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Samsung Galaxy S9: What you need to know about the iPhone X’s future rival

2017

Everything you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy S9

The Samsung Galaxy S9 is the next big thing for Samsung, and there’s already no shortage of hype – especially now Apple has released its new flagship, the iPhone X. How are the two likely to compare? In this article, we’ll tell you all you need to know about the Galaxy S9, including:
  • What’s the latest Galaxy S9 news?
  • When is the Galaxy S9 release date?
  • What will be new about the Galaxy S9 design and specs?
  • What will be the Galaxy S9 price?
Update (October 9, 2017): Another leak suggests that the Samsung Galaxy S9 will be getting Qualcomm’s yet-to-be-announced Snapdragon 845 chip earlier than Android rivals. Read on to find out more.
Samsung has moved from strength to strength, and is arguably the most successful Android phone maker of the year. The company is consistently turning out high-quality flagship phones that always review well in our own tests, so it’s fair to say we’re excited to see what’s next.
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 a number of hardware and software upgrades, and possibly even a new design.
Read on for a full guide on what to expect from the Samsung Galaxy S9, or scroll down to the bottom of the page for a very brief summary of the key details.
image: https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/54/2017/09/10-1024x576.jpeg
Credit: Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S9 Release Date: When is the Galaxy S9 out?

We’ve yet to see any specific release date leaks, although some significant clues have already emerged.
But first, let’s review historical Samsung phone launch timings:
It’s not difficult to discern an obvious pattern. The overwhelming majority of Samsung Galaxy S phone announcements take place in either February or March, and typically coincide with Barcelona’s annual Mobile World Congress technology tradeshow.
Similarly, the vast majority of actual retail releases take place in either April or March, so both are a safe bet.
The good news is that we already have dates for Mobile World Congress next year: it runs from February 26 to March 1, 2018. With that in mind, we’d expect the Samsung Galaxy S9 launch date to be February 25, 2018.
But what are the rumour-spinners saying?
Related: iPhone 8
image: https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/54/2017/09/09-1024x577.jpeg
Credit: Samsung
Well, in May this year, Korea’s The Bell reported that Samsung is already working on the Samsung Galaxy S9 under the codenames of ‘Star’ and ‘Star 2’ – to denote the standard and ‘Plus’ editions.
The post also notes that development is ahead of schedule compared to previous years, although it’s worth taking that with a pinch of salt.
Then in September, Korea’s The Investor said that the displays being used in the Galaxy S9 will be ready by November, which means we may see an earlier-than-usual launch. For context, the Galaxy S8 launched in March, with its displays reportedly having arrived in January. So we could see the Galaxy S9 being ready to debut as soon as January or February in 2018, if Samsung follows a similar timeline.
According to a Sammobile report in late September 2017, Samsung has already begun development on the firmware for two Samsung Galaxy S9 models. For reference, Sammobile is a specialist Samsung blog that has a highly accurate track record for Samsung mobile leaks.
The report notes that the firmware names are as follows: G960FXXU0AQI5 and G965FXXU0AQI5. From those monikers, we’re able to discern the model numbers for the next flagship Samsung phones, too. The Samsung Galaxy S9 will probably be called SM-G960, while the Galaxy S9+ will likely be dubbed SM-G965.
That’s not a massive surprise, mind; the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ used the model numbers SM-G950 and SMG955 respectively.
It’s also worth noting that last year, Samsung’s firmware development for the Galaxy S8 began two weeks later. That means we could be seeing a slightly earlier launch for the Galaxy S9 next year. That’s already been rumoured to be the case, with previous leaks suggesting we’d see a debut in February, and a retail release very shortly thereafter.


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