Samsung has just refreshed its Note series with the unveiling of the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+. Both the devices are feature-packed, although, Samsung has stripped off some essential features from the cheaper Note.
There is no doubt regarding their performance, but it’s believed Samsung misled people on one important aspect of the device.
There have been reports that the Galaxy Note 10 will feature an aluminum chassis instead of stainless steel as it was believed earlier.
“Stainless steel and glass meld to minimize bezel” – says a girl in the voice-over of the Galaxy Note 10 introductory video. The same is also mentioned on Samsung’s website.
But, as spotted by XDA’s Max Weinbach, the company was quick to edit out that information from the video.
Ok so I’m really confused. Samsung’s video and website said stainless steel before. Now they reuploded the edit and edited that out AND the website now says polished metal. What’s going on here?
— Max Weinbach (@mweinbachXDA) August 9, 2019
The said voiceover has now been muted in the re-uploaded video. Also, its website now reads “polished metal” instead of stainless steel.
Further, Samsung has confirmed to Android Central that the material used for the Galaxy Note 10 is indeed aluminum. Still, it remains unknown why the company had such a drastic change of plans.
It’s suggested that Samsung might have run into production issues with the stainless steel design and hence it switched back to the material it has been using since Galaxy S6.
Aluminum Vs Stainless Steel?
For years we have seen premium smartphones fitted with aluminum-based frames. But in recent times, companies (at least Apple) have started to switch to stainless for their top-of-the-line devices. You can take the example of iPhone XS.
As explained by Nick Todorov, Stainless steel is usually stronger than aluminum and adds great visual appeal after polishing is done. But still, the companies aren’t comfortable in its widespread use. There are a few factors involved.
Usually, aluminum is priced higher than steel. But due to its lesser density aluminum can be used to create more frames when mass-producing smartphones, hence, reducing the costs.
The softness offered by aluminum makes it easy to carve frames out of it, making the production process much faster. Also, it’s easy to add color to the aluminum frames.
One the other hand, the stainless steel frames bring more strength to a smartphone but are difficult to produce at the same. Still, the higher cost of production adds premium value to the device.
