MWC 2018 has kicked off and Samsung have announced their latest flagship device at their usual Galaxy unpacked event. The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus are now official.
Samsung’s latest devices have been heavily leaked the past few days, with most of the specs in the wild for the past few weeks at least.
The latest from Samsung picks up where the S8 series left off, and uses mostly the same design with some subtle changes. The materials are the same with a metal frame and Gorilla Glass 5 front and back.
The fingerprint sensor has now been positioned more comfortably under the camera sensor rather than next to it. We also again have the Bixby button located on the left under the volume buttons, with the power button on the right. USB Type-C for data and charging, along with wireless charging. Thankfully the headphone jack has also made the return.
The S9 will include a 5.9-inch 2,960 x 1440 resolution and the S9 Plus has a 6.2-inch display with the same resolution. Both devices utilize the same style infinity display as we have seen from the S8 and the Note 8 last year. Samsung are also including stereo speakers this time around, by use of the front earpiece along side the normal speaker, and this is includes Dolby Atmos support.
Inside both devices will use either the latest Exynos 9810 from Samsung or the latest Snapdragon 845 chipset from Qualcomm (depends on region). While the S9 will come with 4GB’s of RAM, the S9 Plus will include 6GB’s of RAM, making it the first time there is a difference between the models besides screen size and battery capacity.
There differences don#t stop there, with the S9 Plus also getting a secondary camera on the rear of the device, much like the Note 8, with the smaller S9 just having the main 12MP sensor.
A new camera spec for Samsung is the inclusion of a variable aperture sensor on the main camera, which is actually also a first for any smartphone.
This is pretty significant considering how small the sensor and lens on smartphones are, and the requirement to have a variable aperture means a moving part in the lens (no easy feat). The S9/S9+ will allow the users to switch between an F.Stop of 1.5 and 2.4. This is will mostly benefit low light situations automatically, but in Pro-Mode the option can be forced give great benefits to users want a high or low f.stop in different shooting conditions. Both devices can now also record 4K@60fps and do 960fps slow-motion recording in 720p.
Lastly battery capacities are the same as the S8 and S8 Plus from last year. S9 will have 3,000mAh and the S9 Plus will have 3,500mAh
The new flagship devices from Samsung will arrive March 16th mostly worldwide, with pre-order starting on March 2nd. Pricing is around £739 for the S9 and £869 S9 Plus in the UK, and $790 for the S9 and $915 for the S9+ in the US.
