As widely expected, yesterday Samsung launched this year's flagship phone offering ahead of WMC2018 in Barcelona. The we-could-have-guessed-eve-if-we-didn't-already-know new handsets, named S9 and S9+ are evolutions of last year's S8 and S8+ - but just how much has Samsung changed this time around?
The answer is "actually, not a lot". These are very much iteration handsets, tweaking what was wrong with the S8 and S8+, but without adding anything majorly new or groundbreaking. The biggest change for both handsets is in the camera department , with the S9+ getting a dual camera setup (a first for a Galaxy model phone), while the S9 makes do with Samsung's new "dual aperture" camera design.
Here's a quick look at what's "better" on the S9 / S9+
| Galaxy S8/Galaxy S8+ | Galaxy S9/Galaxy S9+ | |
| Display | 5.8/6.2-inch Super AMOLED, Quad HD+, 18:5:9 | 5.8/6.2-inch Super AMOLED, Quad HD+, 18:5:9 |
| Processor | Exynos 8895/Snapdragon 835 Octa-core, 10nm, 64-bit | Exynos 9810/Snapdragon 845 Octa-core, 10nm, 64-bit |
| RAM | 4GB LPDDR4 | 4GB / 6GB LPDDR4 |
| Rear camera | 12-megapixel, OIS, Dual Pixel, phase-detection autofocus, 4K video recording | 12-megapixel, OIS, Dual Pixel, phase-detection autofocus, 4K video recording / 12+12MP dual camera with dual OIS |
| Front camera | 8-megapixel autofocus, F1.7 aperture, QHD video recording | 8-megapixel autofocus, F1.7 aperture, QHD video recording |
| Storage | 64GB internal, microSD slot (up to 256GB) | 64GB internal, microSD slot (up to 400GB) |
| Software | Android 7.0 Nougat | Android 8.0 Oreo |
| Battery | 3,000/3,500 mAh, Adaptive Fast Charge and fast wireless charging | 3,000/3,500 mAh, Adaptive Fast Charge and fast wireless charging |
| Connectivity | 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, USB Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack | 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, USB Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Dimensions | 148.9×68.1×8.0mm/159.5×73.4 x8.1mm, 152g/173g | 147.7×68.7×8.5mm/158.1×73.8x 8.5mm, 163g/189g |
| Other features | AKG earphones, 32-bit audio, Bixby virtual assistant, Samsung Pay, IP68 water & dust resistance, fingerprint sensor, iris/face recognition, pressure sensor | AKG earphones, stereo speakers, AR Emoji, 32-bit audio, Bixby, Samsung Pay, IP68 water & dust resistance, fingerprint sensor, iris/face recognition, pressure sensor |
There is one other, significant change though; one which every user of the S8 / S*+ will be very happy about - the fingerprint sensor has finally been positioned *under* the camera sensors in the middle of the device. You know; exactly how everyone else did last year!