As expected, Samsung took the wraps off the new Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ on Sunday. And as had been predicted, the design has changed very little. The main draw this year is an improved camera. The one real surprise was Samsung’s pricing restraint. It had been predicted that the company would be emboldened by Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) premium iPhone X pricing; instead it kept pricing closer to the iPhone 8.
Here’s everything you need to know about the first big release in 2018’s battle for the best smartphone.
Looks the Same, Big Camera Improvements
The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ look almost identical to last year’s Galaxy S8 series. The big visual difference is the shift of the fingerprint reader to a spot below the camera to reduce accidental lens smudging. While iPhone 7 owners were able to reuse most protective cases with the iPhone 8, the Galaxy S9 changed just enough to make most Galaxy S8 cases useless.
The marquee feature is a new camera that Samsung hopes will let it take on Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Pixel as the best smartphone for shooting photos.
The dual aperture camera is a first, a feature that lets the smartphone take great low light photos, without having pictures taken outdoors get blown out by too much light. Also new is a super slo motion feature. The Galaxy S9+ has a dual camera system, with its second camera being a telephoto shooter — a similar setup to Apple’s iPhone X and Plus-series iPhones.
Samsung Galaxy S9 Key Specs
- 5.8-inch Quad HS Super AMOLED display (6.2-inch on Galaxy S9+)
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 CPU
- 64GB storage + Micro SD slot (up to 400GB)
- Dual aperture primary camera (Galaxy S9+ has dual camera system with telephoto)
- 8MP front camera with Iris scanner, AR Emoji
- Bixby object detection and live translation
- Fingerprint scanner
- 802.11ac with MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0
- USB-C
- Stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos, 3.5mm audio jack
- 3.000mAh battery (3,500 for Galaxy S9+)
- IP68 water resistance
- Runs Android 8.0 (Oreo)
Bixby and AR Emoji
Last year, Bixby — Samsung’s own digital assistant — got a dedicated button on the Galaxy S8. Half-baked, Bixby didn’t have many fans and Samsung eventually offered the option to disable the button altogether.
With the Galaxy S9, the company is doubling down on Bixby. The button remains. And Bixby is baked into apps including the camera. Samsung says it offers features like real-time object identification and live language translation — features Google has been pushing with the Pixel phone.
Samsung also takes a swipe at the iPhone X and its surprisingly popular Animoji. The Galaxy S9’s version is called AR Emoji. It’s not as accurate as Animoji (the Galaxy S9’s camera tracks 100 points on the user’s face compared to the 30,000 dots used by the iPhone X Face ID camera) and the resulting 3D animated model is human character instead of an animal. AR Emoji does have the advantage of using standard GIF files so users can share them across third party messaging platforms.
Unlike both Apple and Google, Samsung is sticking with the headphone jack in the Galaxy S9. That alone is going to win it some fans.
Availability and Pricing
Samsung says the Galaxy S9 will be available for pre-order starting March 2. The new smartphones will be in stores on March 16. It will be available from all major U.S. carriers, each of which will offer its own pricing. Unlocked from Samsung, the Galaxy S9 will go for $720 while the Galaxy S9+ will be priced at $840. Samsung is also pushing trade-ins to encourage upgrades, offering credits up to $350.
There are nearly seven months remaining until Apple and Google are expected to unveil their 2018 smartphones, giving the Galaxy S9 some time to make an impact. In a year that started with a first-ever decline in smartphone sales, it will be interesting to see if Samsung’s Galaxy S9 camera, Bixby and AR Emoji will be enough to help Samsung gain ground on its rivals.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
