Preeminent mobile leaker Evan Blass is back at it again, this time with Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S9 and S9+.
Blass says that the above images are renders of Samsung’s next entries in its ‘S’ series line of Galaxy smartphones.
Rumours first pointed to Samsung revealing the S9 and CES 2018 in Las Vegas, though the eagerly anticipated smartphone did not make an appearance.
Samsung is expected to officially reveal the Galaxy S9 and S9+ next month at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 25th.
According to Blass, this years flagship Samsung’s device is “mostly a component upgrade” following last year’s more substantial redesign. He emphasizes that neither the 5.8-inch S9 or the 6.2-inch S9+ will be “significant departures from their predecessors.”
It looks like this is set to be a ‘tock’ year for Samsung, rather than a ‘tick,’ at least in terms of aesthetic design — this could be disappointing for some.
Blass says that the phone will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 in the U.S. and China and Samsung’s proprietary Exynos 9810 processor in other areas of the world — as in past years, it’s likely that Canada will get the Snapdragon 845 variant.
This year the S9+ will features 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, while the S9 is set to feature 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage (this is the same storage and RAM amount as the S8). The phones are codenamed Star and Star 2 internally at Samsung, says Blass.
Samsung’s MWC Unpacked event teaser hinted that the bulk of the upgrades to the S9 and S9+ would be related to software and photography functionality.
Blass’ sources back up that speculation, too. Along with a “super slow-mo” video capture feature that captures movement at 480fps at 720p, both devices will feature variable aperture lenses built into their 12-megapixel shooters. The aperture is capable of adjusting between f/2.4 and f/1.5.
The S9+’s second 12-megapixel shooter — the larger phone is set to feature a dual rear camera — features a fixed aperture, according to Blass.
Thankfully, both phone’s rear fingerprint scanners will be located in a more natural position that has it sitting under the camera module, rather than beside the lens like with the S8 and S8+. Other new features include stereo speakers in both the S9 and S9+.
Blass says that the Galaxy S9 and and S9+ will start shipping on March 16th. MobileSyrup will have more on the upcoming Galaxy S9 and S9+ in the coming weeks.
Update 01/26/18: Evan Blass has tweeted out additional information, indicating that an iPhone X Animoji like feature is also coming to the S9 and S9+.
Forgot to mention that, according to a source, “in selfie mode there are animated avatars kinda like animoji.”
With a bit of luck, you’ll no longer need to lay out $1,000 to express yourself as a pile of cartoon shit.
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 26, 2018
Source: Venturebeat (Evan Blass)
