It’s now seven months since Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ started selling in the U.S., but reports of their successors, Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, are already flying around.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen quite a number of leaks and rumors associated with Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+. Alleged benchmarks of both handsets popped up a few days ago, suggesting that the pair will still be powered by 4GB RAM, although with new processors, Snapdragon 845 for the U.S. market and Exynos 9810 for the international market. The phones will also be powered by Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box.
We also learned recently that Samsung may be planning to overhaul its Samsung Experience UI while alleged renders of the phone also showed that the rear panel could undergo a few changes, especially when it comes to the cameras and position of the fingerprint scanner. All of these are based on leaks and rumors and so is the latest development, however, the track record of the source behind the new report means that this cannot be disputed.
Although it was obvious that Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ will come with model numbers SM-G960 and SM-G965 respectively, what is new is the project name. According to Evan Blass, the two are being developed under code names Project Star, with the S9 dubbed Star 1 and the S9+ internally known as Star 2.
Project Star: Samsung Galaxy S9 (SM-G960 – Star 1) and Galaxy S9 Plus (SM-G965 – Star 2). Definitely a "tock" year. More to come…
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) November 21, 2017
This revelation all but confirms that the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ are already in the works. Previous reports from China have claimed that the phones firmware is already being tested and that the S9+ will adopt a dual-lens camera, all of which add more weight to reports that Samsung could be on track to resume its usual schedule of launching the Galaxy S handsets at the MWC event.
Next year’s edition of the MWC show will kick off on February 26, which is when Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S9 and S9+.