Samsung Galaxy S9: What you need to know about the iPhone X rival
The working theory is that Samsung plans to release a new top-end phone called the Samsung Galaxy S9 in the early part of next year – we’ll go into more specifics on launch timing further down this page. The handset is expected to introduce some hardware and software upgrades, and possibly even a new design.
Samsung Galaxy S9 Design and Display: What will the Galaxy S9 look like?
Curved on four sides: In an article back in April, Korean news outlet ETNews reported that Samsung was working on a new lamination process that would allow phone screens to be curved on all four edges. The report, which cited unnamed industry sources, tipped the technology as being available as early as the end of 2017, making the Samsung Galaxy S9 a potential host device for the new display.
Familiar sizing: A separate report by The Bell suggested that we’d see the same size panels on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ as we have on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The article notes that Samsung has already placed an order with suppliers for 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch edge-to-edge, curved Infinity Displays.
Samsung Galaxy S9 Specs and Features: What’s new?
Samsung phones typically ship with two different chips, either of which will be selected for a particular market region where the phone will be on sale. You’ll either get a Samsung-built Exynos chipset or a Qualcomm-designed Snapdragon chipset.
Back in April 2017, Aju Business Daily reported that Samsung and Qualcomm were already in development on the upcoming Snapdragon 845 chipset, the processor expected to power the Galaxy S9. At the time, it was reported that the chip would be manufactured by either Samsung or Taiwan’s TSMC.
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More excitingly, a report from ZDNet Korea reported that Samsung was already hoping to produce 7nm CPU architecture for use at the beginning of 2018. This would gel perfectly with the estimated release time frame for the Snapdragon 845 chip-set.
The 7nm chip architecture denotes the manufacturing process, and only refers to the distance between each transistor – those are the tiny electronic switches that enable computing tasks to take place. A smaller number is better because it means you can fit more electronics onto a single chip, paving the way for more power and better power efficiency overall.
Samsung Galaxy S9 Price: How much will the Galaxy S9 cost?
Samsung Galaxy S9 price leaks are in short supply for now, but we can take a good guess at retail pricing.
For a start, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ were available at £689 and £779 respectively when they launched earlier this year. We’d be very surprised if the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ were any cheaper, and our money is on them matching the price.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 launched at an even pricier £869, but we don’t think the base variant of the Galaxy S9 will go that high. The Note phones are typically powerhouse handsets that include bonus features (like an S-Pen stylus) that jack up the price, so we’re more convinced by pricing estimates of between £649 and £799 for the new Galaxy S9 devices.
