Update (Jan 25): After revealing the Mobile World Congress launch of the Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones, Samsung has now officially announced that the launch event will be taking place on February 25. The company’s S9 launch teaser also indicates that S9 phones will include upgraded cameras.
Update (Jan 10): Samsung itself has now confirmed that it will be announcing the new Galaxy S9 and S9+ at the Mobile World Congress in February. The company’s mobile business president DJ Koh revealed the news to ZDnet. He also stated that Samsung’s foldable phone is coming in 2019, not 2018, as he had earlier speculated.
In related news, the RAM and storage variants of the new S9 phones were recently leaked. You can read more about them in my full report.
Earlier (Dec 17): An unofficial render of the Galaxy S9 has been leaked via @onleaks (see on top). While I don’t believe that the actual Galaxy S9 will be a complete match to this render, it is still a fair representation of how S9 is going to look like.
Earlier (Dec 16): Bloomberg is also reporting that the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus will be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in February. The publication has also revealed that the sales of the both phones will begin in March and they will include improved cameras than the last generation. No specifics are known at this point.
Earlier (Dec 15): A report originating from South Korea is now suggesting that Samsung will announce the S9 and S9+ at the Mobile World Congress 2018. The company will most likely host a press event a day before the opening on the MWC 2018 – February 25 – to unveil the flagship smartphones. The date mentioned in the Korean report is most likely a typo.
Earlier (Dec 8): It seems VentureBeat was wrong and we will not be seeing the S9 or S9+ at the CES 2018. You can read more in my full report here.
Earlier (Nov 23): The South Korean tech giant is reportedly planning to reveal the next Galaxy S-series smartphones earlier than usual. According to VentureBeat, the company will show off the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ phones at the CES trade fair in Las Vegas. The CES is scheduled from January 9 to January 12 next year.
The VentureBeat report however adds that the actual launch of the S9 models will still happen in March, like this year’s Galaxy S8 models. It is unclear how many details of its upcoming flagship smartphone, Samsung will share at the CES event.
Samsung Galaxy S9, S9+ expected features & specifications
The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ will be sporting an identical design to their predecessors Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. It is the internal components that will be mainly different in the upcoming smartphones.
VentureBeat notes that the Galaxy S9 and S9+ are codenamed Star 1 and Star 2 respectively. While the S9 phone will carry the model number SM-G960 and a 5.8-inch curved-edge Super AMOLED Infinity display, the S9+ phone will use model number SM-G965 with 6.2-inch curved-edge Super AMOLED Infinity display.
Like the most previous years, the upcoming Galaxy S-series phones will use Qualcomm’s flagship smartphone processor for 2018 in some markets and Samsung’s own flagship Exynos model in the other markets. The exact processor names are unconfirmed at this point, but some reports indicate that Snapdragon 845 is going to the moniker of the Qualcomm chip.
Unlike the S8 and S8+ phones, where are nearly identical apart from the display changes, the S9 and S9+ will be significantly different. Samsung has reportedly decided to go the Apple way and will be putting more RAM in the plus model. It will also use rear dual-camera setup in the plus version and the non-plus version will have a single-sensor setup on the back.
Among other rumoured specifications, the S9 phones will keep the 3.5mm audio jack and come with AKG stereo speakers and a fingerprint sensor.
After a lot complaints about its current placement of fingerprint sensor, Samsung is changing it in the S9 phones. The rear elements will be placed vertically with fingerprint sensor on the bottom of the placement.
Lastly, the company will also introduce a backward compatible DeX docking station with the Galaxy S9 smartphones. To remind you DeX allows the users to connect their phone to a monitor and keyboard/ mouse and use their phone as a computer.