A possible design of the Galaxy S9 series was revealed in a newly uncovered patent which Samsung was granted in its home country by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPRIS). The image that can be seen above is a compilation of all of the designs Samsung submitted as part of its application, indicating that the Galaxy S9 may sport essentially no bezels and have a small panel housing its front-facing sensors situated within the screen itself, being located at the very top of its body and flanked by the display panel from three sides. The overall design shown in the firm’s new patent looks somewhat similar to the purported aesthetic of the iPhone 8 lineup which will be officially unveiled on September 12 with Samsung-made OLED panels.
Apart from the sensor cut-out and an edge-to-edge screen, the patent also envisions a device with a minimal camera bump and only slightly rounded corners which seem more akin to the aesthetic of the recently unveiled Galaxy Note 8 than the more aggressively rounded Galaxy S8 series. Industry insiders previously said that the Galaxy S9 will have a 5.8-inch display panel, whereas the Galaxy S9 Plus is supposed to feature a 6.2-inch one, with both handsets essentially being rumored to succeed the QHD+ Infinity Display screens found on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. The newly unveiled patent lacks a rear-mounted fingerprint reader, indicating that Samsung envisioned a device with an in-screen scanner, a technology that the company has been trying to commercialize for over a year now. Being one of the largest tech companies on the planet, Samsung also boasts a vast product portfolio which is growing on an almost daily basis and the sole existence of this patent doesn’t guarantee it will ever be commercialized, let alone that it accurately depicts the design of the Galaxy S9 product family.
According to recent reports, the South Korean original equipment manufacturer (OEM) may launch the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus as early as January and release it in February, only ten months after the Galaxy S8 lineup became commercially available. The U.S. variants of the two flagships are likely to be powered by the Snapdragon 845, Qualcomm’s next-generation system-on-chip (SoC) which the tech giant is expected to debut in the coming months, while other models are expected to be equipped with a new silicon from Samsung’s Exynos series which may be called the Exynos 9810.