Galaxy S9: Samsung’s First 2018 Flagship Will Meet The iPhone X Head-On, In More Ways Than One

The smartphone race continues to heat up with the recent reveal of Apple’s latest flagship, the iPhone X. The device, which has been rumored and leaked for months, is a powerhouse, outgunning the best of its rivals’ lineup in terms of raw processing power. To close the gap, Samsung seems to be betting its cards on its next champion, the Galaxy S9, which is expected to be unveiled sometime early next year.

The Galaxy S9 will be the latest in Samsung’s long line of formidable S-series smartphones, and the rumors surrounding the device are pretty compelling. Design-wise, there is a good chance that the Galaxy S9 will follow the template set by its predecessor, the Galaxy S8, with a few modifications.

The S8 featured extremely thin bezels on the top and bottom of the device, but such a design was overtaken by Apple with the iPhone X, which featured no bezels at all, save for a notch at the top of the handset. According to a Trusted Reviews report, leaks and rumors have emerged stating that the Galaxy S9 would likely follow Apple’s example, eliminating the bezels in the device and leaving just a small notch at the top of the smartphone to house the flagship’s most critical sensors.

Another interesting rumor about the Galaxy S9 that has emerged recently pointed to the idea of the upcoming flagship having a modular design. Modules have long been explored as a novel idea by smartphone manufacturers, to very little success. Motorola has done it before, LG has tried it, and Essential has released a device that followed the same principle.

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Samsung’s modules for the Galaxy S9 are rumored to feature magnets that allow each addition to attach to the flagship phone, much like Google’s ill-fated Project Ara. If these rumors prove true, the Galaxy S9 might very well be the first modular flagship smartphone to become a massive hit.

The Galaxy S9 is expected to be equipped with a lot of processing firepower, in order to beat, or at least match, the A11 Bionic chip that Apple has unveiled with the iPhone X. With this in mind, speculations are high that the Samsung Galaxy S9 would be fitted with a Snapdragon 845 SoC, a 7nm processor that is rumored to be designed by Qualcomm in collaboration with Samsung, as stated by a TechRadar report.

Other notable features that are rumored for the Galaxy S9 include yet another rear fingerprint sensor, up to 6GB of RAM, a dual-camera configuration, Android Oreo, and other nifty features such as facial recognition and wireless charging. Due to its next-generation chip, the Galaxy S9 is also expected to be equipped with the capability to support download speeds of up to 1.2Gbps.

 

The Galaxy S9 is expected to be unveiled sometime in late February, 2018, or early March, 2018.