Samsung will unveil its next flagship handset, the Galaxy S9, next month at Mobile World Congress (MWC). The company’s smartphone chief, DJ Koh, confirmed the launch to ZDNet at CES yesterday. Koh didn’t offer a specific date, but MWC will run from February 26th to March 1st this year, so expect the unveiling to fall somewhere in that time frame.
The S9 (and, presumably, an S9 Plus) will be the successors to the S8 and S8 Plus, which launched at a Samsung event in New York last March before going on sale in April. The S8 and its bigger brother were a hit with critics, who praised the phones’ gorgeous design and brilliant cameras. The phones were even good enough to make consumers forget about the disaster of the Galaxy Note 7 and its exploding batteries.
Not much is known about the Galaxy S9 at this point, though we’re not expecting any radical departures from the S8. A handful of leaked renders suggest it will look near-identical to its predecessor, with a slight tweak moving the rear fingerprint sensor to below the camera (rather than its current, awkward position of off to one side).
However, the S9 and S9 Plus won’t be all Samsung fans have to look forward to this year. Speaking to ZDNet, Koh also reiterated that the company plans to launch a foldable phone in 2018. What exactly “foldable” means in terms of functionality isn’t clear, but smartphones with curved displays have been an obsession of Samsung’s for more than half a decade. So far, it’s given us the bizarre Galaxy Round but also the successful wraparound screens of the S7 Edge onwards. Let’s see what’s next.