The Galaxy S9 series will be equipped with a Samsung-made imaging sensor capable of capturing slow-motion videos at 1,000 frames per second, industry sources said earlier this week. The module that’s presumably being developed by Samsung Opto-Electronics is reportedly close to commercialization and will be featured in a number of Samsung’s high-end offerings in 2018. Apart from the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, that may also include the Galaxy Note 9, as well as the Galaxy X, a foldable smartphone that’s been the subject of numerous rumors in recent times and is supposedly meant to be offered as Samsung’s third Android flagship alternative at some point next year.
Samsung’s sensor is said to entail two layers and a DRAM module, with the South Korean original equipment manufacturer allegedly being close to mass-producing it, sources said, adding that a full-fledged flow production process is meant to start in November. While the Galaxy S9 lineup isn’t expected to be debuted before spring, Samsung is apparently seeking to have the majority of its components ready well before its scheduled production, possibly in order to have more flexibility with planning the actual manufacturing and launch of the device. Super slow-motion video recording won’t be an industry first if it’s part of the Galaxy S9 series seeing how Sony already commercialized such a technology with a number of its handsets like the Xperia XZ Premium flagship, though the Japanese company’s solution relied on a triple-layer sensor instead of a two-layer one.
Rumors pertaining to Samsung’s upcoming flagship lineup have been circulating the industry since early summer, with some sources claiming that the Seoul-based tech giant already ordered the first batches of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 SoC which are supposed to go into the variants of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus meant for the United States. The exact specifics of Samsung’s upcoming smartphone duo are still unclear, with the company already pushing the limits of mobile technology with the Galaxy S8 series and leaving some industry watchers skeptical about the potential extent of its 2018 innovations. In the meantime, Samsung officially released the Galaxy Note 8 on Friday and is expecting its new phablet to be a significant commercial success which will help it take on Apple’s new offerings this holiday season.