Samsung Galaxy S9: more powerful, but not much innovation

Samsung could be starting production of its new Galaxy S9 in the near future. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP)

The Business Korea website reports that production of the Samsung Galaxy S9 is expected to begin in early January 2018, followed by a market launch in March.

Customers might be disappointed in the lack of major innovation: the design of this new flagship smartphone is not likely to be very different from the current S8 (5.8-inch) and S8 Plus (6.2-inch) range. Like the previous models, the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus will have a Super AMOLED Infinity curved, edge-to-edge display. The only notable difference is that Samsung has apparently decided to move the fingerprint scanner below the camera on the back of the phone.

Aside from the difference in size, it's reported that in a first for Samsung, the Galaxy S9 will have 4GB of RAM and a single-lens rear camera, and the Galaxy S9 Plus will have 6GB of RAM and a dual-lens camera. That would align Samsung with Apple's long-standing differential model which can currently be seen in the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. Each of the new Samsung phones is expected to have 64GB of storage space, with the option of adding a microSD card.

In terms of operating power, the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus will have the latest-generation processors, namely either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 or the Exynos 9810, depending on the country.

It's also worth noting that like their predecessors, the S9 and S9 Plus are expected to have a headphone jack, in contrast to the trend towards removing this feature over at Samsung's rivals.

Following rumors that the new handset would be revealed at the CES in Las Vegas in January 2018, it now seems that Samsung has opted for a more logical launch schedule, namely an unveiling at the end of February, either at the Mobile World Congress tech conference or at a dedicated event, and then a market launch in early March, with sufficient stock produced in two months.