The first half of the year will witness many big players like Samsung, LG, HTC, Huawei, Sony, OnePlus, etc. announce their flagship products with Samsung's offering keeping everyone to their toes. The S6 and the S6 edge placed Samsung in a strong position with every flagship raising the bar of expectations. Will the S9 and S9 Plus satisfy the expectations ? Well, only time can tell.

The MWC 2018 is just one month away where big players like Samsung, LG, HTC, etc. showcase their flagship products for usually the first half of the year. However last year Samsung skipped the launch of the S8 and the S8 plus during the MWC citing the clarification and safety procedures required by them for their batteries after the Note 7 fiasco. This time however, LG and HTC seem less interested in announcing their products considering very few leads in that respect although Samsung will announce the successor i.e the S9 and the S9 Plus. 

The launch event is scheduled for February 25th in Barcelona. From the various leaks and renders (courtesy of Evan Blass) it is quite clear that there will not be any major design changes since the S8 and the S8 Plus already had fulfilled the almost bezel less form factor along with being premium. However, one major con with the design was the awkward placement of the fingerprint sensor although this time, the fingerprint sensor has been placed at a better location i.e below the camera module similar to the A8 and the A8 Plus. 

The physical differences between the S8 and the regular S9 is minor consisting of only the vertical orientation of the entire rear camera and fingerprint module from the S8.

Similarly, the Plus variant also possesses the same differences however, this time the Plus variant will vary from the regular S9 by having an additional camera sensor similar to the Note 8. The expected camera specification includes a 12MP f/1.5 aperture lens which will be a first of its kind considering the aperture and the Plus variant will possesses another 12MP lens which might be a telephoto lens providing digital zoom. The cameras on both these devices will consist of a variable aperture ranging from f/1.5 to f/2.4. They will also include slow motion 720p video recording at 480 FPS. The front facing sensor is expected to be of 8MP.

As said earlier, physically there will not be major differences between the successor and the predecessor since they share the same screen sizes. The S9 will have a 5.8 inch Super AMOLED display whereas the S9 Plus will have a larger 6.2 inch display. The resolution is expected to remain the same i.e QHD+ with 18.5:9 aspect ratio (2960 × 1440) although the default resolution should be FHD+ when shipped which can be bumped up to QHD+. 

Speaking of what will power these flagships, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SOC will be used in the devices sold in China and the USA. The rest of the world will get an Exynos 9810 SOC which is equivalent to the Qualcomm's offering based on 10nm. Samsung always announces its flagship in the same way with SOC variations depending on regions and hence its the same this year too. Apart from the dual camera lens on the S9 Plus, another difference that would be prominent is the additional RAM and storage. The S9 Plus will boast 6GB RAM and will come with 128GB storage whereas the regular S9 will have 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. Like the predecessor, both these devices should have the provision for storage expansion. 

The other features include an iris scanner, Bixby assistant (probably a Bixby button too), software related AI (similar to Apple's animoji implementation), fast charging, wireless charging, IP68 dust and water resistant, always ON display, etc. The rest of the features and Samsung's implementations can be detailed once the devices get unveiled. February 25th is the date of unveiling and the sales might begin March 16th. 

Are you planning to upgrade to the S9/S9 Plus or prefer to wait for the next Note?  

lerson

I am a Tech Geek with a special corner for smartphones in my heart. I have been using devices since more than a decade now with the experience of Symbian, Windows, iOS and Android OS. I also run a blog at "THE SERIOUS GEEK" where you can get an insight into the tech world with wide variety of topics.

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