Samsung’s Galaxy S9 lineup appeared online yet again on Friday, with the latest render depicting the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus being shared by known industry insider Evan Blass. The image that can be seen above aligns with numerous recent leaks, all of which suggest Samsung won’t be making a major visual overhaul of its flagship series. The smaller Galaxy S9 will hence succeed the 5.8-inch QHD+ Infinity Display of the Galaxy S8, whereas its larger counterpart will feature a 6.2-inch screen, much like the Galaxy S8 Plus.
The Galaxy S9 is said to be relatively identical to its predecessor save for its system-on-chip of choice, with the smartphone still being expected to ship with a base of 64GB of internal flash memory and 4GB of RAM. The Galaxy S9 Plus will instead offer 6GB of RAM and start at 128GB of storage space, the insider claims. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chip will power the models meant to be sold in the United States and China, whereas the international variants of the Android flagships will feature Samsung’s own Exynos 9810 silicon. The devices will reportedly place a large focus on mobile photography, both in terms of hardware and software. While the smaller handset won’t have a dual-camera setup, its only rear lens will still feature a variable aperture, much like the main module of the dual-camera system expected to debut on the Galaxy S9 Plus. The aperture of the lenses will range from f/2.4 to f/1.5, with the latter figure being a mobile industry’s record that the Galaxy S9 series will share with the W2018, a flip phone Samsung launched in China late last month.
A “super slow-mo” feature will also be part of the package, with recent reports suggesting the devices will be able to record videos at 1,000 frames per second. The latest information doesn’t mention that figure but says that rapid motions will only be recordable at a 720p resolution and 480fps. The main sensors of both phablets are said to be of the 12-megapixel variety, much like the secondary, fixed-aperture camera found on the back of the Galaxy S9 Plus. The top bezels of the phones are rumored to accommodate 8-megapixel cameras, with their bottom sides supposedly housing two stereo speakers. A 3.5mm audio jack should still be part of the package, whereas the fingerprint sensor found on the Galaxy S8 series retained its overall shape but is now expected to be oriented horizontally, situated beneath the main camera setups of the two devices. Samsung recently confirmed its next high-end Android phablets will be announced in the run-up to MWC 2018 on February 25th. The handsets will become available for pre-orders on March 1st and start retailing on March 16st, according to an earlier report from Mr. Blass. The supposed release date is also displayed on the newly leaked render of the two devices that’s understood to be official in nature and may hence also provide the first look at the default purple wallpaper of Samsung’s upcoming smartphone duo.