This year, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8 and S8+ a little outside the usual schedule, but we expect business to resume as usual starting with the Galaxy S9 and S9+.
The two phones are expected to kick off the company’s 2018 campaign towards cementing its position as the world leader in terms of smartphone shipments. This year’s Galaxy S8 and S8+ introduced massive changes to what we typically know of Samsung phones and if anything, the upcoming Galaxy S9, which should be announced at the MWC 2018 event in Barcelona, Spain, could see even further changes, especially on the back panel.
Without wasting too much of your time, let’s dive into it.
Front-mounted fingerprint scanner
We’ve heard lots of rumors about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S9, but it’s the latest that will get many fans excited about the near future. Apparently, the back of the S9 will “change a lot” and even though there’s no exact mention of the changes, we do have a clue of what’s coming.
Recent patent filings have indicated that Samsung has not dropped the idea of having an optical fingerprint scanner. This means that as part of the massive changes on the back of the Galaxy S9, the company could remove the fingerprint scanner and put it back where it belongs – at least according to Sammy fans. As it is, the scanner will live just below the display screen in what will emulate iPhone X’s notch, only that this one will be at the bottom of the screen.
Dual lens camera
Over the years, the Galaxy Note series was used to introduce new features – features that were meant to appear in the following year’s Galaxy S series. Well, given the slew of new features we see on the Galaxy Note 8 compared to the Galaxy S8, it should be easy to guess which ones will make their way to the Galaxy S9.
One of them is the dual-lens camera on the back. The Galaxy Note 8 is the first Sammy phone to feature such a camera setup, but this is expected to make its way to the Galaxy S9 – or at least the Galaxy S9+, if Apple is to be the reference point.
6GB RAM
For two years now, Samsung has used 4GB of RAM in its flagship phones – the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8 families. With the Galaxy Note 8 getting a 6GB RAM, you can for sure expect the same to happen with next year’s Galaxy S9. Alternatively, Samsung might opt to make the 6GB RAM module a Galaxy S9+ exclusive unlike this year where some units of the Galaxy S8+ had 4GB RAM, but this is just a hunch.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Although an obvious change, we expect to see a lot of improvements when the new Samsung Galaxy S9 comes to life thanks to the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset. This year’s Snapdragon 835 has undoubtedly been impressive – and still is. As usual, we expect both Samsung and Qualcomm to take the chipset’s performance ability to the next level as well as reduce the power intake and heat dissipation. With the progress Huawei has made with its AI-powered Kirin 970 chipset, things should even be more interesting when the Galaxy S9 comes to life in early 2018.
Faster software updates
With the new Android Oreo comes Project Treble and with Project Treble comes faster software updates. According to Google, all phones that come preinstalled with Android Oreo and above will enjoy much faster software updates thanks to the reduced workload of updating the OS.
Samsung has really improved when it comes to rolling out monthly security updates, but with the Galaxy S9 set to debut with Android Oreo out of the box, you can expect even much faster software updates for your phone, something that should help convince those who have always avoided Samsung due to slow updates.
We only have about three months or so before Samsung Galaxy S9 is unveiled and this is plenty of time for more rumors and speculations to show up. While this article is based on the latest rumors, don’t be surprised if a few changes to these expectations pop up somewhere along the way as we approach the official launch of the phone.
What are your thoughts? Let us know in your comments below.
Samsung devices are already the most secure devices on the globe. While stock relies on security patches after the fact, Samsung has a proactive hardware integrated security system that is impenetrable. That’s why they are the only devices that are still certified by the nsa. The iPhone even got breached by the fbi so it is being scrutinized and hasn’t passed nsa certification for 2 years.