Does the Galaxy Note 10 have an IR blaster? That's a question people are still asking so it makes sense to put this to rest once and for all. Samsung used to include an IR blaster in its flagship smartphones but it stopped doing that several years ago. Early leaks of the Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+ made it seem like Samsung would bring it back.
A lot has changed since the time we used to get IR blasters in smartphones. There are smarter technologies available now to control consumer electronics like TVs which don't suffer from range or line-of-sight limitations. An IR blaster would make no sense on a modern smartphone as it would be useless for file transfer as well.
Does the Galaxy Note 10 have an IR blaster?
No, the Galaxy Note 10 does not have an IR blaster. Neither does the Galaxy Note 10+ for that matter. Some early renders of the flagship had given people this false hope. The device does have a small hole on the top right next to the SIM slot. It's not present on other Samsung devices and its shape reminded people of an IR blaster. Thus the rumor was born and people started hoping that it would come true even though an IR blaster would serve little purpose in this day and age.
We recently explained in detail exactly what this hole does. It's not a dedicated speaker and certainly not an IR blaster. It's simply a hole that allows sound from the earpiece to escape the device. The bezels are so slim that the earpiece grille had to be significantly trimmed. Samsung simply provided another way for the sound to escape the device to retain the same stereo output as its other recent flagships.
One has to wonder why people got so excited about an obsolete technology (IR is still useful in many other industries) for a mobile device. We're living in an age where everything has to be “smart.” From door locks to doorbells, airconditioners to washing machines to even rice cookers. Everything is connected and can be controlled using voice commands.
Short of the novelty, or juvenility, of sneakily flipping channels on the TV in the doctor's waiting room, for example, there's really no use for an IR blaster on a modern smartphone.
SamsungGalaxy Note 10
