Galaxy S9 release date, price and specs: Samsung’s face unlock tech can still be easily bypassed, claim researchers
SAMSUNG HAS OFFICIALLY unveiled the Galaxy S9 and S9+, its duo of flagships for 2018 that failed to have many surprises in store.
Given the huge amount of leaks building up to Samsung’s MWC presser, news of the smartphone’s upgraded dual aperture cameras, 10nm innards and ability to capture ‘super slo-mo’ video was expected months in advance. The only surprising bit of information, perhaps, was the Galaxy S9’s pricing, with the duo of flagships set to cost less than some rumours had suggested.
Still, the smartphones will no doubt prove to be among the most sought-after this year, so we’ve rounded up everything you need to know about picking one up below.
You can also check out our Samsung Galaxy S9 hands-on review .
Specs – 148x69x8.5mm, 163g / 158x74x8.5mm, 189g – 5.8in / 6.2in QHD+ Super AMOLED curved display (570ppi / 529ppi) – Samsung 10nm Exynos 9810 CPU (4x 2.7GHz, 4x 1.9GHz) – 4GB RAM / 6GB RAM – 3,000mAh / 3,500mAh batteries – 64GB / 128GB storage with microSD expansion up to 400GB – Cat 18 LTE support (1.2Gbps download speeds) – Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, front-facing iris scanner – 12MP Dual Pixel camera with OIS (f/1.5, f/2.4) / Vertical dual rear-facing camera, 8MP front-facing camera – Bixby AI assistant with dedicated button – USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack – Stereo speakers – Wireless charging support – IP68 water and dust resistance – Built-in FM radio – Updated DeX Pad – Midnight Black, Titanium Gray, and Coral Blue, Lilac Purple variants
Release date The Galaxy S9 and S9+ will be available, as expected, from 16 March in the UK. Pre-orders are live now, and Samsung said those who pre-order before 7 March at 23:59 GMT will receive their devices seven days early on 9 March.
Price For those looking to pick up a SIM-free device, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ are available to pick up from Samsung direct for £739 and £869, respectively.
Carphone Warehouse, naturally, has been quick to start taking pre-orders for the flagship duo and is offering tariffs with EE, iD, O2, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone. For the Galaxy S9, the best deal we spotted was a £49 O2 tariff with 20GB data, which comes with a £99 upfront fee. The biggest Galaxy S9+ can be picked up on the same deal, but will set you back £66 a month.
Mobiles.co.uk is not just promising to double the memory of your Galaxy S9 or S9+, but is also offering INQ readers a free £25 gift card for Pizza Express, Currys or M&S. Simply visit this link, enter your email address, and then pick up your Galaxy S9. Mobiles is offering the smartphones on a range of deals with EE, O2 and Vodafone, and SIM-free.
Over at EE’s website, the Samsung Galaxy S9 is available from £58 per month with an upfront cost of £50, a deal which gets you 4GB monthly data. The Galaxy S9+ is available on the same 4GB tariff, with the monthly cost increasing to £68.
O2 has started taking pre-orders for the Galaxy S9, with prices starting at £44 per month for 1GB data with an, er £209.99 upfront cost. This price increases to £49 per month for the Galaxy S9+.
Sky Mobile is also offering the Galaxy S9 and S9+. The Galaxy S9 can be picked up from £28 per month, and data plans range from £5 for 500MB and £20 per month for 10GB. These same tariffs are available for the Galaxy S9+, which comes with a starting price of £33 per month.
Tesco Mobile hasn’t yet started taking pre-orders but has revealed how much the Galaxy S9 will cost. It’ll be available from £47.99 per month with 20GB data, 5,000 minutes and 5,000 texts, while the Galaxy S9+ will fetch £54.99 per month.
Three, which is chucking in 12 months of Netflix for free, is offering the Galaxy S9 from £40 per month with an upfront cost of £99, a deal that’ll bag you 1GB monthly data. The Galaxy S9+ is available on the same plan for £45 per month.
Virgin Mobile has been quick to open up pre-orders. It’s offering the Galaxy S9 on a 36-month contract from £31 per month with no upfront cost with 1GB data. £34 a month will get you 3GB, while Virgin’s most-expensive £40 tariff comes with 40GB data. The Galaxy S9+ is also on offer from £36 per month.
Vodafone has kicked-off pre-orders and is recommending its Red Extra 16GB plan, which costs £59 per month and £29 upfront. The Galaxy S9+, naturally, will set you back more on the same 16GB tariff.
Latest news 5/3/18: Samsung introduced ‘Intelligent Scan’ alongside the Galaxy S9 and S9+, a supposedly smarter version of the face unlock tech that debuted on last year’s S8. While it’s faster than last year’s iris scanning tech, security researchers have noted that it’s no more secure.
Jan Krissler of hacking group Computer Chaos Club, which last year fooled the S8’s iris scanning-tech using photographs, says his group isn’t interested in trying to crack Intelligent Scan as there’s nothing new.
“There is no fun in hacking just a new release of the same system,” Krissler said to CNET .
Andrew Blaich, of Lookout, added: “They want to provide some level of security but also make it easy and effective for you to get into the phone. This is probably trying to play catchup with how smooth the user experience is for the iPhone.”
