Samsung’s first flagship of the year, the Galaxy S9 didn’t make it to the CES as was being widely speculated. However, we do have a confirmation of when to expect the phone; during the Mobile World Congress event that gets underway in Barcelona during February.
That the confirmation to this effect has come from none other than the head of Samsung’s mobile division, DJ Koh makes this almost akin to it being etched in stone. Also, going by Samsung’s tradition of following up the formal launch of the phone with the market induction of the same soon thereafter, expect the S9 to reach store shelves by March itself.
The South Korean conglomerate had launched the S8 in March last year, followed by its market debut in April. However, rumor mongers were busy convincing others of Samsung’s plans to push ahead with the launch of its ‘S’ series flagship early so that a CES launch of the phone could be a distinct possibility.
While the S9 has clearly given the CES a missed, fans of the Galaxy S flagship can still rejoice at the prospect of getting the device a month earlier than its usual launch window of around March. That said, there isn’t likely to be too radical a change with the S9 so far as looks are concerned.
Samsung first introduced the new Infinity Display design theme with just the S8, which makes it extremely unlikely to junk the same for something different with just the preceding model. However, given its long quest for incorporating an under screen finger print sensor, it remains to be seen if the technology gets integrated in the upcoming S9 device. If that be true, though unlikely given rumors that points otherwise, the feature will no doubt be one of the biggest USP of the S9 handset.
As for the likely specification, the S9 will come with the Snapdragon 845 or Exynos 9810 processor options depending on the market it is launched in. That apart, the S9 and S9+ are expected to have 4 GB and 6 GB of RAM with storage options varying from 64, 128 and 256 GB for the top-end model. An even higher specced model is also being talked about, one that will feature an industry first 512 GB of storage. Guess we will have greater clarity on these as we approach the MWC event.
