MWC 2018: Samsung’s Galaxy S9 And S9 Plus Are Its Most Advanced, And Costliest Flagships, Yet

Packed with new cameras, AI plus animated emojis

Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus are probably the worst kept secret in this year’s Mobile World Congress, though it’s good to finally hear the official word from the Korean brand after months of speculations and leaks. The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus doesn’t look drastically different from last year’s iterations which is expected, considering how much of a design leap the S8 and S8 Plus were for Samsung.

Samsung Galaxy S9 specs

Samsung Exynos 9810 octa-core processor/Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor
ARM Mali-G71 MP20 GPU
4GB RAM
5.8-inch WQHD Super AMOLED display, 2960 x 1440 resolution, dual curved edge
64GB expandable storage, via microSD
12-megapixel rear camera, f/1.5 and f/2.4 variable aperture, with Dual Pixel, OIS, 960FPS Super Slo-Mo video
8-megapixel front camera, f/1.7 aperture, AF
Dual SIM
3G, LTE
Fingerprint scanner, iris scanner, facial recognition, heartbeat sensor, IP68 certification, USB Type-C port, Bixby AI, 3D Emojis
3000mAh battery with fast charging
Android 8.0 Oreo (TouchWiz UI)

Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus specs

Samsung Exynos 9810 octa-core processor/Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor
ARM Mali-G71 MP20 GPU
6GB RAM
6.2-inch WQHD Super AMOLED display, 2960 x 1440 resolution, dual curved edge
64GB/128GB/256GB expandable storage, via microSD
12-megapixel rear camera, f/1.5 and f/2.4 variable aperture, with Dual Pixel, OIS, 960FPS Super Slo-Mo video, 12-megapixel secondary camera with 2x optical zoom lens, f/2.4 aperture
8-megapixel front camera, f/1.7 aperture, AF
Dual SIM
3G, LTE
Fingerprint scanner, iris scanner, facial recognition, heartbeat sensor, IP68 certification, USB Type-C port, Bixby AI, 3D Emojis
3500mAh battery with fast charging
Android 8.0 Oreo (TouchWiz UI)

Both phones still get Samsung’s stunning Infinity Display, with the S9 sporting the same 5.8-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED panel as last year’s iteration. It’s the same story with the S9 Plus with its 6.2-inch QHD+ 18.5:9 panel. Samsung’s tweaked the bezels a bit with the redesign, though the phones look identical to last year’s models when viewed from the front.

New this year is the re positioned fingerprint scanner on the bottom of the camera, and the dual-camera module on the Galaxy S9 Plus. The main cameras on both phones sport 12-megapixel sensors with the company’s new dual-aperture tech, first seen on their W2018 flip phone announced in China a few months ago.

The primary camera can switch between an f/1.5 and f/2.4 lens, used for low-light shooting and outdoor shooting. The camera can also shoot super-slow mo video at 960FPS though at just HD. You can shoot in higher resolution full HD, though your frame rate goes down to just 240FPS.

Samsung’s matching Apple’s Animojis with AR-powered, customized emojis that read your facial features and creates your own avatar that you send to your friends via 3rd party apps like Facebook Messenger.

As expected both phones are powered by either Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 or Samsung’s Exynos 9810 depening where you buy the phones. People based in the US will be getting the Qualcomm version, while the rest of the world will be getting Samsung’s Exynos-powered variant.

The S9 gets 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, while the S9 Plus gets 6GB of RAM and three storage variants to choose from: 64GB, 128GB and 256GB. Both phones come with expandable storage. The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus will come with enhanced Bixby functionality, including the ability to communicate and control compatible Samsung appliances, real-time translation and more.

Powering both phones is Android Oreo and Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. Battery capacity for both phones are the same as last year’s models, with the S9 and S9 Plus sporting a 3000mAh battery and 3500mAh battery respectively.

As far as pricing goes, the Galaxy S9 will be priced at Php 45,990. The Galaxy S9 Plus is priced at Php 52,990 for the 64GB model, Php 55,990 for the 128GB model and a whopping Php 60,990 for the 256GB variant. Pre-orders start on February 27 to March 6, with the official launch of the phone happening on March 16.