Samsung Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+ India Launch Live Updates: The two flagship phones will be launched for the India market today.
Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ the two new flagship phones from the South-Korean technology company, have been launched for the Indian market today. The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ look very similar to their predecessors, the Galaxy S8 and S8+, but come with some new features. The camera is the highlight of the new Galaxy S9 smartphones, which has a new dual variable aperture to ensure best picture quality, even in low-light conditions. There’s also the option of shooting super-slow-motion videos with the Galaxy S9 phones.
However, there is one big change with the Galaxy S9 series. This time, the rear camera on the two variants is different. Samsung Galaxy S9 has a single rear camera with dual variable aperture of f/1.5 and f/2.4, while the Galaxy S9 Plus has a dual rear camera with dual variable aperture and a 12MP telephoto sensor as well. Samsung Galaxy S9 is priced at Rs 57,900 plus and Rs 64,900 for the Galaxy S9 Plus variant with 64GB on board storage. The Galaxy S9 with 256GB storage is priced at Rs 65,900, while the 256GB variant of the Galaxy S9 Plus is going to cost Rs 72,900. Here are the live updates for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ launch in India.
Samsung Galaxy S9 will be priced at Rs 57,900 for the 64GB variant, while the Galaxy S9 Plus will be priced at Rs 64,900 for the same. The 256GB variant will cost Rs 65,900 for the smaller S9 and the Galaxy S9 Plus will be Rs 72,900 for the same storage version. Sales begin from March 16.
Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus will go on sale from March 16 and pre-booking will be at select outlets as well as Flipkart.com. Vodafone users will get one year Netflix subscription free for their Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy S9 will come with special plans with Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Jio. Airtel postpaid users can own the Galaxy S9 at Rs 9,900 for 24 months postpaid tariff plan of Rs 2,499 per month.
Data speeds on Galaxy S9 are 2.5x faster that any other phone. This is the Jio partnership.Samsung Rewards rewards users for making payments using Samsung Pay. Samsung is offering Rs 6000 cashback with HDFC bank cards, Rs 6000 extra on exchange of old device and Rs 6000 cashback for those who purchase via Paytm.
One new feature on the Galaxy S9 series is the introduction of AR Emoji. The emoji can move around, capture a user's face expressions, and Samsung says it has 18 recognised expressions. These AR emojis can be shared on text messages, and even on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger.
The personalised emojis might be fun, but do not expect them to look like you. Accuracy is not what Samsung is hoping to achieve here.
Samsung Galaxy S9 camera and its dual aperture in action. One shot with low and bright light. The dual aperture is at play here. F1.5 is the widest aperture on any smartphone camera.
Samsung India Vice President Asim Warsi now on stage, says the Galaxy S9 will enable indian consumer to what they can't. Celebrity photography Atul Kasbekar on stage, he says shooting with the Galaxy S9 has been a liberating experience.
Samsung Asia CEO HC Hong showing the phone on stage.
Samsung Galaxy S9 in Lilac Purple and Galaxy S9 Plus in Black colour variant. The Galaxy S9 Plus has a dual rear camera on board.
Samsung came to India 22 years ago, reminds South Asia CEO HC Hong. He adds that it is not tech companies that change the world, but people like you who inspire innovations. "India is a digital economy going cashless with a growing social media generation. You will experience the smartphone differently, " says Hong.
Samsung has launched a new colour variant for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus which is Lilac Purple. It remains to be seen if this colour will be introduced in India at launch itself or not.
Samsung Galaxy S9 launch event live.
The bigger Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus has a 6.2-inch 2K SAMOLED display with 6GB RAM on board. The processor is the same Exynos 9810 octa-core processor from Samsung itself. The Galaxy S9 Plus will come with a dual rear camera: 12MP+12MP sensors with dual OIS. The Galaxy S9's camera has 12MP wide-angle sensor with dual variable aperture of f/1.5 and f/2.4. The telephoto lens has f/2.4 aperture. The front camera on the Galaxy S9 Plus is 8MP as well with f/1.7 aperture. The battery is 3500 mAh and the phone runs Android 8.0 Oreo with TouchWiz UI on top.
Samsung Galaxy S9 is seen in this image. Image source: AP
Let's do a recap of the key features of the Samsung Galaxy S9, which is the smaller variant. The phone has a 5.8-inch Infinity SAMOLED display with 2K resolution. This is a dual curved display on the edges just like the S8 and Galaxy S7 edge. Samsung Galaxy S9 is powered by the Exynos 9810 processor which is an octa-core one with the 10nm finFET design. The battery on the Galaxy S9 is 3000 mAh. The front camera is 8MP with f/1.7 aperture, while the Galaxy S9's rear camera is 12MP with a dual variable aperture of f/1.5 and f/2.4. The Galaxy S9 runs on Android Oreo 8.0
Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ event will start at 12.30 pm. The livestream is available at the following links: http://news.samsung.com/in/ or http://news.samsung.com/bharat/. Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are also open for pre-bookings on the Samsung India online store for a token amount of Rs 2000. Samsung has not confirmed the final price for the Galaxy S9 series in India.