We know that Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ will be unveiled at the MWC 2018, but what the company is still keeping secret are the official specs and release date of the S8 and S8+ successors.
One man that has time and again proven hard to keep such in-demand secrets from is Evan Blass. Reporting for VentureBeat, the renowned leaker has already gotten hands on the official press images of the Galaxy S9 and S9+, which effectively give out the expected release date of the pair, alongside the specs to expect.
As it turns out, a lot of what has been trickling down in the rumor mills is set to materialize. According to Blass, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ will look a lot like their predecessors, meaning they also get the same 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch Super AMOLED screens with QHD+ resolution.
In terms of processing power, the S9 and S9+ will get the latest and greatest Snapdragon 845 SoC paired with 4GB/64GB on the former and 6GB/128GB on the latter. This will be a departure from the traditional pairing which has only seen the two phones separated by their screen sizes and battery capacity.
The pair will also ship with a “reimagined camera”, both in terms of hardware and software. In addition to features such as super slow-motion video recording, the S9 pair is said to come with a variable aperture that can mechanically switch between f/1.5 and f/2.4, but this will be limited to the main camera. Speaking of the main camera, the standard S9 will get a single-lens 12MP unit while the Galaxy S9+ will get a second 12MP lens. But unlike the primary lens, this one will get fixed aperture.
Samsung seems to have listened to the cries from unhappy fans regarding the fingerprint scanner of the S8 and S8+. As a result, the scanner will now appear just below the main camera, vertically. As for the selfie, you get an 8MP sensor on both handsets. The front also gets stereo speakers, which should be a welcome idea for many fans. Software-wise, the S9 and S9+ will be powered by Android Oreo out of the box.
Looking at the leaked press images, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ will start shipping on March 16, about three weeks after launch.