Samsung has unveiled its brand new S9 smartphone in Barcelona, with the tagline ‘The camera. Reimagined’.

Aesthetically, there is very little different from the phone’s predecessor, the Samsung S8. The S9 has the same screen size, aspect ratio and resolution as the S8. It also has the same battery size and amount of RAM and internal storage as (4GB and and 64GB) as the previous one.

What is it about the Galaxy S9 that has tongues wagging?

The Samsung Galaxy S9 has the new Exynos 9810 chipset sitting at its heart, and Google’s latest and innovative in the shape of Android 8 Oreo. The real excitement, and reason behind the phone’s tagline, are the improvements made to the camera.

The rear camera boasts 12mp quality with dual-aperture technology. This means the pictures you take in the dark will be as clear as the pictures you take in the light. The camera also includes the unique augmented reality (AR) feature, which allows you to create a unique interactive emoji of yourself. The S9’s fingerprint scanner has also shifted from the right of the camera lens to the centre of the phone.

Although the phone itself doesn’t look much different from the S8, the curve below and above the display have been trimmed. This reduces the overall height, but adds a few fractions of a millimeter to width and thickness of the phone. It is also heavier than the S8, but remains lighter than the iPhoneX.

Galaxy S9
OS Android 8 (Oreo)
Display 5.8-inch Quad HD + Curved Super AMOLED, 18.5:9 (570ppi)
Body 147.7mm x 68.7mm x 8.5mm, 163g, IP68
Camera Rear: Super Speed Dual Pixel 12MP AF sensor with OIS (F1.5/F2.4)
Front: 8MP AF (F1.7)
AP 10nm, 64-bit, Octa-core processor (2.8 GHz Quad + 1.7 GHz Quad)
Memory 4GB RAM
64GB + Micro SD Slot (upto 400 GB)
Battery 3,000mAh
Fast Wired Charging compatible with QC 2.0
Fast Wireless Charging compatible with WPC and PMA
Network Enhanced 4X4 MIMO / CA, LAA, LTE Cat.18
Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), VHT80 MU-MIMO, 1024QAM, Bluetooth ® v 5.0 (LE up to 2Mbps), ANT+, USB type-C, NFC, Location (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou)
Payment NFC, MST
Sensors Iris sensor, Pressure sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Fingerprint sensor, Gyro sensor, Geomagnetic sensor, Hall sensor, HR sensor, Proximity sensor, RGB Light sensor
Authentication Lock type: pattern, PIN, password
Biometric lock type: iris scanner, fingerprint scanner, face recognition, Intelligent Scan
Audio Stereo speakers tuned by AKG, surround sound with Dolby Atmos technology,
Audio playback format: MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA, APE, DSF, DFF
Video MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM
Virtual Reality Gear VR with Controller (SM-R325NZVAXAR), Google Daydream View

Specs courtesy of Samsung Newsroom U.S

The Samsung Galaxy S9 will to retail for approximately R15,499.

Picture: Samsung.com

Article written by

Lucinda is a hard news writer who occasionally dabbles in lifestyle writing, and recent journalism graduate. She is a proud intersectional feminist, and is passionate about actively creating a world which is free of discrimination and inequality.