a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, while the Galaxy S10 display has a previous generation Gorilla Glass 6.

If you're looking for the Always-On-Display feature, rest assured: it's here on both.

If you set your brightness to auto, you can count on 803 nits maximum brightness for both Galaxys.  ? 

These two can play HDR10+ shootings.

If you're leaning towards any of these, you should know that 96% of its rivals can play HDR content, 92% have an AMOLED screen, and 81% of them have an Always-On display.

Display Density (DPIs)*			vs.
Features	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10
Size	5.8	6.1	0.3
Screen Type	AMOLED	AMOLED
Resolution (px)	1080x2280	1440x3040	1915200
Refresh Rate	60hz	60hz	0
Dots per Inch	434.98	551.44	116.47
Always-On-Display	Yes	Yes
Notch	Hole	Hole
Peak Brightness	803 nits	820 nits	17
HDR	HDR10+	HDR10+
Sub Tek-Score	8.6	9.2	0.5
Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 5	Corning Gorilla Glass 6
Tek-Score	6.6	8.0	1.4

*Reference: 100: Sony Xperia 1 II.

Which Phone Has The Best Cameras?

We can safely state that both phones have similar cameras.

Who's gonna win this battle? Samsung's Galaxy S10e can record videos at up to 2160p. It also has a shooter with 12 Megapixels, an aperture of f/1.5, a 26mm wide-angle lens, one flash LED, HDR capabilities, and Optical Image Stabilization.

It also has another shooter with a 16 Megapixels sensor and an aperture of f/2.2 plus a 12mm ultra-wide-angle lens.

You can find a dual aperture camera on the Galaxy S10e that allows you to choose between f/1.5 or f/2.4.

Want to know about its selfie capabilities? It has a 10 MP (f/1.9) shooter and a 26 mm wide-angle lens.

I'm sure the guys at DXOMARK will not look back at this camera, but we can place it at around 113* points. If you add its wide-angle lens, you'll end up with a score of 119**.

To put things in perspective: you'd probably like to know that all of its rivals can record videos in 4K or more and have an ultra-wide-angle lens, and 85% of them feature Optical Image Stabilization. Nevertheless, only 15% of them feature a macro lens.

As you're about to see, the Galaxy S10 shares the Galaxy S10e camera setup. It also has a secondary 12 Megapixels camera with an aperture of f/2.4 plus a 52mm telephoto lens, and an extra 16 Megapixels (f/2.2) with a 12mm ultra-wide-angle lens.

There's a dual aperture shooter on the Galaxy S10 that allows you to choose between f/1.5 or f/2.4.

You can get selfies with 10 MP Megapixels. It has a lens with f/1.9 of aperture and a 26 mm wide-angle lens.

DXOMARK's gurus gave this shooter a score of 116. And if we consider the telephoto and wide-angle lenses, we'll get to the final rate of 129** points. For an out-and-out review, check their article.

Last (but not least), just like the other device, all of its rivals can record videos in 4 or 8K and have an ultra-wide-angle lens, and 85% of them feature Optical Image Stabilization. Additionally, only 15% of them feature a macro lens.

One can place the Galaxy S10e as an upper mid-range and the Galaxy S10 in the lower high-end ballpark.

What I really like about the Galaxy S10 is the 2x telephoto lens. This gives you an extra bit of freedom when taking your photos.

The Galaxy S10's lens can deliver a shallower depth of field and yield sharper results along the way without introducing camera shake because of its aperture.

*DXOMARK knows how to test these shooters out. Unfortunately, they don't test every smartphone camera out there. So when I get my hands on one of them, I take every hardware specs (like lenses, sensor size, OIS, aperture, and so on) and give a comparable score. This rate should have a maximum of 2 points (up or down) margin of error.  ? 

**This rate still needs improvement, particularly on mid-end cameras with less than 40MP and no zoom lens. They just changed their protocol, and I need more reviewed devices to fine-tune older scores.

Picture Quality*			vs.
Primary Camera	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10
Megapixels	12	12	0
Aperture	1.5	1.5	0.0
Lens	26mm	26mm	0
Lens Type	Wide-Angle	Wide-Angle
Flash	1	1	0
HDR	Yes	Yes
OIS	Yes	Yes
Video	2160	2160	0
Score	119	129	10

*Reference: 100: Huawei Mate 40 Pro.

