Galaxy Note 10 Sound on Display could be its next big feature

The Galaxy Note 10 will be breaking away from its predecessors in more ways than one. While it will thankfully still keep its iconic S Pen stylus, Samsung will be throwing out the headphone jack and possibly some other front sensors. Word on the street now is that it will be throwing out another front-facing component and will, instead, hide the earpiece speaker under the screen.

This shouldn't be a shocking revelation to those following Samsung's movements. The company has already been revealed to be working on a few "on Display" sensors, including the recent ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on display. Samsung is also planning on having a camera under the screen without a hole but it looks like someone will beat it to the punch.

For now, however, the company might be focused on bringing its Sound on Display technology to the Galaxy Note 10. Sources claim that Samsung is removing the earpiece speaker at the top, allowing it to push the screen further. That could explain why renders and screen protectors don't seem to have any cutout for the speaker grille.

That means that the Galaxy Note 10 will employ a piezoelectric vibration mechanism to turn the entire display into the speaker. The technology isn't completely new and has been employed by the likes of Xiaomi and even LG. While audio quality isn't always the best, most reviews of piezoelectric speakers have been at least favorable, even citing the benefit of the technology preventing sound from leaking out to others.

One question that hasn't been answered by those sources is how Samsung will implement its stereo speaker setup. On previous flagships, it would utilize the earpiece speaker as a second audio output to pair with the bottom-firing main speaker. It could use the same strategy as LG's Crystal Sound OLED that turns the entire screen into a second speaker when activated.