Samsung to Announce Galaxy S9 and S9+ at Mobile World Congress in February
Samsung fans will have to wait for another month before they get their first official glimpse of the new Galaxy S9 and S9+.
The 'iPhone X killers' will make their debut at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC), the company revealed.
Industry insiders had predicted that Samsung's next flagship phone would be teased at the CES tech conference being held in Las Vegas this week, but that wasn't to be.
Samsung has yet to confirm how much its top end gadget will go on sale for, but one expert predicts it could set you back £140 ($190) more than the Galaxy S8.
The announcement was made by DJ Koh, president of Samsung's mobile business, during a press briefing at CES yesterday.
Details of the retail price and date are also expected to be revealed at MWC.
Last year, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8 at an Unpacked Event held in March in New York.
It then starting selling the device in April.
The unveiling of the Galaxy S9 will come a month earlier, suggesting sales could begin in March.
The mobile chief also used CES to confirm that the second edition of the Seoul firm's smart assistant, Bixby 2.0, will be launched in 2018.
All Samsung devices will support Bixby by 2020, he added.
During his speech Mr Koh, Samsung's mobile president, said: 'Many companies have AI competence, but not many have hardware competence.
'We started a little later [than others] but we are confident in offering the best experience for consumers.'
Mobile World Congress is the world’s largest gathering for the smartphone industry.
It is organised by the GSMA, which represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 300 companies
It is held in the Mobile World Capital, Barcelona, this year between February 26 and March 1.
Samsung normally previews its big ticket products a couple of days before the show officially begins.
That would place the likely official launch date on Sunday, February 25.
Speaking to The Sun, Kantar WorldPanel ComTech's Dominic Sunnebo said he predicts a 'launch price of around £829.'
That would be a jump in price of £140 over last years S8, which cost £689.
A ‘leaked’ photo last week revealed what could be the first official 'hands on' look at Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and S9+ handsets.
However, the designs show a pretty much unaltered design - except for a new rear mounted fingerprint sensor.
The image was shared to Chinese social network Weibo and spotted by androidandme.com - although it warns 'it looks genuine enough, but you should take it with a grain of salt for now.'
The image does appear confirm previous rumours about the largely unchanged handset.
It shows that the Galaxy S9, which is on the left, will have only one camera on the back of the phone while the Galaxy S9+ will boast a dual rear camera.
Previous images posted on Weibo, the look like official Galaxy S9 press renders - although Samsung has not commented on their validity.
If the photos are to be believed, the upcoming device will have a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner just beneath the dual lens camera, correcting an issue in the current line-up that has frustrated many users.
These renders also suggest that the Galaxy S9 will keep in place the 3.5mm headphone jack
While the photo posted to Slashleaks doesn’t reveal much about the front of the device, there could be some important changes in the back.
The ‘off center’ placement of the fingerprint sensor beside the camera in Galaxy S8 has proved awkward for some users.
But, the latest renderings show the firm may amend this with the Galaxy S9, instead placing the sensor right under the camera.
'Samsung is planning to show off its next-generation Galaxy S handsets a bit earlier than usual, according to someone briefed on the company’s plans,' said VentureBeat's Evan Blass last month.
He claims the two phones are said to be nearly identical in appearance to their predecessors.
It's been seven months since Samsung unveiled its Galaxy S8 smartphone, and rumours of its next device continue to build.
Chinese leaker, Ice Universe, as mysteriously tweeted that the 'back of the Galaxy S9 will change a lot.'
While the leaker doesn't go into detail about how, Ice Universe has a strong track record for predicting features on Samsung devices.
Ice Universe has posted a series of tweets about the Samsung Galaxy S9.
The first read: '100 per cent sure, Galaxy S9 no screen fingerprint recognition,' while the second continued: 'The back of the Galaxy S9 will change a lot.'
While Ice Universe didn't reveal details about what the change to the back could be, rumours suggest Samsung may introduce a dual-lens camera to the Galaxy S9 – a feature that appeared in its recent Galaxy Note 8.
Ice Universe also tweeted: 'I think the Galaxy S9 still has a 3.5mm headphone jack.'
This clashes with other rumours by TechDroider, who posted a sketch of the possible phone and suggested the headphone jack would go.
The Galaxy S9 is rumoured to be getting a camera capable of shooting incredible slow motion video.
According to Tech Radar, 'industry sources' claim Samsung is working on a rear camera that can shoot at 1,000 frames/second.
If this is true, the camera would be better than anything on the market yet.
Other new rumoured features include a modular design, with magnets that let users attach accessories, including zoom lenses and battery packs.
Eldar Murtazin told Tech Radar that the S9 is 'likely' to have modular capabilities, although he added that 'this option is not approved.'
Samsung will reportedly also integrate its own neural engine into the Galaxy S9, according to the Korean Herald, which writes that this technology could allow for speech recognition and improved AI capabilities.
The S8 currently features an iris-scanner, but rumours suggest that this technology will be replaced with facial recognition - similar to the Face ID introduced in the iPhone X by Apple.
There is also expected to be two versions of the S9 being developed - a 5.8 inch S9 and 6.2 inch S9 Plus.
The price for the Galaxy S9 remains unknown, but based on the price of the Galaxy S8, it is likely to cost between £689 and £779 ($916 to $1,036).
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