Extra Camera(s)	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10	vs.
Megapixels	16	12	-4
Aperture	2.2	2.4	0.2
Lens	12mm	52mm (2x zoom)	40
Lens Type	Ultra-wide-Angle	Telephoto lens
Megapixels	-	16
Aperture	-	2.2
Lens	-	12mm
Lens Type	-	Ultra-wide-Angle
Score	6	13	7

Selfie Camera	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10	vs.
Megapixels	10	10	0
Aperture	1.9	1.9	0.0
Lens	26mm	26mm	0

	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10	vs.
Tek-Score	7.0	7.6	0.6

Who has the best frame?

They're not that far apart, so you can't go wrong here.

The Galaxy S10e comes at 142x69 mm (5.59x2.72 inches). The Galaxy S10 came out 0.28 inches (7 mm) taller and 0.04 inches (1 mm) larger.

When it comes to thickness, there's no difference here: 7 mm (0.28 inches). In addition to that, the Galaxy S10e is indeed small. About 12% smaller when compared to other phones at nearly the same price.

All of that goodness is presented in a sleek glass body. The Galaxy S10e weighs 150 g. (5.29 oz), while the other is 7 g. (0.28 oz) heavier. If you're curious, I've developed a formula for a kind of "display size to phone weight" ratio. The Galaxy S10e got a score of 7.8, which implies it's one of the lightest phones for a 5.8 inches display. The Galaxy S10, in its turn, has 7.9, which suggests exceptional work from Samsung.  ? 

You'll also get some color options here. The Samsung Galaxy S10 comes in Prism White, Prism Green, Prism Black, Flamingo Pink, Canary Yellow, Prism Blue, Cardinal Red, and Smoke Blue. The Samsung Galaxy S10e, in its turn, comes in Prism White, Prism Green, Prism Black, Flamingo Pink, Canary Yellow, and Prism Blue.

If you like to keep your phones small, consider getting the Samsung Galaxy S10e. If not, then the other one may not be a great choice either.

Would you like to have a fingerprint scanner? Both devices included it.

The Galaxy S10e is water-resistant in up to 1 to 3 meters, on par with the Galaxy S10. Remember that it shouldn't be for over half an hour, and it's standby mode only. So don't take photos underwater.

Looks*			vs.
Body	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10
Size	142 x 69 x 7 mm (5.01 x 2.43 x 0.25 in)	149 x 70 x 7 mm (5.26 x 2.47 x 0.25 in)	4424
Weight	150 g. (5.29 oz)	157 g. (5.54 oz)	7
Build	Front and back glass	Front and back glass
Colors	Prism White, Prism Green, Prism Black, Flamingo Pink, Canary Yellow, and Prism Blue	Prism White, Prism Green, Prism Black, Flamingo Pink, Canary Yellow, Prism Blue, Cardinal Red, and Smoke Blue
Screen To Body Ratio	85.70%	89.05%	3.35
Disp.Size To Weight Score	7.8	7.9	0.1
Looks	9.7/10	10.0/10	0.3
Waterproof	IP68	IP68
Biometrics	Side-mounted Fingerprint	Under Display Fingerprint
Tek-Score	9.2	8.9	-0.3

*100% = 4+ colors + front and back glass + S2BR: 86+%.

Which has the best battery?

At 3100 mAh, the Galaxy S10e is the owner of the smallest battery, while the Galaxy S10 features 3400 mAh. But according to GSMArena's tests, you shouldn't expect any real contrast here.

This is what the Galaxy S10e delivers if you do a complete charge:  ? 

• After 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you should have 79% of the battery left for the rest of the day.
• From 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll probably have 61% left for the rest of the day.
• If you do 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 3 hours of video playback, you'll be with 65%.

And this is what you'll get out of the Galaxy S10:

• By talking for 1 hour, browsing the web for 1 hour, and playing videos for 1 hour, you'll still have 78% left.
• For 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, this phone should end up with 58%.
• By talking for 1 hour, browsing the web for 1 hour, and playing videos for 3 hours, you'll still get 62% to spend doing other things.

Battery life on the Galaxy S10e isn't anything to write home about, but Samsung did a great job here if you ask me. Its "battery to device size" rate is 7.7.  ? 

The battery life on the Galaxy S10 is worse than other similarly priced devices. These tests show that it lasts up to 8% less.

They can both do 15 watts when charging, so there's nothing to see here.

There's also wireless charging (15w) in both of them. Cool.

You can wirelessly charge any compatible device from these smartphones. How cool is that?

The Snapdragon 855 chipset has another advantage: A battery life boost of about 15% (screen-on-time) if you compare it to the Exynos 9820.

