Samsung Galaxy S9: All the rumours in one place

The Samsung Galaxy S9 leaky bucket continues. The latest unveils a rather lovely Coral Blue device. So, what do we know about the upcoming flagship phone?

As with most huge phone announcements, we know (or think we know) most of what is coming before the actual event.

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ are a case in point.

If you spend enough time on the internet and piece all the leaked details together, you will pretty much have every angle covered.

But, why should you spend all that time? Well, don’t worry your pretty little head about it. I have trawled the interwebs for you.

First, lets check out this sexy blue number.

Galaxy S9 in Coral Blue

OK, so technically its the Galaxy S9+. Nevertheless, this is a press shot of the phone in Coral Blue.

This is nailed on as it comes by way of renowned tipster Evan Blass a.k.a. @evleaks.

This might not be the first Coral Blue Sammy, but I am loving it. The colour actually first appeared on the Galaxy Note 7 in 2016. It reappeared on a US-only version of the Galaxy S8 too.

This, rather disappointingly points to the probability of this colour being limited to certain markets.

Does the Friday March 16th on the phone’s display point to its official release date? Could be!

However, we will know for sure on February 25th, when Samsung officially unveils the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ during its MWC 2018 press conference.

Galaxy S9 – The story so far

Samsung has confirmed that 25 February 2018 is the launch date for the Galaxy S9.

The press event is a day before Mobile World Congress officially opens. The Unpacked event will be the official launchpad for the Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones. We worked that out thanks to the large number 9 on the otherwise minimalistic teaser. How clever are we? 😉

It has already been said that this will “definitely [be] a ‘tock’ year” for the devices. This suggests a minor update. That almost all-screen front from the S8 will remain a key design detail, along with the dual curved edges.

All change at the rear

However, the rear of the S9 and S9+ is expected to change.

These changes include a tweak to the fingerprint sensor’s location. Something that has been widely criticised by S8 owners. Word is that the sensor will also be a different shape.

Furthermore, leaked pacakging for the S9 suggests that it will have IP68 water protection.

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and the S9+, will continue the trend of the large display, minimal footprint. The S8 has a 5.8-inch screen, while the S8+ has a 6.2-inch screen. This looks to continue with the S9 models.

Processor

I think it’s safe to expect the latest processor from Exynos or Qualcomm under the hood of the S9.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 is highly likely to appear in the Galaxy S9, but we will see Exynos is some regions too, like the UK. This is pretty standard proceedure.

It is thought Samsung will use the Exynos 9810 chip which will apparently feature an integrated neural engine that will be responsible for AI tasks, freeing up some of the responsibilities of the main processor for improved battery life and performance, much as the SD845 offers. The Exynos 9810 was officially revealed on January 4th.

It also looks as though the S9 and S9+ will both have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, as well as microSD, based on a leaked box.

Scanning

Details regarding the iris scanner claims that an increase in resolution will make it more capable. This will better enable it to be used when you’re wearing glasses or in low light. There are reports that Samsung is keen to get more banking apps compatible with iris scanning.

With the announcement of the new Exynos 9810 SoC (system on chip) – thought to be the heart of the Galaxy S9 – there’s more talk about facial recognition security.

Samsung says that its neural engine can create 3D scans of faces. There are rumours that there might be more sensors on the front of the S9 to enable more advanced face unlocking.

Furthermore, word is that the phone will use iris or face detection depending on the situation. So, it will favour what it feels to be the most accurate given lighting conditions, etc. This will ensure that your phone always unlocks.

Camera

It seems from the Unpacked event teaser that Samsung is putting a particular focus on the camera, with the tagline “The camera. Reimagined.” See, we’re getting good at spotting the obvious!

Previously leaked packaging threw up some interesting details for the S9 camera. There’s talk of a rear 12-megapixel camera with Dual Pixels while the S9 Plus will have a dual camera instead. So far, so normal.

The interesting bit is the listing of f/1.5 and f/2.4 apertures.

This is thought to be a dual aperture camera, with the ability to switch the aperture based on the shooting conditions – f/1.5 for low light and f/2.4 for more normal conditions.

Samsung also has previous in this regard. It has fitted this techs on the W2018 flip phone.

Battery

Good news! It sounds as though we could see an increase in capacity for the S9 to 3,200mAh.

Although, according to other rumours, it will stay at 3,000mAh for the S9. However, I’ve not been able to acertain with the S9+ will get an increase.

Hopefully, there will be improvements in performance from the processor and the software though.

USB Type-C is almost a certainty, while the 3.5mm headphone jack will probably remain questionable until launch.

Software

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ will no doubt launch on Android Oreo.

The standard would be for this to be wrapped up in Samsung’s TouchWiz/Experience UX software.

However, the latest rumours are that the Galaxy S9 will have an exclusive user interface.

Apparently this new UI will offer features never before used by Samsung. Keep in mind Samsung used the Samsung Experience UX on the Galaxy S8 and an updated 8.5 version on Note 8.

All will be revealed

Not long to wait now.

Everything will be unveiled on February 25th. What are your hopes and fears for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+?

I am loving the Coral Blue.