Yahoo Finance Samsung Galaxy S9: Release date, specs, colours, price and all you need to know
Samsung has revealed its latest flagship smartphone: the Samsung Galaxy S9. The new phone follows its highly successful Galaxy S8 and could set the bar for Android smartphones for the year to come.
The new phone features Samsung's now ubiquitous edge-to-edge display, AR emoji, a powerful camera and stylish super-slow motion video. Samsung has said the smartphone will "reinvent the camera", putting high-spec camera technology front and centre of the new handset.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 will lay down a challenge to Apple's premium iPhone X. It is slightly cheaper at £739, but comes with plenty of premium specs to make it a major rival to the current Apple line up.
For a full review of the Samsung Galaxy S9 click here, for everything else you need to know, read on:
Samsung Galaxy S9 release date and price
The Samsung Galaxy S9 will be released on Friday, 16 March, with pre-orders starting on 1 March. It was announced on 25 February at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The Galaxy S9 will be priced at £739, while the larger S9+ will be priced at £869. This is close to £50 more for each model than the last generation.
It is expected to be available from most major retailers and network providers, but several have set up pages where you can register your interest for a pre-order. You can find all the latest pre-order offers with our deals comparison review.
What does the Samsung Galaxy S9 look like?
The Samsung Galaxy S9 comes in two models, the Samsung Galaxy S9 with a 5.8-inch display and the larger Samsung Galaxy S9+ which features a 6.2-inch screen.
It looks quite similar to the older S8, but the screen is slightly longer with slightly thinner sides. Both feature a rear fingerprint sensor, while the S9 has a single lens camera and the S+ features a dual lens camera for the first time, following on from the dual camera Galaxy Note 8.
It will come in four colours, although only three are available in the UK on launch. The UK colours are Midnight Black, Lilac Purple and Coral Blue.
Samsung Galaxy S9 best features
The camera, reinvented
The Samsung Galaxy S9 features a much improved camera with several interesting tweaks and innovations that the company hopes will make it the top player on the market. These include a dual aperture, which means the camera lens can be made larger or smaller, essentially controlling how much light is let in.
The lens is either an F1.5 or F2.4. The larger can allow more light to pass through, creating a brighter picture and improving the image in low light conditions.
The Galaxy S9+ also features a dual lens camera, which should allow for greater depth effects. Both cameras are 12MP, while the front selfie cameras are 8MP.
Users will have to wait for a full review to see just how good the Samsung Galaxy S9 camera is, but the Galaxy Note 8 had one of the best smartphone cameras available, according to The Telegraph's review.
AR Emoji
First there were the iPhone Animoji, and now other smartphone makers are following the trend. Samsung has launched AR Emoji, essentially a cross between Animoji and Bitmoji, which uses augmented reality technology and the phone's front camera to create an avatar of the user.
This can then copy the users movements or facial expressions to create unique characters. Samsung says this can then be sent in Gif form, meaning you should be able to send Animoji over messages, WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger with ease.
If you think this is all a bit familiar, well you'd be right. It's been compared to Apple's Animoji, the animal characters on the iPhone X which use facial recognition to send animations.
Super slow-motion camera
One of the most exciting new aspects of the Samsung Galaxy S9 is its super slow motion camera. This improves on its old model and can now be set to record and at 960 frames per second. This is slow enough to capture a bird's wing's flapping or a balloon full of water bursting.
The new super slow-motion mode can be found in the camera app. It uses motion detection to find when the slow-motion moment should happen, meaning you simply have to set the app ready and wait for the highlight.
The captured video can then be set to music and sent out on social media, or it can be set as a screensaver.
Live translation
Using its camera, the S9 can automatically translate phrases, words, menus or street signs. It requires an internet connection to do this, but the technology means you will need never feel out of place trying to navigating abroad.
Infinity display
The Samsung Galaxy S9 keeps that high-end screen that challenges the best on the market. It will have a 1440 x 2960 screen and use Samsung's Super Amoled technology to keep that punchy screen tech that fills the whole front of the phone. It will have 529 pixels per inch on the regular S9 and 570 pixels per inch on the S9+, more than on the iPhone X.
Bixby AI
The phone keeps Samsung's Bixby button and Bixby AI. Samsung says the virtual assistant should be integrating with more products in the UK, meaning you could soon be able to control your smart TV with your voice using Bixby - although this is not going to be live yet.
For more general tasks, Bixby acts like other smart assistants and can be used to find things on your phone, answer questions or search the web.
Samsung Galaxy S9 specs
Those are the headline features, now for the breakdown of the specs.
Should I buy the Samsung Galaxy S9?
There are lots of great phones out there right now, not least the iPhone X and mid-tier models like the OnePlus 5T which offer a cheaper alternative. Check out the comparison grid below to see what you get with the models out there:
Where can I buy the Samsung Galaxy S9 and what are the best deals?
The Samsung Galaxy S9 will be on sale from £739 on most of the major networks, including Carphone Warehouse, Mobiles.co.uk, EE, Vodafone and more.