Battery*			vs.
Features	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10
Capacity (mAh)	3100	3400	300
1h Talk + 1h Web + 1h Video	79% left	78% left	-1
1h Talk + 3h Web + 1h Video	61% left	58% left	-3
1h Talk + 1h Web + 3h Video	65% left	62% left	-3
Bat. To Phone Size Score  ?	7.7	5.9	-1.7
Sub Tek-Score	6.8	6.6	-0.2
Fast Charging	15w	15w	0
Wireless Charging	15w	15w	0
Reverse Charging	9w	9w	0
Tek-Score	6.8	6.5	-0.3

*Reference: 90: Samsung Galaxy A31.

Which has more storage?

None of them has.

Samsung put 6GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage on the Galaxy S10e. Space won't be an issue because you can top that with a MicroSD card.

On the Galaxy S10, you'll find 128GB of internal storage and 8GB of RAM. If you need additional storage, you can also insert a MicroSD card on it.

Storage*			vs.
Features	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10
RAM (GB)	6GB	8GB	2
Internal (GB)	128GB	128GB	0
Micro SD	microSDXC (shared SIM slot)	microSDXC (shared SIM slot)
Tek-Score	7.5	7.5	0.0

*Internal Storage + 256GB Memory Card (Max: 512GB).

Which is the most connectivity-friendly?

They also don't stand out on any of these features.

Bluetooth 5.0 is here, on both of them. Both phones also have NFC, so nothing special here.

Do you already have a pair of wireless buds? If not, you can skip them (for now).

You can find the Galaxy S10 in the LTE or (LTE and) 5G variants. This allows you to get a version of the Galaxy S10 with a 0.3MP depth camera, 256GB of storage, a larger 6.7-inch display, a 4500 mAh battery, and fast charging at 25w.

Connectivity			vs.
Features	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10
Network	LTE	LTE (also available in 5G)
Bluetooth	5.0	5.0
NFC	Yes	Yes
3.5mm jack	Yes	Yes
Tek-Score	8.5	8.5	0.0

Which is more affordable?

The Samsung Galaxy S10e may not be the cheapest phone, but it's cheaper nonetheless. But if you do search for any deals and price drops, things can get interesting. The Samsung Galaxy S10, in its turn, isn't that cheap, but I'm not here to tell you if it's worth it. One can hope that at least it may age better.

Don't worry, because the following tables will help you make up your mind.

Here are the best deals on some major online stores:

Reference: $428

Check now

$539.99

Check now

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Samsung Galaxy S10e

Reference: $499

$604.99

$433.00

Check now

Check now

Samsung Galaxy S10

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Prices on eBay are in $US but Europe-based. You can click to check the prices in your country.

Prices marked with ! are from renewed/refurbished/carrier-locked phones (except eBay prices that, as a last resort, can be from bids or used devices).

How much of a "phone" can your money buy?
That's how much "score" you can get with $100 based on the global score that you'll see in the next section (higher is better).

Have you found better prices elsewhere? The formula is simple: score/price*100.

Also, don't forget to check the latest deals from these four stores, and the state of the art on mobile technology, if you don't want to overpay on your next smartphone.

Related articles:

Best smartphone deals

The Best Unbiased Smartphones For All Budgets

Smartphone Specs Statistics: The State Of The Art (Q1 2021)

Are you also considering other options? The global score can help. Let me point out the average of its competitors. And it isn't that far from 6.5 for both.

Verdict: Does any of them really stand out?

Aside from the display size and resolution differences, you'll also get an extra camera.

Does that justify it's price differences? Well, I do value the 2x optical zoom of the Galaxy S10, so that would make it very hard for me to choose between these two. If that's not your case, I'm sure the Galaxy S10e is an excellent choice for you, plus you'll get a bit more juice from its battery.

Pros	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10
#1	AMOLED	AMOLED
#2	Always-On-Display	Always-On-Display
#3	Cameras	Cameras
#4	Fast Charging	Fast Charging
#5	Wireless Charging	Wireless Charging
#6	MicroSD Slot	MicroSD Slot
#7	3.5mm Jack	3.5mm Jack
#8		Glass Protection

Cons	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10

Relative Score*			vs.
Global Score	Galaxy S10e	Galaxy S10
Gaming Score	6.5	6.8	0.3
Tek-Score	7.00	7.27	0.27
Your Score

Scroll the sliders down below to get your own personalized score. Let's suppose you value performance and battery life, and you don't really care about anything else. Then, just set the "Performance" and the "Battery" sliders up to 5 (5+5=10), and then the other sliders down to 0. You'll know what's the best phone for you.

*Reference: 100: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

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