Samsung itself seems to have admitted the security failings of Intelligent Scan as it won’t allow the tech to be used for mobile payments via Samsung Pay.
2/3/18: Galaxy S9 pre-orders in Samsung’s home country of South Korea have got off to a slow start, according to SamMobile, which claims that orders so far have ‘fallen shy of expectations’.
Citing industry watchers, the site claims that pre-orders have so-far failed to match those seen by Galaxy S8 and S8+. What’s more, a local carrier is quoted as saying that, while many people are asking about the new Samsung flagships, pre-orders appear to be a ‘tad smaller’ than last year.
2/3/18: Just hours after DisplayMate hailed the S9’s screen as the best it’s ever tested, DxOMark has awarded the Galaxy S9+ its highest-ever score for photo quality. With a score of 99, the S9+ has bested the Pixel 2’s previous record-breaking score of 98, with DxOMark praising the handset’s 2x optical zoom and low levels of noise in various lighting conditions.
For video, however, the Galaxy S9+ scored less than the Google Pixel 2. DxOMark explained: “Fine detail in video footage isn’t on the same level as the very best, and ringing and moiré artifacts are often visible.
“We also noticed occasional stepping during exposure convergence in changing light levels, and the stabilization system isn’t quite capable of eliminating all motion and shaking when walking with the camera while recording.”
1/3/18: DisplayMate has awarded the Infinity display on the Galaxy S9 its highest ‘Excellent A+’ grade, Samsung has boasted. While, on paper, the screen is near identical to that found on the Galaxy S9, DisplayMate notes that picture quality has been significantly improved, and says the screen’s colour accuracy is “virtually indistinguishable from perfect”. It also highlights that the screen can reach up to 1,130 nits of brightness – 20 per cent brighter than the S8, and a reflectivity level of 4.4 per cent – the lowest that DisplayMate has ever measured.
28/2/18: While Samsung’s Oreo rollout for the Galaxy S8 hasn’t gone exactly to plan, the firm’s Galaxy S9 flagship could be among the first smartphone to receive Google’s upcoming Android P and Android Q updates.
So says SamMobile, which has confirmed that new S9 and S9+ smartphones support Google’s Project Treble. Announced alongside Android 8.0, this is designed to make it easier for OEMs to update to newer versions of Android by minimising the number of tweaks that need to be made. It allows manufacturers to release Android updates by simply updating the OS framework without having to wait for silicon manufacturers to do additional work first.
“With a stable vendor interface providing access to the hardware-specific parts of Android, device makers can choose to deliver a new Android release to consumers by just updating the Android OS framework without any additional work required from the silicon manufacturers,” Google said.
26/2/18: Samsung has officially unveiled the Galaxy S9 and S9+ at Mobile World Congress (MWC).
As expected, the Galaxy S9 boasts the same 5.8in QHD+ Super AMOLED as its predecessor, with a pixel density of 570ppi and an 18:5:9 aspect ratio.
Compared to Samsung’s last flagship device, however, the new model is thicker at 8.5mm and weighs almost 10g more at 163g. It does have the same IP68 waterproofing, at least.
On the inside, things have been improved, but only just. The Galaxy S9 powered by the Samsung’s homegrown 10nm Exynos 64-bit octa-core CPU but with a slightly faster 2.7GHz and 1.7GHz processing speeds (compared to the S8’s 2.3GHz), alongside the same 4GB of RAM.
There’s also 64GB of internal memory which can be upgraded to a 400GB with a microSD card. All of this is powered by a 3,000mAh battery.
Samsung has given the Galaxy S9+ a slightly better upgrade, though. There’s a 10nm 64-bit octa-core processor running at 2.8GHz and 1.7GHz inside, alongside a much beefier 6GB of RAM and double the internal storage of the S9 at 128GB.
As usual, the display is bigger on the Galaxy S9+, with the device touting a 6.2in QHD+ curved super AMOLED screen with the same wide 18:5:9 ratio as the Galaxy S8+, but a lower pixel density of 529ppi. It has a bigger 3,500mAh battery to power that larger screen, though but it does weigh a little heavier at 189g.
Both devices, again unsurprisingly, run the latest edition of Android 8.0 Oreo. The latest version of Samsung Experience sits on top of Google’s OS, which offers AR emoji and supports landscape orientation for the first time.
One of the biggest improvements in the devices, Samsung said, comes in the form of a new and improved camera and image sensors. While the Galaxy S9 retains its single-lens 12MP Dual Pixel camera with OIS, the Galaxy S9+ packs a dual 12MP set-up on its rear, comprising of wide angle and telephoto lenses.
The cameras on both the S9 and S9+, as expected, come with a dual aperture of f/1.5 and f/2.4. Samsung claims the smartphones are the first to do so, and says the feature will deliver “the brightest lens of any smartphone camera in the market”.
That’s because the camera now lets in 80 per cent more light than on previous models, which minimises noise to capture higher quality images in dark environments than ever before. It does this by stitching together 12 images taken simultaneously when the shutter button is pressed, merging them together to create a better final image. Samsung has also integrated DRAM into this image processor for the first time, giving the S9 “the slowest movie recording ever” to create epic slow-mo footage. This is coupled with a new feature called Automatic Motion Detect, which allows users to capture an important event in slo-mo automatically, without having to wait around and manually snap, which usually results in missed opportunities.
