Credit: Samsung
On top of dropping the headphone jack, Samsung’s Galaxy Note is also cutting the cord when it comes to expandable storage. Here’s what you need to know.
The Bad News
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 won’t feature a MicroSD slot.
Unlike the Note 8 (review here) or Note 9 (review here), it won’t support expandable storage. You’ll be stuck with whatever on-board storage the device comes with out of the box: either 256GB or 512GB. Take your pick.
The Good News
As opposed to the regular Note 10, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ will feature a MicroSD slot. This means that, if you care about having the ability to expand the amount of storage in your next smartphone, the Note 10+ is probably going to be the better fit.
You can read our full Australian review of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ by clicking here.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G also features a Micro SD slot, plus extra storage.
Going Forward
It’s difficult to say at this stage what this means for the future of the MicroSD slot in Samsung’s S-series and Note smartphones. From what we can gather, there are three roads forward from here.
The first is a continuation of this two-pronged approach, where expandable storage is reserved for customers willing to pay for the premium, pro or plus version of Samsung’s future flagship smartphones. This is more-or-less what Huawei have done with their Mate and P-series smartphones, so there is a precedent for it.
The other way things could go is the steady phasing out of the MicroSD slot from Samsung’s premium devices. Now, this might sound sacrilegious but there are a few pros to consider here. For one, like cutting the headphone jack, it’ll give Samsung more room to work with when it comes to stuff like the device’s battery and camera components. The 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage space that the Note 10+ comes with out-of-the-box is still probably going to be enough storage for most everyday users, especially if you use something like Google Photos and mostly consume content via streaming platforms like Spotify and Netflix.
Finally, it’s entirely possible that we could get a New Coke situation. Maybe the market doesn’t respond well to Samsung’s decision to cut the Micro SD slot. If there’s enough of a backlash from the power users that have made the Note such a success, it’s not inconceivable that features like the Micro SD slot or headphone jack could be brought back due to popular demand. You never know how the future will pan out.
Right now though? The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 is Samsung’s first flagship phablet to do away with the Micro SD slot and while that retirement is particularly compromised - or at least compensated - through the Note 10+, it’ll be fascinating to see where things go from here.
In Australia, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 comes with a starting recommended retail price of $1499. Pricing for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus starts at $1699. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus 5G tops out the range at an RRP of $1999.
